Kentucky Derby 2019 Lineup: Post Positions for All Entries of 145th Race

When the 20 entrants in this year's Kentucky Derby enter the starting gate, several of those runners will have an advantage and several will be at a major disadvantage based on their position.

That's largely because of the huge field in this race. A majority of stakes races are run with eight to 12 horses in the field. Many other races are run with seven competitors or fewer.

In many of those cases, post-positioning does not matter very much. Horses on the inside may have the advantage if the race track does not have any bias because they actually have an opportunity to avoid extra yards in the race if they maintain an inside position throughout.

But as Christina Moore of America's Best Racing shows, that's not the case in the first Triple Crown race of the year where horses on the extreme inside have been at a disadvantage. Horses on the outside would also appear to have a problem because they are forced to cover more distance than those on the inside, but that has not been the case.

Post positions for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby were assigned Tuesday, and here's a look at those posts, as well as the odds for the race.

PP, Horse, Trainer, Jockey, Odds

1. War of Will, Mark Casse, Tyler Gaffalione, 20-1

2. Tax, Danny Gargan, Junior Alvarado, 20-1

3. By My Standards, Bret Calhoun, Gabriel Saez, 20-1

4. Gray Magician, Peter Miller, Drayden Van Dyke, 50-1

5. Improbable, Bob Baffert, Irad Ortiz Jr., 6-1

6. Vekoma, George Weaver, Javier Castellano, 20-1

7. Maximum Security, Jason Servis, Luis Saez, 10-1

8. Tacitus, Bill Mott, Jose Ortiz, 10-1

9. Plus Que Parfait, Brendan Walsh, Ricardo Santana Jr., 30-1

10. Cutting Humor, Todd Pletcher, Corey Lanerie, 30-1

11. Haikal, Kiaran McLaughlin, Rajiv Maragh, 30-1

12. Omaha Beach, Richard Mandella, Mike Smith, 4-1

13. Code of Honor, Shug McGaughey, John Velazquez, 15-1

14. Win Win Win, Michael Trombetta, Julian Pimentel, 15-1

15. Master Fencer, Japanese qualifier, Koichi Tsunoda, Julien Leparoux, 50-1

16. Game Winner, Bob Baffert, Joel Rosario, 5-1

17. Roadster, Bob Baffert, Florent Geroux, 6-1

18. Long Range Toddy, Steve Asmussen, Jon Court, 30-1

19. Spinoff, Todd Pletcher, Manny Franco, 30-1

20. Country House, Bill Mott, Flavien Prat, 30-1

Odds courtesy of Covers.com

The Kentucky Derby uses two starting gates because of the size of the field. A total of 14 horses start from the main gate, while six horses start from the auxiliary gate.

While it would seem that the auxiliary gate would be problematic for most runners, the recent history of the event shows that it is not. Moore points out that since the turn of the century, Gate 15 or higher has posted seven of the previous 19 winners.

On the other hand, horses on the inside portion of the track don't seem to have an equal chance to win, per Moore: "No horse has won the Kentucky Derby from Gate 1 since Ferdinand in 1986. The only horse who has won from Post 1, 2, or 3 since then is Real Quiet, the 1998 Derby winner who came up just a nose shy of winning the Triple Crown."

The best win percentage in the Kentucky Derby comes from post No. 5, with a rate of 11.2 percent. Moore notes that California Chrome won from that spot in 2014, while Always Dreaming won the Run for the Roses from the No. 5 hole in 2017.

That's good news for five-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert, because his horse Improbable will start from that position. On the other hand, Roadster, another Baffert horse, is starting from the No. 17 post position. That post has never produced a Kentucky Derby winner.

Favored Omaha Beach will run from the No. 12 spot in the field. Just three starters in 74 attempts have won from that position, the last being Canonero II in 1971. Enticed started from the No. 12 spot last year and finished 14th.

The post position win percentages and history are factors to be considered by handicappers. However, the inside posts could turn around the instant that the fastest horses are assigned those posts.