Post Position

(NOTE: To download Liam's full cheat sheet for all of Saturday's races, click here . Following is his analysis on the Preakness Stakes.)   There are always lots of hard luck stories in the Kentucky Derby, and some of those hard luck horses come to the Preakness looking to set the record straight. Several of those guys are here to take on Orb. And a handful more Derby grumblers are skipping the Preakness to set their sights on the Belmont. However, recent history shows that the Derby winner tends to back up the Derby win and beat most if not all of those Derby finishers again.

In his bid to win horse racing's elusive Triple Crown, I'll Have Another today was named a 4-5 favorite for Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Immediately after the No. 11 post position and odds were announced, I'll Have Another's connections tweeted, "We drew post # 11 -- Brilliant. " Trainer Doug O'Neill said after the draw, "Unbelievable ride. Whole journey is just because of the great I'll Have Another. " O'Neill left minutes later to oversee his horse's acclimation to the new Belmont Stakes Barn.

With nearly every eye at Pimlico fixated on either the uncatchable leader, Oxbow, or the Kentucky Derby winner and heavy betting favorite, Orb, Itsmyluckyday cruised under the radar to earn a little bit of redemption in Saturday's Preakness. After failing to challenge Orb on the muddy track at Churchill Downs two weeks ago and finishing near the back of the pack, Itsmyluckyday finished in second place in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. "We did run our race, but we just weren't lucky enough to win," trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said.

Doug O'Neill took a seat under a small awning, in front of cameras and reporters Wednesday morning. After a week and a half of passing time chatting with the few stragglers who came by his barn, it was time for the Kentucky Derby winning trainer to face the horde in town for Saturday's Preakness. He took questions on his record - he's had a history of horses breaking down, and has been charged four times with “milkshaking” a horse - and was asked again about how his colt, I'll Have Another, will do this time around against Bodemeister, the runner-up at Derby.

May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

At the post-position draw for the 117th Preakness yesterday, everything that could go wrong went wrong -- especially for Dance Floor.The speed horses, Alydeed and Speakerphone, drew outside, instead of inside, posts.But it was Dance Floor, the horse owned by the family of rap star Hammer, who took the heaviest dose of bad luck. The colt drew the poorest gate -- 14 out of 14 in the first full field to start in the race since 1970."It isn't funny," Hammer said. "Four races and four bad spots.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- After an embarrassing mistake that forced a redraw, Indian Charlie, Halory Hunter and Favorite Trick -- the three early favorites -- ended up with coveted post positions for the 124th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs.Yesterday's draw was billed as a revolutionary change in the tradition-bound sport of horse racing. Instead of horses merely being assigned a post position, the connections of each horse were going to be able to select their starting spots.The idea was to add drama and suspense to a normally boring event.

Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver arrived at Pimlico Race Course this afternoon and was made the 5-2 favorite for Saturday's 135th Preakness Stakes. Super Saver will start from the 8th post position in the 12-horse field -- two short of the maximum -- in his bid to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. "I don't think the post position matters in this race," Super Saver trainer Todd Pletcher said today. Lookin At Lucky, sixth in the Derby but a pre-race favorite, was the 3-1 second choice and Paddy O'Prado, third in the Derby, was the 9-2 third choice.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Trainer Rick Dutrow talks such a big game that even oddsmaker Mike Battaglia couldn't resist his enthusiasm. "I've never heard a trainer talk about his horse with so much confidence in my life," Battaglia said yesterday after making the undefeated Big Brown the 3-1 Kentucky Derby favorite. "I decided to keep him at 3-1 and lower the odds on Colonel John and Pyro." Battaglia made his choice even after Dutrow had drawn the No. 20 post position. Clyde Van Dusen was the last horse to win the Derby from the far outside.

