Wagering on the Kentucky Oaks and its accompanying 13-race card at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday was down slightly despite chilly temperatures, intermittent rainfall, and a sharp drop in the ontrack crowd, according to charts and figures released by Churchill late on Friday.

Wagering on the Oaks, including all horizontal bets paying off on the race, was $14.80 million, down 1 percent from last year and down 1.7 percent from the record of $15.05 million set in 2015, according to charts of the races. The Oaks had a 14-horse field this year, the same as last year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Richard Mandella scuffed some of the mud that his filly had just contended with off his feet and positioned himself in front of a television set underneath the stands at Churchill Downs, waiting for the replay, looking to understand. Outside, Abel Tasman was getting her picture taken bedecked with lilies after winning the Kentucky Oaks, while Mandella's heavily favored Paradise Woods walked back to the barn after finishing 11th.

“It happens,” Mandella said with a slight smile. “It does happen.”

Churchill Downs

Weather: Cloudy

Track: Fast

Temp.: 52

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A couple of key players here this weekend, IRISH WAR CRY and PARADISE WOODS, put on a pretty good show for railbirds Thursday at Churchill Downs during the final regular morning of training for the 3-year-olds competing in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks and Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

CHURCHILL DOWNS Weather: Cloudy

Track: Fast

Temp.: 50

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Time is running out to form those all-important final impressions about this year’s Kentucky Derby field. Each of the 20 horses in the main body of the field was on the track to train Wednesday at Churchill Downs, with the majority of the action taking place, as usual, during the special Oaks-Derby session immediately following the renovation break.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some of Vinnie Viola’s earliest memories as a child are of going to Aqueduct and Belmont Park with his father, who would put his son right in front of the tote board with specific instructions to watch the fluctuation of odds.

“My father handicapped and bet every day,” Viola said. “He would tell me to try to memorize every change in the last two minutes before post time of every horse. I think it greatly helped me when I got to Wall Street. It made it a lot slower for me as I got comfortable with the movement of numbers to risk.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On the first Saturday in May 2016, the jockey Florent Geroux angled for home in his first Kentucky Derby with not a single horse between his mount, Gun Runner, and the distant finish line.

Gun Runner had been third at the first call behind runaway pacesetter Danzing Candy and eventual winner Nyquist, but he took up a position in front of Nyquist and was the first to attack a fading Danzing Candy.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Midway through the draw on Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, neither Classic Empire nor McCraken had a post, and the 1 hole was still unoccupied, a situation that was growing increasingly unnerving to those associated with both highly ranked colts.

But both wound up in advantageous posts. The 1 post was called for Lookin At Lee – a late runner for whom post should not matter – with Classic Empire landing post 14 and McCraken 15. They are part of a full field of 20, plus two also-eligibles, entered in the 143rd Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Classic Empire entered this year as the juvenile champion and Kentucky Derby winter-book favorite. After a tumultuous spring for himself and other contenders, he's right back where he started, tabbed as the morning-line favorite when post positions for the $2 million spring classic were drawn Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.