Thursday, May 5, 2016

Kentucky Derby - Gate Positions & Odds

The Kentucky Derby seemingly will have a full starting gate of twenty colts on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.  Only twenty are allowed to race, but there are two alternate entries waiting on the sidelines in case of illness or injury.    Here are the drawn post positions, with morning line betting odds, and the jockeys that I recognize.

1.     Trojan Nation                   50 to 1     Aaron Gryder
2.     Suddenbreakingnews       20 to 1
3.     Creator                             10 to 1
4.     Mo Tom                           20 to 1
5.     Gun Runner                     10 to 1     Florent Geroux
6.     My Man Sam                  20 to 1
7.     Oscar Nominated            50 to 1      Julien Leparoux
8.     Lani                                 30 to 1     Yutaka Take
9.     Destin                              15 to 1     Javier Castellano
10.   Whitmore                         20 to 1    Victor Espinoza
11.   Exaggerator                       8 to 1     Kent Desormeoux
12.   Tom's Ready                     30 to 1  
13.   Nyquist                              3 to 1
14.   Mohaymen                       10 to 1   Junior Alvarado
15.   Outwork                          15 to 1    John Velasquez
16.   Shagaf                             20 to 1    Joel Rosario
17.   Mor Spirit                        12 to 1    Gary Stevens
18.   Majesto                            30 to 1
19.   Brody's Cause                  12 to 1
20.   Danzing Candy                15 to 1    Mike Smith
****  Stand-bys in case of a scratch/es   ****
21.   Laoban                             50 to 1    Cornelio Velasquez
22.   Cherry Wine                    30 to 1     Robby Albarado


Information on the two stand-bys:    Laoban was born on 31 January, in Kentucky, a bay son of Tapit.  He is trained by Eric Guillot.
      Cherry Wine  was born on 13 February, also in Kentucky.  The grey son of Paddy O'Prado is trained by Dale Romans.

If any horse scratches for the Derby, the horses in the starting gate to the outside of that starting position will all move over one slot, until the stand-by entrant is standing in post 20.    Now I don't want to jinx anyone...  but say that post 12 horse is a scratch; all horses from post 13 to 20 would move one slot to the left (posts 12 through 19), and the first stand-by entry would go into gate 20....  Hope that explains how that works...

Good luck in your handicapping and betting!

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