One of the biggest names in professional sports is heading to the biggest sporting event of the weekend tomorrow as Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is reportedly heading to Churchill Downs.
That news was broken by former NBA player Chandler Parsons, who during an appearance on FanDuel TV previewing the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, revealed that Kelce will be in attendance for the big event.
“There will not be a lot of sleep. Travis Kelce gets in today. So that’ll be fun…” Parsons said.
In recent years, NBC has turned the Kentucky Derby into a bigger and bigger event, often serving as a pageant of celebrities in all facets of entertainment from movies to sports that would give the Oscars a run for its money.
There’s no word yet on if Taylor Swift will be joining her significant other at Churchill Downs but if she were it’s likely that we would have heard by now. Still, you never know.
The race itself has a couple of interesting contenders but none that jumps off the page right now as the next Triple Crown winner like American Pharoah or Justify.
The morning line favorite is Fierceness (5: 3-0-1) at 5-2 odds and trained by two-time Derby winner Todd Pletcher. He is ridden by three-time Derby-winning jockey John Velazquez.
The other top contender is Sierra Leone (4: 3-1-0), who is coming off back-to-back graded stakes wins and is sired by 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Gun Runner. Sierra Leone is trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, neither of whom has won the Derby yet.
Will Kelce pick one of those two to win the race, or will it be a long shot?