— Bob Baffert tried to say all the right things during the week. He tried to put on a good face, and pretend that his horse, Lookin At Lucky, had a legitimate chance to win the Kentucky Derby despite drawing the No. 1 post position. But after the race, he admitted he never really believed it. Lookin At Lucky, the co-favorite at the start of the race, never really had much of a chance. He had to fall off the pace early, then try to mount a charge late, and there was simply too much traffic.

It's hot - but not too hot - and humid - but not too humid - here as 150,000 people make their way toward Churchill Downs, where the 138 th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place at about 6:30 tonight. Hard rain fell overnight, leaving the track sloppy in the morning and preventing any of the Derby's 20 contestants from going to the track (it has since been upgraded all the way up to fast). Graham Motion, the Fair Hill trainer who won the Derby last year with Animal Kingdom, had told me he hoped to take Went the Day Well out there.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - All along, Bob Baffert has said that he fought the urge. He didn't allow even an idle moment to be filled with the blurry, soaring dreams that can be ignited by training a horse as promising as Bodemeister. He insisted on waiting until the post position draw and the announcement of the morning line. When, on Wednesday, Bodemeister drew the No. 6 spot and was named the initial 4-1 favorite, Baffert relented only partially. “I'm just relieved I didn't draw the one hole,” he said.

Post positions and morning line odds for 2011 Preakness Stakes 1. Astrology 15-1 2. Norman Asbjornson 30-1 3. King Congie 20-1 4. Flashpoint 20-1 5. Shackleford 12-1 6. Sway Away 15-1 7. Midnight Interlude 15-1 8. Dance City 12-1 9. Mucho Macho Man 6-1 10. Dialed In 9-2 11. Animal Kingdom 2-1 12. Isn't He Perfect 30-1...

Too much Mucho Kevin Van Valkenburg Baltimore Sun No one seems particularly wowed by any of the horses in this year's crop of 3-year-olds, especially after Uncle Mo looked like "Uncle Slow" at the Wood Memorial. If not for that lackluster race, Uncle Mo would be an easy pick. He's the most talented horse in the field, but thanks to a gastrointestinal infection, we're still not sure if he'll even be in the gate on Saturday. It's too risky to pick a horse with so many questions.

No one can say with any real certainty whether or not Uncle Mo will be in the starting gate on Saturday when the Kentucky Derby is run for the 137th time at Churchill Downs. He's still battling a gastrointestinal infection that could result in a scratch right up until post time. But even if he does run, there is a good chance he won't be the favorite. For now, that honor goes to Dialed In, the horse Churchill Downs handicapper Mike Battaglia picked as the 4-1 morning line favorite on Wednesday after the Nick Zito-trained colt drew the favorable eighth stall in the Derby post position draw.

Lookin At Lucky had another tough trip Saturday, but this time the star-crossed Kentucky Derby favorite waited until after he crossed the wire to win the 135th Preakness Stakes before struggling to get into the winner's circle. Moments after jockey Martin Garcia brought the bay colt home in the second jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown series, Lookin At Lucky and his expanded entourage found themselves face to face with a racetrack security contingent that — at least momentarily — wasn't willing to let everyone pass.

GOOD MORNING -- STREET SENSE -- 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini also started as post position No. 8

Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver arrived at Pimlico Race Course this afternoon and was made the 5-2 favorite for Saturday's 135th Preakness Stakes. Super Saver will start from the 8th post position in the 12-horse field -- two short of the maximum -- in his bid to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. "I don't think the post position matters in this race," Super Saver trainer Todd Pletcher said today. Lookin At Lucky, sixth in the Derby but a pre-race favorite, was the 3-1 second choice and Paddy O'Prado, third in the Derby, was the 9-2 third choice.

— Bob Baffert tried to say all the right things during the week. He tried to put on a good face, and pretend that his horse, Lookin At Lucky, had a legitimate chance to win the Kentucky Derby despite drawing the No. 1 post position. But after the race, he admitted he never really believed it. Lookin At Lucky, the co-favorite at the start of the race, never really had much of a chance. He had to fall off the pace early, then try to mount a charge late, and there was simply too much traffic.