Printer Friendly Download: Official Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Guide
Pashmina training at Churchill Downs (Photo by Coady Media)
May 1st, 2026
The Kentucky Derby 152 Handicapping Betting Guide, presented by TwinSpires, is a comprehensive 23-page resource covering everything a bettor needs for Derby Weekend 2026.
It opens with the full stakes race schedule across Derby Week, followed by a Churchill Downs track bias breakdown and hot/cold trainer and jockey statistics from the December 2025 meet. Expert picks from five analysts in Dean Keppler, Vance Hanson, Kellie Reilly, James Scully, and Keeler Johnson and cover select graded stakes racing on both Oaks and Derby Day.
Dedicated tipsheets for both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby include full field listings, morning line odds, individual horse write-ups, and specific wager recommendations. Additional features include budget betting guides ($24–$96), a best longshot analysis, Brisnet Speed and Late Pace rating reports, run style historical analysis, a jockey experience study, a rising jockey age trend study, and a beginner's guide to reading a past performance.
Steps for a Clean Printer-Friendly Printout:
1. Use the original PDF file. Print directly from the PDF rather than copying text into another program — the guide's tables, color-coded post positions, and data charts are essential for usability.
2. Set paper size to Letter (8.5" x 11"). The guide is designed for standard US letter size. Do not scale to fit or you will lose readability on the small-print data tables.
3. Print in color if possible. The post position color coding (red, blue, yellow, green) on the tipsheets directly corresponds to the program numbers. A black-and-white print makes those distinctions harder to read quickly at the track or at home.
4. Select "Fit to Page" or "Shrink to Printable Area." This ensures nothing is clipped at the margins on home printers, which often have slightly smaller printable areas than professional printers.
5. Print pages 7–15 as your core reference. If you want a condensed version rather than all 23 pages, these are the most actionable: Oaks tipsheet, Derby leaderboard, Derby tipsheet, budget betting guide, longshot analysis, Speed ratings, run style analysis, and Late Pace ratings. That gives you the full handicapping picture in 9 pages.
6. Print double-sided if your printer supports it. The guide is laid out so pages pair naturally, cutting your paper usage in half without losing flow.
7. Increase print quality to "High" or "Best." The small-print Brisnet data tables and expert picks grid require sharp text to be legible — draft or normal quality may blur those rows.
8. Keep pages 22–23 handy for beginners. The "How to Read a Past Performance" page is a helpful reference to hand off to anyone at your watch party who is new to racing.
