Saturday’s Opening Day festivities at Churchill Downs include the 2024 Kentucky Derby post position draw. It’s the first time the draw’s taken place during live racing action, and it sets the stage for a week of Kentucky Derby betting anticipation.
Curious about the draw and what it means? We’ve got everything you need to know.
More on the 2024 Kentucky Derby draw
The 2024 Kentucky Derby draw will be streamed on Churchill Downs’s simulcast feed between the third and fourth races of Saturday night’s program. Post time for the third race is 6:56 pm Eastern, which means the draw will likely kick off shortly after 7 pm local time.
This year’s Kentucky Derby takes place on Saturday, May 4. It’s the most famous horse race in America, as up to 20 3-year-olds go postward in front of 150,000 fans at Churchill Downs.
Each year’s post position draw is the first on-site event leading up to the Run for the Roses. The 20 horses that have qualified for the race by earning Kentucky Derby points get matched up with the spots in the gate they’ll start from, and official morning line odds are announced.
Do Kentucky Derby post positions matter?
Post positions can matter a great deal given how the race is likely to be run. Many handicappers believe a good horse can win from any post, but the circumstances of the Kentucky Derby are unique.
The Kentucky Derby features 20 horses, a larger field than any other high-profile race in North America, going 1 1/4 miles. That’s a distance none of these horses have run before (and one many likely won’t ever try again). This often makes for a scrum going into the race’s first turn as horses and riders jostle for position.
There have been 94 Kentucky Derbies run since the race first used a starting gate, in 1930. The most winners during that span have come from post position 5, which has housed 10 of them. Post positions 8 and 10, meanwhile, have each seen nine winners break from there.
Behind those three is post position 1, which is tied for fourth with eight winners (a distinction shared by post position 7). However, no Kentucky Derby winner has broken from the inside-most post since Ferdinand in 1986. That’s largely due to the nature of the race, as horses drawn too far inside can get shuffled back and find difficulty working out a winning trip.
What about outside posts?
One would think that horses drawn on the far outside would be at a significant disadvantage. Wide posts often lead to horses conceding ground and covering more distance than their opponents. However, that’s not always a disqualifying factor.
Five Kentucky Derby winners have broken from posts 18, 19, or 20. All of those victors have come since 2008. Most recently, massive longshot Rich Strike worked out a winning trip from the furthest-outside post in 2022. He was actually #21 in that race, but drew in when a horse scratched before the Derby and started from post position 20.
