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143rd Kentucky Derby - The Contenders, How To Watch and Post Time

Mben

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classic empire.jpg

Classic Empire, the favorite, works out at Churchill Downs. Credit Jamie Rhodes/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

It’s time once again for pricey mint juleps and off-key singing of “My Old Kentucky Home.” The Kentucky Derby will be run this Saturday at Churchill Downs racetrack.

Veteran Derby watchers say there does not appear to be a standout horse in this year’s field, but someone must win, and many people will make money on it.

Here’s what we know about this year’s Derby:

Post time: Saturday, 6:34 p.m. E.D.T.

TV: NBC, beginning at 2:30. NBC Sports Network coverage runs beforehand from noon to 2:30.

Coverage will also be streamed on NBC Sports Live.

Our favorites: Joe Drape and Melissa Hoppert break down the field here.

Crowd: 150,000-plus. Last year’s announced figure of 167,227 was the second most ever.

Purse: $2,395,800, of which $1,635,800 will go to the winner.

Favorite: Classic Empire was last year’s 2-year-old champion and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner. Though he started this year with a loss, he won the Arkansas Derby last month to show he still seems to have it at age 3. Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia made him the 4-1 morning line favorite.

Other contenders: On the morning line, Always Dreaming and McCraken are co-second favorites at 5-1. Always Dreaming won the Florida Derby comfortably in perhaps the best race of the spring. McCraken was upset in the Blue Grass Stakes, but had good form before that. The fourth favorite, Irish War Cry, a New Jersey-bred horse, won the Wood Memorial in a fast time.

Long shots: Gunnevera was third in the Florida Derby as the favorite. Thunder Snow has looked impressive racing in Dubai. Irap was the winner of the Blue Grass at 31-1. Gormley is the best of the California horses, who appear to be weaker than usual this year.

Forget About It: Sonneteer has raced 10 times in his career and still has not won.

Draw: A field of 20 was drawn for the race on Wednesday morning. Classic Empire drew post 14.

Lookin at Lee drew the dreaded No. 1 post, just as his sire Lookin at Lucky did in 2010. Lookin at Lucky got pinned to the rail and finished sixth that day.

The full 2017 field:

1. Lookin at Lee

2. Thunder Snow

3. Fast and Accurate

4. Untrapped

5. Always Dreaming

6. State of Honor

7. Girvin

8. Hence

9. Irap

10. Gunnevera

11. Battle of Midway

12. Sonneteer

13. J Boys Echo

14. Classic Empire

15. McCraken

16. Tapwrit

17. Irish War Cry

18. Gormley

19. Practical Joke

20. Patch.

Royal Mo and Master Plan are also eligible for the race and would have a chance to race if a horse is withdrawn by 9 a.m. Friday.

Jockeys: Javier Castellano, the champion jockey four times running, rides Gunnevera. Victor Espinoza, who won the Triple Crown on American Pharoah, rides Gormley.

Trainers: Last year’s winner with Nyquist, Doug O’Neill, trains Irap. The champion trainer Chad C. Brown trains a long shot, Practical Joke.

Celebrity connection: The former Olympic skier Bode Miller is a part owner of the long shot Fast and Accurate.

Equine interest story: Patch, a lightly raced long shot entrant breaking from Post 20, has one eye. A few other one-eyed horses have run in the race over the years, including Pollard’s Vision in 2004 and Cassaleria in 1982.

National anthem: Harry Connick Jr.

Other races: There will be six other graded stakes races on Churchill’s Saturday card, including the Turf Classic and the Distaff.

Paradise Woods, who crushed the field in the Santa Anita Oaks, is the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies to be run on Friday.

Missing: Bob Baffert, the ubiquitous four-time Derby winner, who trained American Pharoah and currently has the best older horse, Arrogate, will not have an entrant. He has a filly, Abel Tasman, racing in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday. He said he would be leaving Kentucky the morning of the Derby.

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