LOUISVILLE, Ky. – D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, sat in the front row. A few rows back sat seven-time winner Bob Baffert, in Louisville for his first Derby after a three-year ban. Across the aisle from Baffert, Michael McCarthy, trainer of this year’s favorite, Journalism, sat beside his daughter, Stella.
And on the other side of the setup for the Derby draw, stood a person in a horse head and jockey silks, hooves crossed at the ankles, casually hanging at a high-top bar table. Derby week officially kicked off with the perfect mix of the splendid and the absurd here on Saturday night, the sport’s stars doing on-camera TV interviews as they rubbed shoulders with a person who took time to rent a horse head.
Mixed in the sublime evening, the 151st run for the roses got down to business, with the post positions drawn for the 20-horse field. Journalism, slated by odds maker Mike Battaglia as the 3-1 favorite, drew the eighth position, a fortuitous spot in Derby history. Nine winners have come from the 8-spot, the second most of any place in the field. Only two other horses earned single-digit odds, Sovereignty at 5-1 and Sandman at 6-1. Both, however, are outside, in the 17 and 18 posts, the crowd audibly groaning when their positions were announced.
Read more on this year’s post positions and betting odds below.
GO FURTHER
Kentucky Derby 2025 post positions, betting odds: Favorite Journalism draws No. 8