Post Position : Horse : Jockey : Mike Battaglia’s Morning Line Odds

1. Trojan Nation Aaron Gryder 50-1

2. Suddenbreakingnews Luis Quinonez 20-1

3. Creator Ricardo Santana Jr. 10-1

4. Mo Tom Corey Lanerie 20-1

5. Gun Runner Florent Geroux 10-1

6. My Man Sam Irad Ortiz Jr. 20-1

7. Oscar Nominated Julien Leparoux 50-1

8. Lani Yutaka Take 30-1

9. Destin Javier Castellano 15-1

10. Whitmore Victor Espinoza 20-1

11. Exaggerator Kent Desormeaux 8-1

12. Tom’s Ready Brian Hernandez Jr. 30-1

13. Nyquist Mario Gutierrez 3-1

14. Mohaymen Junior Alvarado 10-1

15. Outwork John Velazquez 15-1

16. Shagaf Joel Rosario 20-1

17. Mor Spirit Gary Stevens 12-1

18. Majesto Emisael Jaramillo 30-1

19. Brody’s Cause Luis Saez 12-1

20. Danzing Candy Mike Smith 15-1

AE-21. Laoban Cornelio Velasquez 50-1

AE-22. Cherry Wine Robby Albarado 30-1

KENTUCKY DERBY 142 POST POSITION DRAW QUOTES

Trojan Nation (Post position 1, morning line 50-1) – Paddy Gallagher (trainer) – “We’re in! He’s got no (early) speed. We’re fine there.”

Suddenbreakingnews (Post position 2, morning line 20-1) – Donnie Von Hemel (trainer) – “It's good with us. He's surrounded by horses with similar running styles and shouldn't get shuffled back. He should be able to get comfortable from there."

Creator (Post position 3, morning line 10-1)/Gun Runner (Post position 5, morning line 10-1) – Steve Asmussen (trainer) – “Creator, he's kind of out the back early. He won't have a long ways to go left to find the fence early. (Gun Runner) "It's looks like all the pace is to the outside. Hopefully, prerace, everything goes smoothly. Hopefully, he stands up in the gates. Hopefully, he's away from there really good. But, we're very anxious right now with a very good horse going into the Derby. He's a tremendous horse. You want a good trip to show who he is.''

Mo Tom (Post position 4, morning line 20-1) – Tom Amoss (trainer) – “I think the two most significant things about the draw are we drew toward the rail but not so close that it's a problem, and that there's a lot of speed way on the outside in this post-position draw. Those horses are going to have to be used out of the starting gate, and that I think will ensure a good pace, which is what we need.''

My Man Sam (Post position 6, morning line 20-1)/Shagaf (Post position 16, morning line 20-1) – Chad Brown (trainer) – “I’m fine with both posts. I was looking for an inside post with My Man Sam so six will work just fine and we were looking for something on the outside with Shagaf with as big as he is so he’ll stay out of trouble. Sixteen will work just fine. So now it’s just up to the horses and the jockeys.”

Oscar Nominated (Post position 7, morning line 50-1) – Mike Maker (trainer) – “I’m pleased, obviously. It’s better than the one-hole that we drew a couple of years ago. No complaints.”

Lani (Post position 8, morning line 30-1) – Mikio Matsunaga (trainer) – “It was a good draw, ideal. The middle was ideal so I have no complaints about drawing number eight.”

Destin (Post position 9, morning line 15-1)/Outwork (Post position 15, morning line 15-1) – Todd Pletcher (trainer) – “I’m good with them. We like the 15 for Outwork. It gives us some room inside between the gates. And I’m OK with the nine for Destin. The only thing that concerns me is the horse inside Destin (Lani, the Japanese representative). I have some concern about that horse acting up. But the posts themselves are fine.”

Whitmore (Post position 10, morning line 20-1) – Ron Moquett (trainer) – “We're tickled with it. All we've been wanting is a good post and a good trip. Last year, we didn't get a good post and I don't know if it would have changed anything, but this year we have a better post and a better horse."

Exaggerator (Post position 11, morning line 8-1) – Keith Desormeaux (trainer) – “I’m fine with it. Kent (Desormeaux, his brother and his rider) seems a bit concerned because he’ll have to wait some after they load. But I don’t see a problem. The horse is as cool as a cucumber. It’ll be fine.”

Tom’s Ready (Post position 12, morning line 30-1) – Dallas Stewart (trainer) – “Great draw. Great field. We're ready to go. The Bensons are ready to go. We're ready to roll.''

Nyquist (Post position 13, morning line 3-1) – Doug O’Neill (trainer) – “We like it. We see a good sign. We were post No. 13 when we won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.”

Mohaymen (Post position 14, morning line 10-1) – Kiaran McLaughlin (trainer) – “We’re happy. He’ll be the last one in the main gate, so it’s great. There’s a little space between the two gates. There are a lot worse posts, so we’re happy.”

