Kentucky Derby 2017 Horses: Contenders and Race-Day Overview for Entire Field

Always Dreaming will start the 2017 Kentucky Derby from Post 5 on Saturday, while fellow contender Classic Empire has been handed Post 14.

Following Wednesday's draw, we now have a clear picture of how the field will line up in the 143rd Run for the Roses.

The horses will be competing for a $2 million purse, with $1.24 million of that going to the victor.

While Always Dreaming and Classic Empire are seen as the contenders to beat, it's an open 20-horse field with a number of others capable of producing a surprise at Churchill Downs.

The post time starts at 6:34 p.m. ET, and with the 10-furlong race lasting just two minutes, it's not to be missed.

Here's a complete breakdown of the post positions from Wednesday's draw:

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	Lookin At Lee	Corey Lanerie	Steve Asmussen
2	Thunder Snow	Christophe Soumillon	Saeed bin Suroor
3	Fast and Accurate	Channing Hill	Mike Maker
4	Untrapped	Ricardo Santana Jr.	Steve Asmussen
5	Always Dreaming	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher
6	State of Honor	Jose Lezcano	Mark Casse
7	Girvin	Mike Smith	Joe Sharp
8	Hence	Florent Geroux	Steve Asmussen
9	Irap	Mario Gutierrez	Doug O’Neill
10	Gunnevera	Javier Castellano	Antonio Sano
11	Battle of Midway	Flavien Prat	Jerry Hollendorfer
12	Sonneteer	Kent Desormeaux	Keith Desormeaux
13	J Boys Echo	Luis Saez	Dale Romans
14	Classic Empire	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse
15	McCraken	Brian Hernandez Jr.	Ian Wilkes
16	Tapwrit	Jose Ortiz	Todd Pletcher
17	Irish War Cry	Rajiv Maragh	Graham Motion
18	Gormley	Victor Espinoza	John Shirreffs
19	Practical Joke	Joel Rosario	Chad Brown
20	Patch	Tyler Gaffalione	Todd Pletcher

Classic Empire will line up alongside fellow contender McCraken in Posts 14 and 15, respectively.

Post 14 has only ever produced two winners with the most recent being in 1961, while American Pharoah won from No. 15 two years ago.

The Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman believes both have done well in the draw, though:

McCraken's prior experience of racing and winning at Churchill Downs puts him in with a good chance of competing for at least a podium place here, while Classic Empire has several impressive wins under his belt including in the Arkansas Derby last month.

Classic Empire's trainer Mark Casse was happy with how the draw went, per BloodHorse.com's Alicia Wincze Hughes:

Rival Always Dreaming has reason to be pleased, too.

According to Christina Moore of America's Best Racing, while the outside gates have become more successful in recent years, no position has produced more winners than Post 5 with nine victorious horses starting there, including 2014 winner California Chrome.

The colt beat the field into submission when he won the Florida Derby earlier this year and has trained aggressively since arriving in Kentucky.

The DRF's Marcus Hersh believes he may be a little too explosive:

That could translate well in the race or perhaps act as a hindrance, but as far as the inside gates go he'll have a strong starting position at least.

So too will Gunnevera from Post 10, which has also produced nine winners. He won the Fountain of Youth Stakes in March, though he only mustered third in Florida behind Always Dreaming and State of Honor.

Irish War Cry is another contender, but as DRF's David Grening noted, he could be up against it because of his post position:

Of course, that's not to say he can't win—he has won four of his five career races and beat both Gunnevera and Classic Empire at the Holy Bull Stakes.

The field is particularly open this year, and with the possible exception of Irish War Cry, all the major contenders have received favourable post positions.

The stage is set for a thrilling showdown at Churchill Downs—it could be the closest contest for some time.