LOUISVILLE, Ky. – D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, sat in the front row. A few rows back, sat seven-time winner Bob Baffert, in Louisville for his first Derby after a three-year ban. Across the aisle from Baffert, Michael McCarthy, trainer of this year’s favorite, Journalism, sat beside his daughter, Stella.
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And on the other side of the setup for the Derby draw, stood a person in a horse head and jockey silks, hooves crossed at the ankles, casually hanging at a high-top bar table. Derby week officially kicked off with the perfect mix of the splendid and the absurd here on Saturday night, the sport’s stars doing on-camera TV interviews as they rubbed shoulders with a person who took time to rent a horse head.
Mixed in the sublime evening, the 151st run for the roses got down to business, with the post positions drawn for the 20-horse field. Journalism, slated by odds maker Mike Battaglia as the 3-1 favorite, drew the eighth position, a fortuitous spot in Derby history. Nine winners have come from the 8-spot, the second most of any place in the field. Only two other horses earned single-digit odds, Sovereignty at 5-1 and Sandman at 6-1. Both, however, are outside, in the 17 and 18 posts, the crowd audibly groaning when their positions were announced.
Post Positions for the 151st Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. pic.twitter.com/CGyJn9rmy2
— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) April 26, 2025
The more interesting takeaway from this draw is that the speed is all smushed in the middle. Baffert’s Rodriguez, Lukas’ American Promise, and Japanese horses Admire Daytona and Luxor Cafe drew the 4 through 7 positions, respectively, which could create a very fast start. McCarthy, just on the outside of that speed, was nonplussed.
“There’s always plenty of early speed in the Derby,” he said. “But we have a fast horse, too.”
McCarthy is not new to the Derby; this will be the second horse he sends to the starting gate. But this is the first time he’ll operate from the favorite position. Unlike Baffert, who posed for pictures and did the circuit of television interviews, McCarthy prefers to blend into the crowd. He is a horseman, not a showman, but acknowledged that things are a little different this time around than his other visits to Churchill.
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“There’s a lot to be expected of you,” he said with a shrug, just as an official whisked him away for a TV appearance. “But we’re trying to sit back and enjoy it.”
So, too, was Baffert. Back in his very familiar stomping grounds, the trainer took in the scene. Churchill turned the draw into an event last year in time for the 150th Derby, moving what typically was a mid-afternoon, early week private event into a show set beneath the twin spires. Fans filled the seats and stood outside the ropes delineating the area for the VIPs, while others in the upper reaches of the balconies leaned over to listen. Plenty walked around in flapper gear, heeding the call to turn the draw into “Gatsby Night,’’ while getting a jump on their mint julep consumption.
While Baffert was happy to be back, he was less pleased with the draw for his second horse, Citizen Bull. He’s against the rail in the 1-spot, a dead zone for Derby winners. The last Derby winner to come from there was Ferdinand, in 1986.
“I wasn’t happy about it, but there’s we can’t worry about it,” Baffert said. “The whole Derby is about the break, so that’s all we can do is hope we break well and go from there.”
2025 Kentucky Derby Odds
| Post | Horse | Odds |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Citizen Bull |
20-1 |
|
2 |
Neoquos |
30-1 |
|
3 |
Final Gambit |
30-1 |
|
4 |
Rodriguez |
12-1 |
|
5 |
American Promise |
30-1 |
|
6 |
Admire Daytona |
30-1 |
|
7 |
Luxor Café |
15-1 |
|
8 |
Journalism |
3-1 |
|
9 |
Burnham Square |
12-1 |
|
10 |
Grande |
20-1 |
|
11 |
Flying Mohawk |
30-1 |
|
12 |
East Avenue |
20-1 |
|
13 |
Publisher |
20-1 |
|
14 |
Tiztastic |
20-1 |
|
15 |
Render Judgement |
30-1 |
|
16 |
Coal Battle |
30-1 |
|
17 |
Sandman |
6-1 |
|
18 |
Sovereignty |
5-1 |
|
19 |
Chunk of Gold |
30-1 |
|
20 |
Owen Almighty |
30-1 |
(Photo: Jeff Schear / Getty Images for Churchill Downs)
This news was originally published on this post .
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