LOUISVILLE, Ky. (March 31, 2009) – Edward P. Evans’ homebred Quality Road, a sparkling winner of the Florida Derby (Grade I) and Fountain of Youth (GII), wears the mantle of morning line favorite among 24 betting interests for the third and final pool of Churchill Downs’ 2009 Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDWF”), which opens four days of betting at racetracks and satellite wagering outlets on Thursday, April 2.

Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager will be the second in the 11-year history of the wager to offer exacta wagering along with its traditional $2 minimum “win” wager. The first exacta pool offered during the Feb. 12-15 second pool of the 2009 Derby Future bet attracted $104,017 of a total of $380,420 wagered during the four-day betting. The Kentucky Derby Future Exacta also requires a minimum bet of $2.

Quality Road, a Jimmy Jerkens-trained son of Elusive Quality, a winner of three of four career starts, was installed as the narrow 6-1 favorite in morning line odds for KDFW Pool 3 established by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia. Three contenders – David Lanzman and IEAH Stable’s I Want Revenge, Vinery and Fox Hill Farm’s Friesan Fire, and Micheal Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith’s Dunkirk – were lumped together as 8-1 second choices in the morning line. The mutuel field, which includes all 3-year-olds other than the 23 individual horses in the pool, is the co-third choice in the pool at 10-1. Also listed at 10-1 was a trio of contenders that includes Southwest (GIII) and Remsen (GII) winner Old Fashioned and Southern California-based stars Pioneerof the Nile, winner of the CashCall Futurity (GI) at Hollywood Park, and Sham Stakes (GIII) winner The Pamplemousse.

The “all others” wager was favored in both of this year’s earlier KDFW pools. It closed as the 9-5 choice in February’s Pool 2 and the 9-2 fan’s choice in Pool 2 in March.

. The Kentucky Derby Future Wager offers fans the opportunity to wager on contenders for the 2009 “Run for the Roses” at odds that could be far more attractive than those they would receive on the day of the race. Wagering on Pool 3 will open at noon (all times EDT) on Thursday, April 2, and concludes on Sunday, April 5, at 6 p.m. Final payouts on both the win and exacta wagers in KDFW Pool 2 will be determined by the odds that are in place at conclusion of wagering in the four-day pool.

The 135th running of the $2 million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands is scheduled for Saturday, May 2 at Churchill Downs.

Nine new horses are among the individual betting interests in Pool 3. Wagering interests for the respective pools in are chosen by a three-member panel that includes Daily Racing Form correspondents Mike Watchmaker and Brad Free, and John Asher, Churchill Downs’ vice president, Racing Communications.

Real time odds, exacta payouts and other information on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager are available on the official event Web site at http://www.kentuckyderby.com.