Speed and the 2014 Kentucky Derby: Wicked Strong Goes 3 Furlongs in :36 0.6

For those of you looking for speed horses at the 2014 Kentucky Derby, Wicked Strong is proving to be as solid as they come.   He was listing at 10-1 odds at Bookmaker all day Friday compared to 8-1 elsewhere.

Thursday morning during workouts, Wicked Strong stunned everyone by running 3 furlongs in :36 3/5.

"I didn't have a chance to go around so I watched him come around the turn," trainer Jimmy Jerkens said following that explosive performance. "But he was good and into the bridle, so I imagine he went OK. It wasn't supposed to amount to much, just something to stretch his legs and open up his lungs a little bit because he's had plenty of work. He's dead-fit, but we still wanted to do something to get him to take a deep breath."

Wicked Strong will start from the number 19 post position, which has yielded a mere one win since 1930.

California Chrome, the +225 favorite, has plenty of speed but he has never won a race past 5½ furlongs.

He is the only horse in the race to record three triple-digit Beyer speed figures from Derby prep races.

Other speed horses include Bob Baffert's Chitu.  He won the Sunland Derby by 2 ¼ lengths under jockey Martin Garcia and has never finished worse than 2nd in all four of his races.

Vicar's in Trouble excelled in the Louisiana Derby, netting a 104 Speed rating while scoring by 3 1/2 length, but starts from the dreaded number one post position.  He comes in at 20-1 odds.

Danza stunned everyone by winning the Arkansas Derby by 4 3/4 lengths, and earned whopping Speed (104).

Wildcat Red is a speed horse to be certain.  He's never been worse than second in seven lifetime starts.

- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com