Kentucky Derby 2012 Post Positions: How Slotting Affected Derby's Outcome
I'll Have Another's impressive victory at the 2012 Kentucky Derby surprised a lot of people because of the fact that he came from slot No. 19—a slot that hasn't featured a winner for the last 138 years.
Recent runnings at Churchill Downs have bucked the trend that it's better to be in the first 10 slots rather than slots 11-20: Animal Kingdom won in 2011 from slot No. 16, Big Brown won in 2008 from slot No. 20 and Smarty Jones won in 2004 from slot No. 13.
That being said, since 1970 the winning horse has started from between the first slot and the 10th slot 31 times out of 42 races.
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For the most part this year, though, the theory held that it's better to start out in those slots with six out of 10 horses in the top-10 at the end of the race having started out in those favorable slots.
The horses that finished in the top 10 who started from the outside positions actually had to fight harder to earn those results. As with any race, the further you are from the inside of the track the farther you have to run to go around the track.
It may be another 138 years before we see a horse win again from the No. 19 slot. I'll Have Another's victory was one for the record books, and I won't forget the thrill of watching him sprint to the finish to overtake heavy favorite Bodemeister for as long as I live.
Check out the results and post positions below—with the final odds as found on the official Kentucky Derby website.
| 1 | I'll Have Another | Mario Gutierrez | 19 | 15-1 |
| 2 | Bodemeister | Mike Smith | 6 | 4-1 |
| 3 | Dullahan | Kent Desormeaux | 5 | 12-1 |
| 4 | Went The Day Well | John Velazquez | 13 | 30-1 |
| 5 | Creative Cause | Joel Rosario | 8 | 11-1 |
| 6 | Liason | Martin Garcia | 20 | 56-1 |
| 7 | Union Rags | Julien Leparoux | 4 | 5-1 |
| 8 | Rousing Sermon | Jose Lezcano | 7 | 40-1 |
| 9 | Hansen | Ramon Dominguez | 14 | 13-1 |
| 10 | Daddy Long Legs | Colm O'Donoghue | 1 | 26-1 |
| 11 | Optimizer | Jon Court | 2 | 42-1 |
| 12 | Alpha | Rajiv Maragh | 11 | 19-1 |
| 13 | El Padrino | Rafael Bejarano | 16 | 29-1 |
| 14 | Done Talking | Sheldon Russell | 17 | 39-1 |
| 15 | Sabercat | Corey Nakatani | 18 | 37-1 |
| 16 | Gemologist | Javier Castellano | 15 | 18-1 |
| 17 | Trinniberg | Willie Martinez | 9 | 44-1 |
| 18 | Prospective | Luis Contreras | 12 | 57-1 |
| 19 | Take Charge Indy | Calvin Borel | 3 | 11-1 |
| 20 | Daddy Nose Best | Garrett Gomez | 10 | 14-1 |
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