Kentucky Derby 2016: Post positions and morning line odds

The favorite before the Kentucky Derby post position draw is the favorite after it. Oddsmaker Mike Battaglia set Nyquist as the 3-1 morning line favorite after the undefeated 3-year-old colt drew the 13th stall in the gate Wednesday night. The position isn’t quite what Nyquist’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, had hoped for, but he said he’s happy enough with the draw.

“Breaking from the 13 is fine,” said O’Neill, who won the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another. “(Nyquist) was No. 13 when he won the Breeders Cup Juvenile at Keeneland. So the post draw didn’t matter to us a ton. But we’re happy being more outside for sure.”

If there’s one concern, it’s that Florida Derby winner Nyquist isn’t opening outside of the other speed horses, Danzing Candy (No. 20) and Outwork (No. 15), both of whom are set at 15-1 odds. In fact, the entire field at Churchill Downs on Saturday will be starting to the left of Danzing Candy, who set a blistering pace at the Santa Anita Derby earlier in the year before giving way to Exaggerator and finishing fourth some distance back. Jockeyed by Mike Smith, Danzing Candy is likely to set the pace for the pack early at the Kentucky Derby, as well.

“I think (jockey) Mario Gutierrez’s job on the favorite, Nyquist, got a little bit tougher,” NBC analyst Randy Moss said, in breaking down the winners and losers of the draw.

However, Gutierrez, who guided I’ll Have Another from the 19th stall in 2012, is an experienced jockey who’s been there before, and O’Neill is happy with the way things are unfolding at Churchill Downs ahead of the $2 million, mile-and-a-quarter length Derby.

“This is so exciting. Showing up in the morning to the barn and just being so privileged to be with this great horse is amazing. The whole team is pumped up. Nyquist is just doing super well. He’s settled in good. He got to visit the gate crew. Scott Jordan and the boys over there. They got along with him great. So we’re just very optimistic for a big day on Saturday.”

Exaggerator, jockeyed by Kent Desormeaux and trained by his brother, Keith Desormeaux, was given the field’s second-best odds at 8-1. He’ll break from the No. 11 stall, which hasn’t hosted a winner since Winning Colors in 1988 and has had just two in the past 75 years.

However, Exaggerator has won just three of the seven graded races he has entered, including a second-place finish behind Nyquist at the San Vicente Stakes in February. Two months later, a victory at Santa Anita in muddy conditions looked impressive. He came back from more than 20 lengths behind Danzing Candy to win by more than six lengths.

Three colts were set at 10-1 morning line odds: Creator, who’ll break from No. 3; Gun Runner at No. 5; and Mohaymen at No. 14. Creator, the son of Tapit, won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby over Kentucky Derby contenders Whitmore and Suddenbreakingnews. Gun Runner faced only Grade 2 competition and comes in as a bit of a mystery. However, he’s won four of five races, including the Louisiana Derby in March. Mohaymen has won five of the six races he’s been entered in. The lone loss came to Nyquist at the Florida Derby.

As for the winless 17th position? That went to Bob Baffert-trained colt Mor Spirit, with 12-1 odds. Baffert would have preferred to start at No. 16.

“All the speed is on the outside,” Baffert noted. “There will probably be two different races going on.”

The race can be viewed on NBC beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday -- horses break from the gate at approximately 6:34 p.m. -- or streamed via NBC Sports Live Extra.