When putting on a Kentucky Derby party, don’t just limit yourself to an office pool on just one race. The race for the Triple Crown provides us a great opportunity to triple our fun by drafting horses and adding points up for all 3 races (The Derby, The Preakness and the Belmont).
Here is how I would do a TRIPLE CROWN pool:
Group Size: 4-5 players works best
1) Have each participant draft a stable of 4-5 horses from the starter list of the Kentucky Derby.
2) Scoring:
- Each horse gets points for where they finish in each of the 3 races.
- Points are based on the number of horses in the race (adjust points for size of the field).
- For a 20 horse field the points would look like this:
1st = 20 points
2nd = 19 points
3rd = 18 points
4th = 17 points
etc…
Last = 1 point
3) For the 2nd (Preakness) leg of the Triple Crown, another draft would be conducted, this time using the horses entered in that race. Players could protect any horse that they drafted in the Kentucky Derby but will lose a draft pick in exchange. So if you keep one horse for the Preakness you would lose your 1st round pick, if you keep two, you lose your 2nd round pick and so on. Each player will again have 4 horses in their stable for the race. Draft order would be determined by total points from the last race.
4) Same procedure is done for the Belmont.
5) Winner of the pool is the player who earns the most points for the 3 races.
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