This year’s Kentucky Derby field will have an Atlanta presence.
Tax, a 3-year-old dark bay gelding, is in part owned by Suwanee couple Dean and Patti Reeves (Reeves Thoroughbred Racing). The Reeves were part of the ownership group that ran Mucho Macho Man, who finished third in the 2011 Run for the Roses.
Tax has two wins in five starts. He placed at Churchill Downs, going 6-1/2 furlongs in his first ever race. He as $326,300 in career wins.
Tax will enter the Derby with Junior Alvarado as its rider. Alvarado has two Derbys under his belt. His best finish was fourth with Mohayman in 2016. Trainer Danny Gargan is a Derby newbie.
Here are five things to know about Atlanta’s horse and the race:
When’s it happening?
What: 145th Kentucky Derby, first jewel of the Triple Crown
Post time: 6:50 p.m.
When: Saturday, May 4
Where: Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.
TV, online: NBC and NBCSN will have live coverage starting at noon. It will be livestreamed online and on NBC's Sports app.
Tax line
The male parent of a horse, a stallion, is commonly known as the sire and the female parent, the mare, is called the dam.
Tax was born April 20, 2016, and bred in Kentucky.
Arch was the sire and Toll, by Giant’s Causeway (her sire), is the dam. Toll’s bloodline traces back to Seattle Slew, who won the Triple Crown in 1977, and A.P. Indy, a champion three-year-old who won the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1992.
Who wins at the Derby?
More than 1,900 horses have raced for the roses. In 144 races, colts (132) have won more than any other. Geldings have crossed the finish first nine times. Only three fillies (female horse) have won the Derby.
What’s a gelding?
Tax is a gelding. A gelding is a male horse that has been castrated and is unable to breed.
Nine geldings have won the Kentucky Derby. The last gelding to win the Derby, Mine That Bird in 2009, did so in extraordinary fashion coming back from dead last in the last mile to win.
Mine That Bird’s $103.20 payout for a $2 bet was the second largest in Kentucky Derby history.
Who’ll win this Derby?
A week out from the post position draw, Tax isn't among the favorites and is faring to finish in the middle of the pack. (Posts one through five — on the inside — have produced the most Derby winners. No horse has won starting at 17.)
Here are Bovada's early odds:
Game Winner 5-1
Roadster 5-1
Omaha Beach 6-1
Improbable 7-1
Tacitus 10-1
Maximum Security 11-1
Vekoma 12-1
Code Of Honor 14-1
Cutting Humor 20-1
Tax 20-1
War Of Will 20-1
Win Win Win 20-1
By My Standards 25-1
Haikal 25-1
Long Range Toddy 25-1
Plus Que Parfait 25-1
Spinoff 25-1
Country House 33-1
Master Fencer 66-1
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