It’s Derby week! The Kentucky Derby is the second largest annual betting event in North America, next to only the Super Bowl. This year the Kentucky Derby is once again taking place on it’s traditional day on the first Saturday in May, which will be this Saturday, May 6th, 2023.
The Kentucky Derby is always very exciting and heavily bet on and I’m expecting this year to be no different. I’ve added this How To Guide for betting on the Kentucky Derby in Canada because it’s always a popular event and betting on horses is slightly different than betting on regular sports, so I wanted to outline that for new horse racing bettors in Canada.
The Kentucky Derby truly is the most exciting two minutes in sports. If you haven’t placed a Kentucky Derby bet in the past you’re in for a treat watching your horse run for the roses! Just try to stay seated if your pony is in contention coming down the stretch.
Bet On 2023 Kentucky Derby in Canada – Step By Step Guide
#1. Open an Online Betting Account
The first thing you will have to do is open an online betting account. I recommend SportsInteraction.com, our top rated sportsbooks for Canadians, for betting on the Derby this year.
They have the full plethora of horse race betting options available for the Kentucky Derby (win/place/show, exacta, trifecta, etc) in their Racebook.
SIA is entirely focused on the Canadian betting market and this shows through in their bet offerings, promotions and customer service. SIA is committed to serving the Canadian betting market for years to come.
Next up you’ll have to add some funds to your account. I have detailed pages for most of the deposit options offered at Sports Interaction on our deposit options page.
After logging into your SIA account click the ‘Deposit’ button, enter your deposit amount, and follow the instructions for your deposit method of choice to fund your account.
#3. Place Your Kentucky Derby Wagers
Now it’s time to place your Derby bets! You can bet on the Kentucky Derby in the sportsbook (winner and each-way bets) or in the racebook (full variety of horse racing betting options).
Sportsbook Betting (Fixed Odds Bet On Winner)
Select ‘Sports’ from the top navigation bar at SportsInteraction.com. Open the ‘Horse Racing’ drop down menu in the left sidebar and select ‘Kentucky Derby’. This will bring up the odds for the Derby winner.
Select the odds of the horse you want to bet on and enter your Stake amount on the Bet Card. If you’re happy with the risk and potential payout, click ‘Place Bet’ to make the wager.
**You also have the option to place an each-way bet in the Sportsbook, which is a bet on a horse to finish in the top 3 at 1/5 of the horses odds to win the race.
Here’s a screenshot of the odds for the Kentucky Derby favourites in the sportsbook (odds from May 5th – the day before the race):
Racebook Betting (Parimutuel Betting System)
Select ‘Sports’ from the top navigation bar at SportsInteraction.com, open the ‘Horse Racing’ drop down menu and select ‘Daily Track Odds’. Next you should click ‘Churchill Downs’ from the ‘USA Thoroughbred’ drop down menu. Select the race with a post time of 6:57pm EST on May 06 (race #12).
Here’s a screenshot showing the clicks to place a bet on Kingsbarns ‘To Win’ as an example:
The odds you see on the Racebook page can change because the bets are taken under the parimutuel betting system, which means the odds change depending on who bets on which horses after you as well. Learn all about parimutuel betting here.
You will also see that you have the option to place ‘Win, Place or Show‘ bets, as well as exotic bets such as ‘Exacta’, ‘Trifecta’, ‘Superfecta’, ‘Daily Double’ or ‘Pick 3’ at the Racebook. I explain most of these different horse racing bets on the horse racing betting page, so check that out if you’re new to betting on the sport.
I hope this page gives you the confidence to know how to get your Kentucky Derby bets in online this year. To learn more about the race as a whole check out our Derby info page.
