Kentucky Derby Post Positions

The scene at the post position draw

Dateline: 05/03/00

Kentucky Derby Results and Photos - Fusaichi Pegasus wins!

Bobby Frankel chose post 3 for Aptitude

Derby Winner Poll - vote for who you think will win

The big day is almost here! Post positions were drawn this afternoon for the 126th Kentucky Derby and there will be a full field of 20 as expected. Unshaded was supplemented but did not get in the field because supplements are last on the eligibility list despite earnings and 21 total were entered. There are 3 entries this year. The #1 entry will be Trippi, Commendable, Impeachment, and High Yield due to common ownership interests. The #2 entry is from Sheik Mohammed's Godolphin Racing with China Visit and Curule. The field will have have 3 horses this year with Wheelaway, Deputy Warlock and Ronton.

Bob Baffert was the lucky winner of the first choice of post positions and he selected #8 for Captain Steve. Appropriately the long shot Ronton got last choice and so wound up with the #20 post. They made the draw a bit more interesting this year by having the connections hang a picture of their silks in a mock starting gate to indicate their post position choice. This made for a nice display.

Past performances are available for free online from the Daily Racing Form here in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Post time for the Derby is 5:37pm EDT and between ESPN and ABC there will be TV coverage all day long (schedule). I will be there so check back on Saturday night for photos and results.

The Kentucky Derby

Here is the field in post position order. Distance is 1 1/4 miles and all entrants carry 126 lbs. The purse is $1,000,000 Guaranteed Minimum Gross. Click on the horse's name to see full info on him.

# / PP	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	M/L Odds
1 / 6	Trippi	Chavez	Pletcher	5-1
1A / 13	Commendable	Prado	Lukas	5-1
1C / 15	Impeachment	Perret	Pletcher	5-1
1X / 18	High Yield	Day	Lukas	5-1
2 / 12	China Visit	Dettori	Suroor	50-1
2B / 19	Curule	St. Julien	Suroor	50-1
SCRATCHED	Globalize	Smith	Hollendorfer	50-1
4 / 2	Anees	Nakatani	Hassinger	20-1
5 / 3	Aptitude	Solis	Frankel	20-1
6 / 5	Hal's Hope	Velez	Rose	20-1
7 / 8	Captain Steve	Albarado	Baffert	8-1
8 / 9	War Chant	Bailey	Drysdale	6-1
9 / 10	More Than Ready	Velazquez	Pletcher	10-1
10 / 11	The Deputy	McCarron	Sahadi	4-1
11 / 14	Graeme Hall	Sellers	Pletcher	20-1
12 / 16	Fusaichi Pegasus	Desormeaux	Drysdale	9-5
13 / 17	Exchange Rate	Borel	Lukas	30-1
14F / 4	Wheelaway	Migliore	Kimmel	30-1
15F / 7	Deputy Warlock	Guidry	McPeek	30-1
16F / 20	Ronton	Blanc	Cerin	30-1

The Deputy and War Chant in the Santa Anita Derby

Update: Globalize was injured Thursday morning when coming back from the track. The pony kicked him and cut a deep gash in his left rear leg below the hock. It is not yet known if the injury is career ending but at a minimum he will be out several months now. Since he was in post position 1, everyone will move in by one post position.

The Derby is a tough race to handicap. For the most part you have the best 3 year olds in the country all primed and read for a peak performance. Plus you have the huge 20 horse field to throw in some traffic problems to confuse it farther. It is also one of the most over analyzed races in the world with every little statistic you can imagine extracted from the data.

Personally, I don't think Fusaichi Pegasus will win. He has so many negatives against him including his own personality that I just can't see him winning here. The one who best fits the Derby winner profile is Captain Steve, but for some reason I think I like The Deputy better. He has nice tactical speed and doesn't have to go for the lead in a race that is loaded with front runners. Some of them will have to burn out and I think The Deputy is very capable of picking up the pieces. Captain Steve can also stalk and I keep going back to him so I will probably box them in an exacta. For a live longshot, you may want to think about the field horses at 30-1 morning line. Although Ronton is a complete throw out, Wheelaway and Deputy Warlock both have a chance if they don't get caught in traffic. (Note: rumors on the backside are that The Deputy has a bruised foot. No idea how reliable this is but it is something to worry about.)

Have fun watching the Derby and enjoying the spectacle that it is. This year we have a very talented field so it should be a really good race.

More articles and info:

• Churchill Downs
• Past performances and Thoro-Graph sheets from DRF
• Kentucky Derby from Equibase - free program, past performances, ChartPlus, and articles
• Glenners' Picks
• Live Audio (sorry, no live video online)
• Current weather
• Scratches and changes
• Results Chart from Equibase (available late Saturday)
• News Index Search to find Kentucky Derby articles
• Triple Crown Links - the master index for all kinds of Triple Crown and Kentucky Derby info, news. stats, etc.

On the Forum:

Photos by author except where noted.

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