Derby Morning-Line Favorite Omaha Beach Lands Post 12

Fox Hill Farms' Omaha Beach drew a favorable spot April 30 for the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs.

The son of War Front , who won the April 13 Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park in his last race, was assigned gate 12 of 20 at Tuesday's post position draw. The $3 million Derby is slated for 6:46 p.m. EDT and will air nationally on NBC. Scratch time is May 3 at 9 a.m.

Twenty-one were entered for the Run for the Roses, with Bodexpress listed as the lone also-eligible.

The Richard Mandella-trained Omaha Beach enters the Derby off a strong :59 five-furlong drill April 27. Omaha Beach has won his past three outings, starting with a Feb. 2 maiden win at Santa Anita Park. He then went on the road to take the second division of the March 16 Rebel Stakes (G2) before the Arkansas Derby, a victory that set him up as the 4-1 morning-line favorite to win on the first Saturday in May. Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who took the Derby last year on Triple Crown winner Justify , has the mount.

"We couldn't be happier," Mandella said after the draw. "It gives him a chance to size the race up. It's actually nice to be outside a little bit and not have to commit too quickly. In his last couple of races, he kind of sits back and bides his time the first little bit and then decides when to just cruise along. Mike will have to figure that out.

"Usually, if you're the favorite as opposed to being 100-1, you have a little better chance. It's a great feeling. I hope it comes out that way."

On the potential of adding his first Kentucky Derby win to a Hall of Fame career, Mandella said, "It would be a great thing to have happen. Anybody in this business knows the Kentucky Derby and wants to win it. It doesn't matter what you do. I'm in that group."

Trainer Bob Baffert, a five-time Derby winner and trainer of two Triple Crown winners, will have three runners in the Derby: Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, drew post 16 and was made the 5-1 second choice; Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Roadster (6-1) will break from post 17; and Improbable (6-1) will be in post 5.

Baffert said he was pleased with all his posts.

"Anything but the one or two or three, I'm fine with that," he said. "And I think the good horses all drew well, so there was no really shockers in there."

With two of his runners next to each other, he said: "they'll be easy to watch."

Post 17 is 0-40 historically. Baffert compared it to the 136-year-old "Curse of Apollo" broken by Justify, who became the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without racing as a 2-year-old.

"I'm OK, it's not the end of the world," he said.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has two runners for the Derby in Tacitus and Country House. Juddmonte Farms' Tacitus drew post eight and was listed at 10-1. Country House (30-1) was not as lucky, drawing the outside hole.

"I was hoping to be in the middle with him," Mott said of Tacitus. "He's a little different type of horse, has a little more early speed, tactical sort of speed, stalker-type; maybe the kind of horse that could possibly be mid-pack. He's actually probably got to take the chance of encountering as much traffic, maybe even more than Country House, even though Country House comes from farther back, just because he's starting sort of in the middle of the pack. But all we can do is hope for a clear trip.

"I thought he could probably deserve 6-1 or 8-1. I thought he was that good, I thought what he's shown. But they're the professionals and I guess we'll see how that goes when they start putting the money through the windows because that will really tell what the handicappers think.

"I think he's getting his mind more on business," Mott said. "He was a bit of a handful as a 2-year-old and he's a big, strong horse. He wants to play around a little bit so to speak, but it seems like we've seen a little more focus from him just recently. Being down here, I think maybe he realizes that there's something more important going on than what he had to deal with when he was a baby."

As for Country House, Mott added: "When they said 20 for Country House, I said, 'That's fine with me.' Given his running style, I think it's OK. No reason he shouldn't have a fairly clear run down to the first turn anyway. You don't know what's going to happen after that. Once he tucks in he's going to have to find room turning for home, but at least the first quarter of a mile you should be fairly clear and not be bothered. Anytime you're inside of anybody, you got to worry about getting shuffled, because in these big fields and these good riders, they're going to want to get over. They want to get over going into the first turn. I think for Country House it's fine."

Gary Barber's War of Will, winner of the Lecomte Stakes (G3) and Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), was the unfortunate one to draw the rail. He's 20-1 on the morning line.

