Classic Empire in sweet spot
Derby favorite draws No. 14 post
Favorite Classic Empire drew an ideal post position Wednesday and will break from the No. 14 gate Saturday in the 143rd Kentucky Derby.
Classic Empire, last year’s 2year-old male champion and winner of the Arkansas Derby in his final prep, was installed as the 4-1 morning-line favorite by oddsmaker Mike Battaglia. The horse’s trainer, Mark Casse, was sweating out the draw as the dreaded No. 1 position was still on the board when Classic Empire’s name was called. The inside gate is viewed as the most challenging in a 20-horse field because horses can get trapped
on the rail and struggle to get a clear path to run.
“Given the last four or five choices, I was real happy, because I could just see the 1 hole, and the 1 hole could have been disastrous,” Casse said. “I was already ready to tell everybody, ‘Hey look, we’ve overcome everything else, so why not this?’ ”
The post-position draw didn’t appear to compromise any of the favorites.
Always Dreaming, the impressive Florida Derby winner, will break from the No. 5 gate as the 5-1 co-second choice along with McCraken, who drew the No. 15 hole.
Always Dreaming prefers to be forwardly placed anyway, so it seems almost certain that jockey John Velazquez, coming from an inside post position, will put the horse on or near the lead.
Similarly, Wood Memorial winner Irish War Cry, who is 6-1 on the morning line, will be more likely to use his speed coming from the No. 17 post.
Battaglia said he didn’t factor post positions heavily into his morning line.
“You can get bothered from any post, and you can get lucky from any post,” he said.
Lookin At Lee, a late-running long shot, will come out of the dreaded No. 1 post, but his running style should allow him to save ground on the first turn. And he’s being ridden by Corey Lanerie, who knows his way around Churchill Downs as a 10-time leading rider at the track.
“I’m not seeing a lot of speed in the race, so having an inside draw should be helpful,” said Lookin At Lee’s trainer, Steve Asmussen. “If it’s a compact field, being wide could possibly eliminate anybody. If anybody had to have the 1 hole, Lookin At Lee with his experience being a closer, the races he’s run with Lanerie, they’d be the two that would be able to overcome it.”
Irap, who comes from the same barn as Derby winners I’ll Have Another and Nyquist under trainer Doug O’Neill, drew No. 9.
One interesting factor could be Patch, who has drawn attention this week because his left eye was removed as a 2-year-old. Patch drew the far outside at No. 20, meaning he won’t be able to see any of the horses breaking to his inside.
Royal Mo and Master Plan were entered as alternates should one of the 20 Kentucky Derby starters scratch before 9 a.m. ET Friday.