How will 20-horse starting gate affect 2023 Kentucky Derby horses and their post positions?
The 149th edition of the Kentucky Derby will be the fourth to use a custom-made, 65-foot starting gate to house the Derby field prior to the start of the race.
Specifically designed for the Kentucky Derby, the special starting gate made its debut in 2020, and sought to eliminate any disadvantages that came with the previous two-gate system.
That system dated back to 1942, and featured a main gate that held the first 14 horses and an auxiliary gate that held the remaining horses in the field, if needed.
While the new starting gate — designed by Australian company Steriline Racing — features stalls that have wide interiors and narrow dividers, the overall goal of its existence is to avoid the problems that came with the two-gate setup.
These issues were well known: A post-position draw too close to the rail forced a horse to veer right to avoid the rail after leaving the gate. A post-position draw on the outside of the main gate or the interior of the auxiliary gate brought a wide gap separating the gates into play.
In short, the 20-horse gate came into practice in the name of fairness, with the idea of removing disadvantages for horses that inherently came with a bad post draw.
Max Player (2020), Epicenter (2022) and Mo Donegal (2022) all posted top-five finishes from post positions 1-3 in the last three editions of the Kentucky Derby.
Come this year, it’s Hit Show (post No. 1 with morning-line odds of 30-1), Verifying (No. 2, 15-1) and Two Phil’s (No. 3, 12-1) that will test the starting gate’s ability to be fairer to horses on the extreme inside.
“It’s overrated, bottom line. That’s my opinion of it,” trainer Brad Cox — who oversees both Hit Show and Verifying — said of the post-position draw after it occurred Monday. “It’s important to break well. I’m more interested in how they come out, not where they load from or where they break from.”
Meanwhile, it’s a who’s who of Kentucky Derby contenders that won’t have to deal with being near the gap that used to separate the No. 14 and No. 15 post positions in the old two-gate system.
Angel of Empire (8-1) drew post No. 14. Race favorite Forte (3-1) drew post No. 15 as the first horse to be assigned a starting post during Monday’s afternoon’s draw.
But, after Practical Move (who was post position No. 10) scratched out of the race Thursday afternoon, both Angel of Empire and Forte shifted over one gate to the inside.
This process repeated itself after Lord Miles, who at this point was in post No. 18, was scratched from the race following the suspension of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
It happened once more Thursday night, when Continuar (JPN), who at this point was set to leave from post No. 18, was scratched from the Derby due to fitness concerns.
And this movement occurred again Friday morning after Skinner scratched out of the race. (Angel of Empire will now leave from gate No. 12 and Forte from No. 13).
Cyclone Mischief, who replaced Practical Move in the field, will leave from post No. 17. Mandarin Hero (JPN), who joined the Derby field after Lord Miles was removed, will leave from post No. 18. King Russell, who was the final horse on the also-eligible list and replaced Continuar, will leave from the No. 19 post.
The No. 20 post will be empty for the race.
“He’s versatile enough he can adapt to any scenario,” said Forte’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, on Monday. “Hopefully, he can just work his way over to the first turn. That’s what everybody is going to be focused on, trying to get some position on the first turn. That would have been the same strategy whether we were (post) 15 or 5.”
“We’re extremely happy with the draw. It could have been a lot worse, and it could have been a bit better,” said Dennis Albaugh, a member of the Albaugh Family Stables racing operation that owns Angel of Empire, on Monday. “But actually coming from that position, in the middle of the field, that’s probably as good as you’re going to get. So we’re very happy with it.”
Albaugh, along with his son-in-law and racing operation partner Jason Loutsch, are also part of the ownership of Jace’s Road, who drew post position No. 12 (but will leave from post No. 10) and was assigned morning-line odds of 50-1.
In addition to training Hit Show in post No. 1 and Verifying in post No. 2, Cox is also the trainer for both Angel of Empire and Jace’s Road.
Jace’s Road is tied with Reincarnate (post No. 7), Sun Thunder (No. 11), Raise Cain (No. 14) and King Russell (No. 19) for the longest odds before early Derby wagering began Friday morning.
“It looks like a lot of the speed is inside of us,” Loutsch said. “I think Jace can carve out his trip and I think it’s going to set up really well for Angel of Empire. A lot of speed inside of us, try to get over and save as much ground.”
Tacked onto the end of Loutsch’s answer was insight into what the preferred post positions would have been for both Jace’s Road and Angel of Empire.
What he said likely wouldn’t have been uttered anytime over most of the previous eight decades.
“Coming in here (Monday), we said we wanted between six and 14, or 15,” Loutsch said. “They’re both there. So we’ve got to be happy.”
And historically speaking, it’s possible to win the Kentucky Derby from any starting post, except for one.
Post position No. 17 is the only post to have never produced a Derby winner, as starters from No. 17 are 0-for-43 when it comes to winning the Derby.
In the single-gate era though (from 2020 onward), the No. 17 post position produced its best all-time finisher: Tiz the Law in 2020.
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