Today marks the 2024 Kentucky Derby’s starting gate, with a field of 20 horses scheduled to go. Tens of thousands of people are expected to witness 19 colts and a gelding sprinting down Churchill Downs’ dirt track in Louisville in the 150th Run for the Roses, an attempt to win the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Last Saturday, Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia selected Florida Derby winner Fierceness as the morning line favorite at 5-2 odds. The colt from Bay drew the No. 17 post position — one that’s produced no Derby winners since starting gates were The No. 16 spot was initially used in 1930, and four Derby winners have started from it, the most recent being Animal Kingdom in 2011.
Positioned at the second post, Sierra Leone trailed Fierceness in the morning line odds with a 3-1 score.
The horses from post No. 10 and up were able to move one spot closer to the inside of the track when 20-1 shot Encino withdrew from this week’s race due to a purported soft tissue ailment, creating an opening in the No. 9 post.
The brown colt Epic Ride, who was third in the Blue Grass Stakes last month, was positioned at the last post at 50-1 odds. Next to him was Society Man, a fellow long shot who finished second at the Wood Memorial in New York.
Here’s the complete list of the 2024 Kentucky Derby horses in order with their morning line odds:
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