A capacity Kentucky Derby field of 24 (including 4 also-eligibles), one that features no less than 7 trainers who’ve already won the roses, was drawn Saturday at Churchill Downs. Arkansas Derby winner Renegade begins next Saturday from post #1 and has been deemed the 4-1 morning-line favorite. He’ll try to give champion jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. his first win in America’s biggest race and become the first to win from the rail since Ferdinand in 1986.

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Notable contender draws include Florida Derby winner Commandment (post #6), his Gulfstream Park rivals The Puma (post #9) and Chief Wallabee (post #12) as well as Blue Grass winner Further Ado (post #18). Japan will be represented by the unbeaten Danon Bourbon (post #7) and UAE Derby winner Wonder Dean (post #10).

Post position draw winners and losers are never an easy assessment. Chief Wallabee is beautifully drawn in post 12, away from some of the other speed pockets and potential trouble neighborhoods. Posts 19 and 20 will very much suit deep closers Golden Tempo and Full Effort as they’ll not have any of the speed crossing over their face and can take their time at the back to pick a spot to save ground. Just a matter if they’re good enough.

As for the losers, Renegade’s deep-closing style could see him shuffled farther back than he’d like from the rail. It's safer on the rail with the 20-horse starting gate allowing for more space than the auxiliary-gate era. But you've still got a mass of horseflesh trying to all save as much ground as they can in front of you. Further Ado wants a pressing trip, but from post 18, he’s got a lot of speed inside of him and will need to work out a path to save ground behind the initial leaders. So Happy and The Puma are drawn between the Japanese entrants and that could make for some congestion if one or both of the international runners don’t negotiate the start cleanly as has been known to happen. And the inexperienced Emerging Market in post 15 has speed horses in the 3 immediately posts outside of him and will have to resist getting rank as those horses try to cross his face early in the going.

The pace of Kentucky Derby 152 could come from Dubai-based Six Speed, who leaves from post 17. Others expected to show early interest include Pavlovian (post #16), Potente (post #14) and Litmus Test (post #4). Expect Intrepido (post #3) now to be inserted into the early pace discussion as rookie Derby rider Hector Berrios will have to use some horse to maintain safe position with the field working down to the rail.

Note that Chief Wallabee and Litmus Test both get equipment changes to blinkers on for the Kentucky Derby.

Fields for all races Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs were drawn today, including Friday’s primetime 8:40 pm ET Kentucky Oaks. The headliner for 3-year-old fillies canvasses the country with west coasters Meaning (post #5) and Explora (post #1), the midwestern trio of Percy’s Bar (post #11), Counting Stars (post #3) and Bella Ballerina (post #12) and the eastern pair of Zany (post #2) and Always a Runner (post #9) among the field of 14 with 3 also-eligibles. Zany has been set as the chilly 4-1 Oaks favorite in what’s expected to be wide-open betting.

Advance wagering on the complete Kentucky Derby Day Saturday card at Churchill Downs will be available Friday at 1/ST BET and Xpressbet.

Kentucky Derby 152 | Churchill Downs | Saturday Race 12 | 6:57 pm ET

1-Renegade (Todd Pletcher / Irad Ortiz Jr.) 4-1
2-Albus (Riley Mott / Manny Franco) 30-1
3-Intrepido (Jeff Mullins / Hector Berrios) 50-1
4-Litmus Test (Bob Baffert / Martin Garcia) 30-1
5-Right to Party (Kenny McPeek / Chris Elliott) 30-1
6-Commandment (Brad Cox / Luis Saez) 6-1
7-Danon Bourbon (Manabu Ikezoe / Atsuya Nishimura) 20-1
8-So Happy (Mark Glatt / Mike Smith) 15-1
9-The Puma (Gustavo Delgado / Javier Castellano) 10-1
10-Wonder Dean (Daisuke Takayanagi / Ryusei Sakai) 30-1
11-Incredibolt (Riley Mott / Jaime Torres) 20-1
12-Chief Wallabee (Bill Mott / Junior Alvarado) 8-1
13-Silent Tactic (Mark Casse / Cristian Torres) 20-1
14-Potente (Bob Baffert / Juan Hernandez) 20-1
15-Emerging Market (Chad Brown / Flavien Prat) 15-1
16-Pavlovian (Doug O’Neill / Edwin Maldonado) 30-1
17-Six Speed (Bhupat Seemar / Brian Hernandez Jr.) 50 -1
18-Further Ado (Brad Cox / John Velazquez) 6-1
19-Golden Tempo (Cherie DeVaux / Jose Ortiz) 30-1
20-Fulleffort (Brad Cox / Tyler Gaffalione) 20-1

Also-Eligible (in order of field selection if scratches occur by 9 am ET Friday):
21-Great White (John Ennis / Alex Achard)
22-Ocelli (Whit Beckman / Joe Ramos)
23-Robusta (Doug O’Neill / Emisael Jaramillo)
24-Corona de Oro (Dallas Stewart / Brian Hernandez Jr.)