2026 Kentucky Derby Post Position Draw: Field, Odds, and What We're Watching

The 152nd Kentucky Derby field is set. Saturday's draw at Churchill Downs locked in 20 starters and four also-eligibles for the 1 1/4 mile classic on Saturday, May 2. Renegade drew the rail and stayed the morning-line favorite at 4-1, while Brad Cox saddles three of the top contenders. Here's the full field, the storylines that moved at the draw, and what we'll be watching in the days leading up to post time.

The Field

PP	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	ML
1	Renegade	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Todd Pletcher	4-1
2	Albus	Manny Franco	Riley Mott	30-1
3	Intrepido	Hector Berrios	Jeff Mullins	50-1
4	Litmus Test	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	30-1
5	Right to Party	Christopher Elliott	Kenny McPeek	30-1
6	Commandment	Luis Saez	Brad Cox	6-1
7	Danon Bourbon	Atsuya Nishimura	Manabu Ikezoe	20-1
8	So Happy	Mike Smith	Mark Glatt	15-1
9	The Puma	Javier Castellano	Gustavo Delgado	10-1
10	Wonder Dean	Ryusei Sakai	Daisuke Takayanagi	30-1
11	Incredibolt	Jaime Torres	Riley Mott	20-1
12	Chief Wallabee	Junior Alvarado	Bill Mott	8-1
13	Silent Tactic	Cristian Torres	Mark Casse	20-1
14	Potente	Juan Hernandez	Bob Baffert	20-1
15	Emerging Market	Flavien Prat	Chad Brown	15-1
16	Pavlovian	Edwin Maldonado	Doug O'Neill	30-1
17	Six Speed	Brian Hernandez Jr.	Bhupat Seemar	50-1
18	Further Ado	John Velazquez	Brad Cox	6-1
19	Golden Tempo	Jose Ortiz	Cherie DeVaux	30-1
20	Fulleffort	Tyler Gaffalione	Brad Cox	20-1

Also-eligibles: Great White, Ocelli, Robusta, Corona de Oro.

Headline Storylines

Renegade got the rail. No horse has won the Derby from post 1 since Ferdinand in 1986. The challenge is real: with 19 horses tipping out around the first turn, a tactical type from the rail gets buried unless the early position is right.

Brad Cox saddles three of the top contenders. Commandment (PP6, 6-1) and Further Ado (PP18, 6-1) share the second-choice line, with Fulleffort (PP20, 20-1) rounding out the three-pack. Further Ado's 11-length Blue Grass romp put him in this conversation, and PP18 gives him a clean outside-stalker trip.

The Mott family stable war. Bill Mott has Chief Wallabee in PP12 at 8-1, the third choice. His son Riley has two longshots in Albus (PP2) and Incredibolt (PP11). One Derby winner per surname per year is the goal.

Bob Baffert is back with two. After his three-year Churchill Downs suspension and a one-horse return in 2025, Baffert has Litmus Test (PP4) and Potente (PP14) in the gate. Potente is the $2.4 million yearling that ran second in the Santa Anita Derby.

What We're Watching

Pace shape favors closers. With Six Speed (PP17) and Pavlovian (PP16) drawn outside, the early speed has to work to clear, which makes honest fractions likely. Renegade from the rail is more tactical than gunning, so we don't expect him to pressure the issue. Closers who draw clean runs get rewarded in years like this. Further Ado (PP18), Emerging Market (PP15), Fulleffort (PP20), and Chief Wallabee (PP12) all profile that way.

The Pletcher rail draw is the question of the week. Renegade is too talented to throw out, but post 1 is post 1. If he slides off the lead and into a stalking trip on the fence, he can grind through. If he gets pinched back early, his price drops to nothing and his trip is a recipe to lose. We'll watch to see if the price drifts.

Longshots worth a look. Our E-Z Win® Forms have a few high-ranked longshots flagged in this Derby field that rate better than their morning lines. Worth a play on their own or stacking underneath your top picks in your gimmicks.

Weather watch. Forecasts for Derby Day are mixed, with rain chances varying source to source. We'll recheck closer to race day. Track condition at post time is a wildcard worth tracking, since sealed sloppy at Churchill historically favors speed and would scramble the closer thesis above.

We'll update our Derby picks page as the week unfolds. For background on the contenders heading into the draw, our pre-draw preview is still the best primer on form, and the Kentucky Derby prep races page has the full points trail and prep recaps.