Churchill to Debut 20-Horse Derby Gate in Sept. 1 Race

Churchill Downs' new 20-horse starting gate, specifically designed to accommodate the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), will receive an afternoon trial in the second race there Sept. 1, track officials said.

Churchill previously used two gates for the Derby, relying on a main gate for the first 14 runners and an auxiliary gate for the remaining runners. The auxiliary gate has been needed for the past 22 years, according to Churchill Downs.

The recently constructed gate will be utilized for a seven-horse maiden race over the same distance as the 1 1/4-mile Derby, allowing starter Scott Jordan and his gate crew to position it as they would for the Sept. 5 Derby.   

Over the past week, the new gate has been placed along the backstretch chute, near the start of seven-furlong races. Its temporary home between two barns allows for it to be wheeled out onto the racetrack for horses to school there during periods of morning training.

"I didn't want them to run in something that they've not been in before. So we wanted to make a comfort zone for the trainers and the horses also," Jordan said.

During the specific Derby training session Saturday morning, no horses were viewed taking advantage of the schooling option, though activity is expected to pick up during light training days in the lead-up to the race.

The gate is unlike those typically found in America, where the standard capacity is 14 horses. Rarely is there a need for a U.S. racetrack to have a gate with more than 14 stalls.

As a consequence, the structure of the new gate, designed by Australian company Steriline Racing, is based on gates in operation in other parts of the world, where fields of 20 or more go to post more often. Jordan and other Churchill Downs officials visited York Racecourse in Britain for a firsthand look at such a gate last year.

Jordan said the Churchill gate was modified to make it comparable to those in the U.S., size notwithstanding. This meant making it more Americanized with its interior components. 

In U.S. racing, an assistant starter will remain in the starting gate with a horse after loading, trying to keep the horse composed and holding its head straight for the start. Their gate crew counterparts in other parts of the world will sometimes duck under the gate and out of the way after loading a horse, leaving the horse to the jockey to manage a sharp beginning.

The break in the Derby has at times been rough. Inner-drawn horses need to break sharply to avoid being pinched back by the field as riders angle their mounts toward the rail. And horses positioned on the outside of the main gate or on the inside of the auxiliary gate have been disadvantaged by contact as a result of horses' tendencies to dart to open space. 

In February, news of Churchill's move to utilize the new gate was warmly greeted by horsemen, hopeful of removing at least some of the race's early scramble. Jockey Mike Smith and Mark Casse expressed eagerness for the gate in February interviews with BloodHorse.

Casse saw firsthand the challenge of the two gates when Classic Empire , his 2-year-old champion from 2016, was walloped by auxiliary-gate horses in the 2017 Derby shortly after the start from post 14, the last stall in the main gate. Knocked out of early position, he wound up fourth.

Such breaks didn't always happen, nor did horses always end up buried when starting from the fence, but it occurred enough that losing America's most coveted horse race with such trips stung the connections of those involved.

Bob Baffert, a five-time Derby winner, could have won another in 2010 if Lookin At Lucky  had not been impeded from his inside post position, falling back to 18th before rallying to be sixth. He returned two weeks later to win the Preakness Stakes (G1). 

"That 1 hole just destroyed him, that poor horse," Baffert said in a telephone interview from California. "But I've been lucky. I can't complain. You got to get away and get that racing luck."

The horse breaking from the inside post will break farther away from the rail this year, as will the horse on the far outside relative to the outer rail, Jordan said. This is due to the length of the gate being shorter than the two other gates combined while also considering the gap between the two.

The interior of the stalls are an inch and a half wider than the track's usual gate, Jordan said, though the dividers between the stalls are narrower.

"So rather than coming out like from the 1 (post), where it used to be, you're almost coming out of the 3 path," he said. "So instead of coming out of the 20, the way it used to be, you're almost down to like the 18 or the 17."

A less-than-full field could also affect how the horses for this year's Derby are situated. 

"Well, the way we set it up in the Derby with the rules, if there's a scratch, if there's 19, we move out from the 1 hole," he said. "If there's another scratch, then we move out of the 20. So we go back and forth, equal distance."

The same rules apply if fewer than 20 horses are entered, Jordan said. Eighteen horses were considered as possible Derby starters as of Aug. 29.

A smaller field is the biggest key for diminishing the impact of bad racing luck, Baffert said. He believes 16 Derby horses are manageable.

"I think if they could put 25 in there, they'd put 25. It's all about (betting) handle," he said.

Baffert said his two Derby runners this year, Thousand Words and Authentic, would visit the new gate before the race. They will be flown to Louisville from California Aug. 31.

Beyond the gate switch, there will be another change this year: Jordan should be able to hear his crew due to the spectatorless racing. Normally, 170,000 fans would make that nearly impossible, leaving his assistant starters to try to signal him with a hand motion if a horse was unprepared, rather than yelling out.

"It'll be a lot different because right when the last horse is loading, it's loud. That's why I always have to trust my men," Jordan said.

Baffert said he is just happy to have the Derby in this COVID-19-marred year. He thinks the Derby vibe, absent on the backstretch this week due to diminished access, will pick up when it is game time. 

"You know when they load in the gate, we'll feel it," he said.