The post position draw for this year’s 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby took place Saturday night at Churchill Downs in Louisville a full week before the running of the race this weekend.

As such, plenty of time has been and will be devoted to analyzing the pairing of horse and starting gate for the $5 million event.

Fierceness — the 5-2 morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby — drew post position 17, which is the only starting gate to have never produced a winner in any of the previous 149 editions of the race.

But, Fierceness will actually begin the 2024 Kentucky Derby from starting gate 16 as the result of a change to the Derby field.

On Tuesday, Encino — which drew post position 9 — scratched out of the race. This not only moved Epic Ride from the also-eligible list to the Derby field, but it also means the horses that drew post positions 10-20 will move inside one starting gate for the race.

Those horses’ program numbers will remain the same.

Plenty of historical precedent exists for which post positions are the best ones to draw for the 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 comprehensive look at the results of horses from each Kentucky Derby post position since the starting gate was adopted in 1930.

Post-position results in the Kentucky Derby (since 1930)

POST POSITION NO. 1

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