Mor Spirit (Post position 17, morning line 12-1) – Gary Stevens (jockey) – “I’m happy with it.”

Majesto (Post position 18, morning line 30-1) – Gustavo Delgado (trainer) – “I’d prefer a little more inside, but I cannot change it. But remember he’s a strong horse.”

Brody’s Cause (Post position 19, morning line 12-1) – Dale Romans (trainer) – “At first, I was a little bit disappointed, but after looking at the draw with the speed (Danzing Candy) outside of us, we’ll let him clear. I think it’s going to be all right.”

Danzing Candy (Post position 20, morning line 15-1) – Cliff Sise (trainer) – “At first you're kind of stunned when they say 20, but when you start thinking about it, it's not that bad. It's better than the one-hole, especially for a speed horse -- he can come over very gradually and he won't sit in the gate long. Actually, it might be in our favor. We're outside of any other speed horse, so we'll take it.”

KENTUCKY DERBY 142 FACT BOX

Date: Saturday, May 7, 2016
Raceday Information: Gates Open: 8 a.m. / First of 14 Races: 10:30 a.m. ET
Race: Churchill Downs Race 12 Approximate Post Time: 6:34 p.m. ET Television: NBC (4-7:30 p.m. ET)
Radio: Horse Racing Radio Network (5-7 p.m. ET)
Grade: I
Distance: 1 ¼ Miles
Total Purse (if 20 horses start): $2,391,600 First (if 20 horses start): $1,631,600 Second (if 20 horses start): $400,000 Third (if 20 horses start): $200,000 Fourth (if 20 horses start): $100,000 Fifth (if 20 horses start): $60,000 Scratch Time: Friday, May 6, 2016 at 9 a.m. ET

Kentucky Derby Post Position History

Post Record Win% ITM% Avg.

1 86-8-4-5 9.3% 19.8% 8.26

2 86-7-5-13 8.1% 29.1% 7.76

3 86-5-6-8 5.8% 22.1% 8.10

4 86-5-6-4 5.8% 17.4% 8.44

5 86-9-8-2 10.5% 22.1% 7.44

6 86-2-7-3 2.3% 14.0% 9.28

7 85-6-6-5 7.1% 20.0% 7.69

8 85-8-5-4 9.4% 20.0% 8.34

9 82-4-5-8 4.9% 20.7% 8.72

10 79-9-6-9 11.4% 30.4% 7.54

11 75-2-4-3 2.7% 12.0% 8.96

12 71-3-3-3 4.2% 12.7% 9.51

13 69-4-5-7 5.8% 23.2% 8.36

14 61-2-5-5 3.3% 19.7% 9.23

15 54-5-2-1 9.3% 14.8% 10.06

16 45-4-3-3 9.1% 22.7% 9.39

17 37-0-1-2 0.0% 8.1% 11.16

18 29-1-4-0 3.4% 17.2% 9.17

19 24-1-1-0 4.2% 8.3% 12.58

20 14-1-0-1 7.1% 14.3% 10.57

21 2-0-0-0 0.0% 0.0% 13.50

22 1-0-0-0 0.0% 0.0% 8.00

23 1-0-0-0 0.0% 0.0% 7.00

The first Saturday of May can always help drive away the memory of nasty winter cold, politics, wars, terrorism and all the other distractions of life when the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in the world, takes place.

It is the first step in the American Triple Crown for Thoroughbred horses and the beginning of reaching for that dream of all horse breeders and a place in history.

For 142 years horses have gone to the gate in the Kentucky Derby at the legendary Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, in hopes of winning the Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown has three races of over a mile against the best horses in the world during a five week period and is the true test of champions. In the 142 years since the Kentucky Derby began only 12 horses have won the coveted Triple Crown. When American Pharaoh won last year it ended a 37 year drought since the last Triple Crown champion, Affirmed in 1978, the longest drought ever between Triple Crown champions.

Between the time Affirmed and American Pharoah won the triple crown, twelve horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but none won the Belmont Stakes to claim the Triple Crown. The closest was Real Quiet in 1998 who lost by a nose in the Belmont. In fact, more people have walked on the moon than there have been horses winning the Triple Crown.

Now no horse will ever be the champion like Secretariat in 1973 who blazed to glory winning the three races by a record total of 36 lengths. It had been 25 years since the previous Triple Crown winner and to this day Secretariat holds the records in the Derby, Preakness and the Belmont.

Secretariat was not the only winner to make history. Affirmed won all three of his legendary races with Alydar finishing second in each. This rivalry ranks as the best triple crown competition in history. Alydar was the only horse to ever finish 2nd in all three races and in the Belmont when Affirmed was going for the Triple Crown they were nose to nose at the finish line with Affirmed winning in a photo finish by a nose. In all three races the two horses finished just two lengths apart.

The Kentucky Derby is the most amazing two minutes in sports and this year another strong field.