Indiana Derby 2021 Odds: Fulsome to open as odds-on favorite

The Grade III Indiana Derby headlines a big card on Wednesday at Indiana Grand and our editor has an overview of the race along with all the Post Positions for the field of seven following the PP draw.

The field of seven is listed below and our Race Card is at the bottom of the page should you want to bet on the race with any of our betting partners...

The more than impressive winner of the Grade III Matt Winn Stakes leads a field of seven set to race for the richest purse in Horse Racing in the state of Indiana.

With $300,000 available - it is the Brad Cox trained Fulsome who has been shipped in who will likely go off as a very short priced favorite. Since being switched to dirt after an early career on the turf - the son of Into Mischief has won three straight including that win over a real quality field in the Matt Winn. He earned a 96 Beyer rating for that run, which is much higher than his fellow Indiana Derby entrants.

At 4-5 on the Morning Line, don’t expect plenty of value here and after the deadline day defection of O Besos - the horse he comprehensively beat into second place down at Churchill Downs, it would take a strong bettor to play this any differently than Fulsome being the first horse over the line.

Mr. Wireless is the second choice and will break from the outside post. He finished second in the Texas Derby over at Lone Star Park at the end of May, which followed two straight wins having broken his maiden in late March. He was beaten by another Brad Cox trained horse - Warrant - in that Texas Derby and that horse has already tasted defeat at the hands of Fulsome. If he’s the second choice then the favorite could easily go off at a lot shorter than the 4-5 price.

Dallas Stewart sends out Starrininmydreams who has bounced around the circuit all spring but has struggled to make any sort of impact. He just couldn’t compete in the quality Derby prep races at Fair Grounds - finishing 9th and 5th in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby respectively. A run on the Derby under card in the Pat Day did not go well as the Super Saver colt came home 7th. The step down in quality will help but his resume looks a lot murkier than Fulsome’s.

Steve Asmussen has a very nicely bred three-year-old in Convention in this race. A son of two time Grade I winner Constitution through Tapit. However so far in his short career Convention hasn’t done much. He broke his maiden down at Sam Houston in February before a run at the Oaklawn Invitational where he finished 5th in a race won by - you guessed it - Fulsome. Based solely on his pedigree I would be tempted for a small price long-shot play if you didn’t like the value Fulsome offered in the pools.

Full Charge, Sermononthemount and W W Crazy make up the field of seven. Our turf-man J.N. will be here later in the week with his full preview of the Grade III Indiana Derby which is slated at Race 12 on Wednesday’s card.