The Derby is scheduled to go to post at 6:34 p.m. Saturday.
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Nyquist is the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the race.
O’Neill had said before the race he wouldn’t mind the No. 14 post. He was only one off.
“It sucks”, said Desormeaux, who has won the Derby three times. “Watching them train this week”. I expect a great race. We’re very wide and on a part of the racetrack that wasn’t a good spot to be that day.
The draw could be a factor on Saturday, with a field of 20 horses, and O’Neill said he was happy with the number 13 slot for Nyquist, who will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez.
That fee boosted the Derby purse to $2,391,600 if 20 horses start.
Creator, Gun Runner and Mohaymen are joint third favorites at 10-1, breaking from the No3, No5 and No14 posts, respectively.
Outwork will be one of two starters for trainer Todd Pletcher, who won the 2010 Derby with Super Saver.
Battaglia made Mor Spirit a 12-1 shot to win the Derby, and he no longer deviates from his pre-draw odds unless a strong contender gets stuck on the rail. Since 1990 there have been only two winners out of that post.
Pletcher, 48, who has run as many as five in one Derby, tries again with a pair of 15-1 shots: Outwork and Destin. “You lose a head here, a neck there, and all of a sudden it multiplies quickly, and you don’t ever get that stuff back”.
Reddam invited hockey’s Nyquist, whose Red Wings were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs two weeks ago, to the Derby but he is with Sweden’s team in Russian Federation for the world championships starting on Friday.
Last year, Baffert won with American Pharoah, who swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes to win the sport’s first Triple Crown in 37 years.
Baffert said the last time he was assigned with post No. 17 “was with Point Given with Gary Stevens”.
We can only hope the accomplished Jaramillo gets him settled in mid-pack for a run to the stretch. I don’t have a problem with it. All the speed horses are outside.
Post positions were drawn late Wednesday afternoon at America’s best-known horse racing venue.
Mor Spirit, 12-1 on the line, will break from post position 17.
Reddam said the naming came about after a playful exchange with another National Hockey League player, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, with whom Reddam has partnered in buying some horses.
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The Kerr brothers, who traditionally view the Derby via simulcast from the Scarborough Downs Clubhouse, will instead be in attendance at Louisville this year, to witness their colt’s historic run for the roses.
