What's the best post position to have in the 2025 Kentucky Derby?

The post positions are set for this year’s 151st running of the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby on Saturday night at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Now, it’s time to analyze which horses got a good draw, and who got a bad one, ahead of this year’s Run for the Roses.

Journalism — the 3-1 morning line favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby — will leave from post position 7.

Sandman — a 6-1 choice on the morning line for the Derby — is set to depart this year’s race from post position 15.

Chunk of Gold — a 30-1 selection on the morning line — will begin the Kentucky Derby from post position 17. That’s the only post position to have never produced a Kentucky Derby winner.

This is only a snapshot of the information that can be gleaned from knowing the post positions for each of the 20 horses in the Derby field.

The post positions for this year’s Derby have already undergone two changes. That’s because Rodriguez (drawn into post position No. 4) and Grande (post position No. 10) have both scratched out of the race.

“I just don’t think you want to be post 1. It is such a big field,” Scott Hazelton, a horse racing host and reporter for FanDuel TV, told the Herald-Leader. “... Even with the introduction of the new starting gate, you just cannot break from (post position 1), especially if you’ve got a horse that wants to be tactically forward. Because they just all come over, right? You’ve got 19 other horses from the outside coming over, and there’s just bound to be something that happens in that first quarter-of-a mile plus going into the first turn. ... I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that would want post position number 1.”

Plenty of historical precedent exists for which post positions are the best ones to have in the Kentucky Derby, dating back to the first use of a starting gate in 1930. (Before the starting gate, horses were dispatched by the use of ropes, ribbon or wooden barriers.)

Below is a complete look at the results of horses from each Kentucky Derby post position since the starting gate was first adopted in 1930.

Kentucky Derby post position results since 1930

POST POSITION NO. 1: 8 wins, 5 seconds, 5 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Ferdinand (1986).

— Last top-three finish? Lookin At Lee (second, 2017).

— This year’s No. 1: Citizen Bull (20-1 morning-line odds).

POST POSITION NO . 2: 7 wins, 6 seconds, 13 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Affirmed (1978).

— Last top-three finish? Sierra Leone (second, 2024).

— This year’s No. 2: Neoequos (30-1).

POST POSITION NO . 3: 6 wins, 8 seconds, 8 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Mystik Dan (2024).

— Last top-three finish? Mystik Dan.

— This year’s No. 3: Final Gambit (30-1).

POST POSITION NO . 4: 5 wins, 6 seconds, 4 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Super Saver (2010).

— Last top-three finish? Danza (third, 2014).

— This year’s No. 4: American Promise (30-1).

American Promise is program No. 5.

POST POSITION NO . 5: 10 wins, 8 seconds, 4 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Always Dreaming (2017).

— Last top-three finish? Audible (third, 2018).

— This year’s No. 5: Admire Daytona (JPN) (30-1).

Admire Daytona is program No. 6.

POST POSITION NO . 6: 2 wins, 8 seconds and 3 thirds from 95 starts.

— Last winner? Sea Hero (1993).

— Last top-three finish? Good Magic (second, 2018).

— This year’s No. 6: Luxor Cafe (15-1).

Luxor Cafe is program No. 7.

POST POSITION NO . 7: 8 wins, 6 seconds and 6 thirds from 94 starts.

— Last winner? Mandaloun (2021).

— Last top-three finish? Mandaloun.

— This year’s No. 7: Journalism (3-1).

Journalism is program No. 8.

POST POSITION NO . 8: 9 wins, 5 seconds and 5 thirds from 94 starts.

— Last winner? Mage (2023).

— Last top-three finish? Mage.

— This year’s No. 8: Burnham Square (12-1).

Burnham Square is program No. 9.

POST POSITION NO . 9: 4 wins, 6 seconds and 8 thirds from 91 starts.

— Last winner? Riva Ridge (1972).

— Last top-three finish? Hot Rod Charlie (second, 2021).

— This year’s No. 9: Flying Mohawk (30-1).

Flying Mohawk is program No. 11.

POST POSITION NO . 10: 9 wins, 6 seconds and 11 thirds from 88 starts.

— Last winner? Giacomo (2005).

— Last top-three finish? Forever Young (third, 2024).

— This year’s No. 10: East Avenue (20-1).

East Avenue is program No. 12.

POST POSITION NO . 11: 2 wins, 6 seconds and 4 thirds from 84 starts.

— Last winner? Winning Colors (1988).

— Last top-three finish? Code of Honor (second, 2019).

— This year’s No. 11: Publisher (20-1).

Publisher is program No. 13.

POST POSITION NO . 12: 3 wins, 3 seconds and 4 thirds from 80 starts.

— Last winner? Canonero II (1971).

— Last top-three finish? Angel of Empire (third, 2023).

— This year’s No. 12: Tiztastic (20-1).

Tiztastic is program No. 14.

POST POSITION NO . 13: 5 wins, 5 seconds and 7 thirds from 78 starts.

— Last winner? Nyquist (2016).

— Last top-three finish? Nyquist.

