Derby 134 Field Is Set

Greetings from Louisville, where the local time is 2.24 a.m. EST.

The field for Derby 134 is set, and the big story is that Big Brown, the morning line favorite at 3-1, drew the outside post and will start from the 20 hole. Not desirable at all, but his connections were 16th to choose and didn't want the rail {1} or 18 or 19- they'd rather be on the far outside with less chance of getting pinched between horses. He won the Florida Derby from the outside post, and they'll be hoping that he can do that again, but he'll be going against history in a major way: the last horse to win from the 20 post was Clyde Van Dusen in 1929, and in the last 32 Derbies there have been 6 starters fro the 20 post, with only 1 3rd place finish between them.

But, if you believe that he is a freak that can outrun all his other historical disadvantages {more on this tomorrow}, then you most likely wouldn't stop supporting him because of this.

Here's the entire field with post position, horse, jockey, trainer, and morning line odds:

1 Cool Coal Man, Julien Leparoux, Nick Zito, 20-1

2 Tale of Ekati, Eibar Coa, Barclay Tagg, 15-1

3 Anak Nakal, Rafael Bejarano, Nick Zito, 30-1

4 Court Vision, Garrett Gomez, Bill Mott, 20-1

5 Eight Belles (f), Gabriel Saez, Larry Jones, 15-1

6 Z Fortune, Robby Albarado, Steve Asmussen, 30-1

7 Big Truck, Javier Catellano, Barclay Tagg, 50-1

8 Visionaire, Jose Lezcano, Michael Matz, 20-1

9 Pyro, Shaun Bridgmohan, Steve Asmussen, 6-1

10 Colonel John, Corey Nakatani, Eoin Harty, 4-1

11 Z Humor, Rene Douglas, Bill Mott, 30-1

12 Smooth Air, Manoel Cruz, Bennie Stutts Jr., 20-1

13 Bob Jack Black, Rich Migliore, James Kasparoff, 20-1

14 Monba, Ramon Dominguez, Todd Pletcher, 15-1

15 Adriano, Edgar Prado, Graham Motion, 30-1

16 Denis of Cork, Calvin Borel, David Carroll, 20-1

17 Cowboy Cal, John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher, 20-1

18 Recapturetheglory, E.T. Baird, Louie Roussel, 20-1

19 Gayego, Mike Smith, Paulo Lobo, 15-1

20 Big Brown, Kent Desormeaux, Rick Dutrow Jr., 3-1

(f) - filly
All horses carry 126 pounds.