In most races, the post-position draw happens out of the public eye. Racing-office officials randomly draw numbers, the starting-gate spot, and match them with the names of entered horses. For some races, tracks try to dress up the draw, making some pomp out of an essentially mundane activity. But if there is one race where the post draw really generates buzz, it’s the Kentucky Derby. With the Derby now annually filled to its 20-horse capacity, who is positioned where can make a tremendous difference in the outcome.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Haikal, the Grade 3 Gotham winner and third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, will scratch from Saturday’s $3 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs due to an abscess on his left front foot, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Friday morning.

The late all-stakes pick four Saturday at Churchill Downs – not the late, late pick four which encompasses the last four races on the Derby Day card and is not an all-stakes affair – is a juicy sequence. It starts in race 9 with the American Turf, continues with the Pat Day Mile and the Turf Classic, and concludes with the Kentucky Derby.

Let’s take a look at this sequence, from back to front.

Something new is on the wagering menu for Oaks and Derby Days at Churchill Downs: a two-day pick six that covers all the Grade 1 action. Friday’s races are the La Troienne and Kentucky Oaks, followed by the Humana Distaff, Churchill Downs, Old Forester, and Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

The wager, with a $250,000-guaranteed pool, has a 15 percent takeout and mandatory payout, though the $2 minimum is unkind to budget-minded players, making spreading in contentious races rather expensive. I’ll take a stab with a small ticket, singling a couple of runners to keep the cost down.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Thursday, May 2
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 63
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The complexion of this year’s Kentucky Derby may have changed immensely overnight with the news that likely favorite Omaha Beach was out of the race, but it was still business as usual for the rest of the field during training hours Thursday morning at Churchill Downs.

Assessing the pace situation in any race is a critical element of the puzzle known as handicapping, but it’s especially important in a race like the Kentucky Derby. Over the years, many horses with tactical speed have put themselves in ideal positions to sit and pounce before prevailing against their 3-year-old counterparts, but a stalking running style isn’t a prerequisite for Derby glory.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Unless Gray Magician, Master Fencer, or Bodexpress achieve such a dubious distinction, this will be the 18th straight year that a Derby starter fails to reach as high as 99-1 on the toteboard – and there’s no way any of them will approach the Derby record for the highest odds.

Gray Magician and Master Fencer are the only two horses as high as 50-1 on the morning line. Bodexpress, a maiden who drew in as the lone also-eligible, is one of seven horses listed at 30-1 on the revised line.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As always, there are overlays and underlays for bettors who took a shot in any of the four pools in the 2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

The most obvious bargain came in Pool 2, where Tacitus – still nothing more than a maiden winner at that point – was 96-1. The eventual winner of the Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial, he is 10-1 on the Churchill Downs morning line Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Racing, as those associated with Omaha Beach found out this week, can be awfully cruel. His trainer, Richard Mandella, is the kind of person who is acknowledged as deserving of a Kentucky Derby victory, the most glaring blank spot on a glittering résumé that has led him to the Hall of Fame.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Omaha Beach, scratched Wednesday from the 145th Kentucky Derby on Saturday because of an entrapped epiglottis, will have surgery Thursday afternoon but should be back in action by the summer, trainer Richard Mandella said at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning.

“We’ll wait a few days until after the surgery to make sure he’s good, then we’ll get him home,” Mandella said.

Mandella is currently based at Santa Anita. He spends the summer at Del Mar.