— This year’s No. 13: Render Judgment (30-1).

Render Judgment is program No. 15.

POST POSITION NO . 14: 2 wins, 6 seconds and 6 thirds from 68 starts.

— Last winner? Carry Back (1961).

— Last top-three finish? Essential Quality (third, 2021).

— This year’s No. 14: Coal Battle (30-1).

Coal Battle is program No. 16.

POST POSITION NO . 15: 6 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third from 63 starts.

— Last winner? Authentic (2020).

— Last top-three finish? Authentic.

— This year’s No. 15: Sandman (6-1).

Sandman is program No. 17.

POST POSITION NO . 16: 4 wins, 3 seconds and 3 thirds from 52 starts.

— Last winner? Animal Kingdom (2011).

— Last top-three finish? Commanding Curve (second, 2014).

— This year’s No. 16: Sovereignty (5-1).

Sovereignty is program No. 18.

POST POSITION NO . 17: 0 wins, 1 second and 2 thirds from 45 starts.

— Last winner? None.

— Last top-three finish? Forty Niner (second, 1988).

— This year’s No. 17: Chunk of Gold (30-1).

Chunk of Gold is program No. 19.

POST POSITION NO . 18: 2 wins, 4 seconds and 0 thirds from 37 starts.

— Last winner? Country House (2019).

— Last top-three finish? Country House.

— This year’s No. 18: Owen Almighty (30-1).

Owen Almighty is program No. 20.

POST POSITION NO . 19: 1 win, 1 second and 0 thirds from 31 starts.

— Last winner? I’ll Have Another (2012).

— Last top-three finish? I’ll Have Another.

— This year’s No. 19: Baeza (12-1).

Baeza is program No. 21.

POST POSITION NO . 20: 2 wins, 0 seconds and 1 third from 19 starts.

— Last winner? Rich Strike (2022).

— Last top-three finish? Rich Strike.

— This year’s No. 20: There are no horses in post position No. 20 for this year’s Derby.

There is currently a 19-horse field for the race after Rodriguez and Grande scratched.

There have been four combined starts from the No. 21, No. 22 and No. 23 post positions in Derby history. None of those horses finished in the money.

Starting with the 2020 race, Churchill Downs began using a custom-made 20-horse starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. The 65-foot gate replaced the practice of using two gates to accommodate all the Derby horses.

This new gate eliminated a wide gap between post position No. 14 in the main gate and post position No. 15 in the auxiliary gate, and it also helps mitigate the disadvantage for horses drawn near the rail.

“I don’t truly think the outside post matters. I don’t think being drawn to the outside is a big deal,” added Hazelton, the horse racing analyst. “Now, you may have to travel a little bit further, but I think that obviously opens up the ability to look over and see what’s happening and engage and have plenty of time... It’s not a lot of time, but time for the rider to get that position going into the turn, to try to save as much ground as possible.”

Which Kentucky Derby post positions are historically the best?

— The post position with the most Kentucky Derby winners since 1930 is post No. 5 with 10 winners. It’s the only post position with double-digit race winners since 1930.

With 10 winners from 95 starters, the win percentage from post No. 5 is 10.5%.

The No. 5 post for the 2025 Derby is held by Admire Daytona (JPN), who had morning line odds of 30-1.

Admire Daytona is program No. 6 for the race.

— The two post positions with the best Kentucky Derby winning percentage since 1930 are posts No. 5 and 20.

Out of 95 total starters from post No. 5, 10 horses have gone on to win the Derby. The most recent of these champions was Always Dreaming in 2017.

Out of 19 total starters from post No. 20, two horses have won the Kentucky Derby: Big Brown in 2008 and Rich Strike in 2022. This high winning percentage from post No. 20 is skewed by the small number of starters compared to other post positions.

The No. 5 post for the 2025 Derby is held by Admire Daytona (JPN), who has morning-line odds of 30-1. He is program No. 6.

The No. 20 post for the 2025 Derby will not be used.

— The post position with the highest percentage of top-three finishes in the Kentucky Derby since 1930 is post No. 10, which has had 26 horses finish in the money from 88 starters.

This means 29.6% of Kentucky Derby horses since 1930 who have started from post No. 10 have finished in the money. This happened last year when Forever Young ran third as part of a historic three-way photo finish at the wire of the Derby.

The No. 10 post for the 2025 Derby is held by East Avenue, who has morning-line odds of 20-1. East Avenue is program No. 12.

The only post position to be used in the 2025 race that has never produced a previous Derby winner is the No. 17 post, which will be occupied by Chunk of Gold, who has morning-line odds of 30-1.

Starters from post No. 17 are 0-for-45 when it comes to winning the Derby, and only three starters from that post have finished in the money. You have to go all the way back to the 2005 Kentucky Derby to find the last time a horse from post No. 17 (Don’t Get Mad) finished in the top five.

It’s been 37 years since a horse who started in post No. 17 finished in the money in the Derby. This dry spell extends back to Forty Niner’s second-place effort (by a neck) in 1988.