"There's a lot of disadvantages being one," said trainer Mark Casse. "You load early, you sit there, and then there's that little gap, which sometimes horses like to go left a little bit. It's definitely not where you really want to be. I just was talking to Gary and I just kept laughing. What are you going to do? I've been doing this 40 years. You better learn to laugh.

"I don't know the numbers, but it didn't sound any worse than 17," Casse said. "He breaks, he's going to come away from there running and probably play catch me if you can. He is very sharp right now, very sharp. I've never seen him so sharp. And if he breaks the way he normally breaks, at least we have the shortest way around. I would think he'll probably be on the lead."

Historically, the rail has proved fruitful, but of late it is the toughest spot to win from. Ferdinand (1986) is the last winner from Post 1. Post 2 is perhaps just as tough, as 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed is the last Derby winner to break from that spot where Tax will begin his journey this year.

The outside 20 post has produced one winner, Big Brown  in 2008.

This will be the seventh Derby run under Churchill Downs' Road to the Kentucky Derby points system. The post-time favorite has won all six previous runnings.

This year's top point producer is Tacitus with 150 based on his scores in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2). Omaha Beach was second in the points race with 137.5. Spinoff, with 40 points, is the last main Road to the Kentucky Derby horse to get in the field. Master Fencer, who earned 19 points on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby and was the only horse from the his native country to accept the nomination, is the first Japan-bred horse to run in the Derby.

R. A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables' Vekoma, winner of the 100-point Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) April 6 at Keeneland, drew post 6 and is listed as a 20-1 shot on the morning line.

"I wanted somewhere between five and nine, so six is fine," said trainer George Weaver. "I must have gotten some hometown love. He should have some tactical speed. (Xpressbet Florida Derby [G1] winner Maximum Security) is right outside of us—they were very forward with that horse so we'll try to use our tactical speed and get a good spot before the first turn."

Spinoff is 30-1 and Master Fencer is tied with Gray Magician as the longest shots on the morning line at 50-1.

The draw was conducted by Ben Huffman, vice president of racing and the racing secretary for Churchill Downs, and stakes coordinator Dan Bork.

Entries: Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 04, 2019, Race 12

• Grade I
• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $3,000,000
• 3 yo
• 6:50 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1War of Will (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	126	Mark E. Casse	20/1
2	2Tax (KY)	Junior Alvarado	126	Danny Gargan	20/1
3	3By My Standards (KY)	Gabriel Saez	126	W. Bret Calhoun	20/1
4	4Gray Magician (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	126	Peter Miller	50/1
5	5Improbable (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	126	Bob Baffert	6/1
6	6Vekoma (KY)	Javier Castellano	126	George Weaver	20/1
7	7Maximum Security (KY)	Luis Saez	126	Jason Servis	10/1
8	8Tacitus (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	126	William I. Mott	10/1
9	9Plus Que Parfait (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	126	Brendan P. Walsh	30/1
10	10Cutting Humor (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	126	Todd A. Pletcher	30/1
11	11Haikal (KY)	Rajiv Maragh	126	Kiaran P. McLaughlin	30/1
12	12Omaha Beach (KY)	Mike E. Smith	126	Richard E. Mandella	4/1
13	13Code of Honor (KY)	John R. Velazquez	126	Claude R. McGaughey III	15/1
14	14Win Win Win (FL)	Julian Pimentel	126	Michael J. Trombetta	15/1
15	15Master Fencer (JPN)	Julien R. Leparoux	126	Koichi Tsunoda	50/1
16	16Game Winner (KY)	Joel Rosario	126	Bob Baffert	5/1
17	17Roadster (KY)	Florent Geroux	126	Bob Baffert	6/1
18	18Long Range Toddy (KY)	Jon Kenton Court	126	Steven M. Asmussen	30/1
19	19Spinoff (KY)	Manuel Franco	126	Todd A. Pletcher	30/1
20	20Country House (KY)	Flavien Prat	126	William I. Mott	30/1
21	21Bodexpress (KY)	Chris Landeros	126	Gustavo Delgado	30/1

Greg Hall, Ron Mitchell, Christine Oser, and Lenny Shulman contributed to this story.