2011 Kentucky Derby Post Positions: Full Starting Order For Saturday’s Race

You can view the latest Derby odds here.

With 20 horses in the 2011 Kentucky Derby field, post position is vital. As Andy Hutchins discussed earlier, an outside draw forces a horse to navigate through traffic while an inside draw reduces the chances of a clean start, with the rail on the inside and the rest of the field bearing down from the outside. In that regard, a draw in the middle of the starting gate is vital, especially for the favorites.

The draw is done by way of lottery. It is a luck of the draw deal for the 20 horses in the field. This isn’t picking teams or bidding on starting positions; It’s simply hoping to see your number pulled in a position near the middle.

Dialed In, the current favorite at 3/1, received an excellent draw with the No. 8 post position. Uncle Mo, currently at 4/1 and second in the odds, received a horrendous draw and will start out of the No. 18 spot. Nehro, holder of the third-best odds, also received a rough draw and will start in the No. 19 post position. Soldat is also out-wide at No. 17.

Edit: Matt Gardner, from And Down The Stretch They Come, added an excellent quick piece of analysis on the post draw:

Soldat is actually in a good spot. Early speed wants to be outside of the other speed. If you’ve got a colt that wants to be up front early, drawing wide is okay.

Archarcharch has a tough task…the rail is unkind to most and he’s going to have to deal with being boxed in during most of the race. He drew worst of all.

Decisive Moment is also kind of in a bad spot. he’s a speed horse drawn inside most of the other speed. He’ll need to gun it to get clear early, using up valuable energy in the process.

Because of the draw, Dialed In should be the prohibitive morning favorite, with Uncle Mo, Nehro and Soldat all taking a hit due their starting positions.

Here are the Kentucky Derby post draw results, as announced on Wednesday evening.

No. 1: Archarcharch
No. 2: Brilliant Speed
No. 3: Twice The Appeal
No. 4: Stay Thirsty
No. 5: Decisive Moment
No. 6: Comma To The Top
No. 7: Pants On Fire
No. 8: Dialed In
No. 9: Derby Kitten
No. 10: Twinspired
No. 11: Master Of Hounds
No. 12: Santiva
No. 13: Mucho Macho Man
No. 14: Shackleford
No. 15: Midnight Interlude
No. 16: Animal Kingdom
No. 17: Soldat
No. 18: Uncle Mo
No. 19: Nehro
No. 20: Watch Me Go

The 2011 Kentucky Derby post time is at 6:24 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, May 7th and SB Nation has everything you need to prepare for it - current Derby odds, contender profiles, field updates and more. You can find all of that and more at our 2011 Kentucky Derby StoryStream. Also, our horse racing blog And Down The Stretch They Come has two must-read resources for Derby fans: A Beginner’s Guide To Following Horse Racing and a glossary of horse racing terms.