S9E16: Kentucky Derby 2026 mock draft

With a little more than three months before the run for the roses, a mock draft for Kentucky Derby 2026 brings together seven handicapping minds for this week's Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Horse Racing Nation hard-core handicapper and fair-odds author Ed DeRosa will be joined by Chip Gehrke, the Doctor Derby curator of weekly division rankings who won last year's draft by picking Sovereignty in the second round.

Five others take part, including Churchill Downs analyst and Turfway Park host Kaitlin Benson, 2012 National Horseplayers Championship winner Michael Beychok, Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies author Richard Eng from Las Vegas, sports-gambling host and former NFL quarterback Shaun King and Fox Sports and New York Racing Association TV analyst Maggie Wolfendale-Morley.

The draft will last four rounds to determine who will be best positioned to have the winner among their four horses who could be in the May 3 running of the Derby. This episode was recorded Monday, before Ted Noffey came off the Triple Crown trail because of bone bruising.

A video version of the draft is available on the Horse Racing Nation YouTube page.

The Ron Flatter Racing Pod via Horse Racing Nation posts every Friday and is available via free subscription from Apple, Firefox, iHeart and Spotify as well as HorseRacingNation.com.