Also, if you have a Ceasars/Harrah's card -- and I have heard ESPECIALLY if both you and your roommate have one, you might be able to get a much better rate booking early and totally ignoring the "discounted" Derby Rate. That's because the discounted Derby rate is discounted from a jacked up Derby rate -- the regular room rates at the Horseshoe other times of year are lot cheaper lol. I know you can't circumvent like this when it gets anywhere near close to DCC but I have heard it might work earlier...
Just saw Jerry mentioned this as I was typing lol.