POST POSITION DRAW

The post position draw has finished! Here is a list of the official Kentucky Derby lineup and their starting odds. You can click on this image to view it in its original size.

TWO TOP 20 POINT EARNERS DO NOT JOIN THE DERBY

It was heartbreak on Kentucky Derby entry morning for the one-eyed New York-bred gelding Un Ojo, who was not entered for Saturday's classic after emerging from his final work with a bruised hoof. Trainer Ricky Courville characterized the issue as a minor one with terrible timing. "He'll live to fight another day," said Courville, who would have been saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter. Un Ojo's defection allows Ethereal Road into the 20-horse Derby starting gate. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Luis Contreras will have the mount on Ethereal Road in the Derby.

Trainer Chad Brown announced Sunday morning Early Voting will not be entered in the Kentucky Derby. Brown previously had left the door open to enter the Derby but said he was leaning toward the Preakness for Early Voting, who finished second behind Mo Donegal in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial. It was just the third start in Early Voting’s career. Brown, seeking his first Kentucky Derby victory, has another top contender in Zandon. The departure of Early Voting opens the door for Pioneer of Medina to enter the Kentucky Derby field at No. 20 on the points list.

WHO'S THE FAVORITE?

Epicenter is currently, and expected to remain, the favorite.

Epicenter won the Louisiana Derby in late March, solidifying its spot as a likely Kentucky Derby front-runner. The colt has notched victories in four of its past five races, and he finished second in the other, so he's had plenty of past success.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has won the Preakness Stakes twice and the Belmont Stakes once, but the longtime trainer has never been victorious at the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps this could be the year he completes his personal Triple Crown. Epicenter has a former Derby champion as his jockey, too. Joel Ortiz won the race with Orb in 2013, and he'll look to ride to victory again this year.

Some other top horses to keep your eyes on are Zandon, White Abarrio, Messier, and Taiba, but any horse could steal the win from any of these favorites!

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE FIELD

The only female who was under consideration, Secret Oath, has opted for Friday's Kentucky Oaks for fillies.

All but four of the likely Derby starters born in Kentucky.

Two horses have never raced in the U.S.: the Japan-born Crown Pride and Summer is Tomorrow, the top two finishers in the UAE Derby in Dubai.

The most lightly raced horse in the field is Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba (two career starts), and the most experienced are Tiz the Bomb and Barber Road (eight starts each).

Fourteen of the probable entries have been bought at public auctions, for prices ranging from $15,000 (Barber Road) to $1.7 million (Taiba). Three — Zozos, Happy Jack, and Charge It — were bred by their owners.

Post Position Draw will occur on MONDAY 5/16/2022 AT 4:00 PM EST. This draw will finalize who will be participating and determine which position each horse will start from. This can be very important in determining how well a horse will run the race. For more information on the importantance of post position, click here! Morning-line (starting) odds for the race will be announced shortly after the draw. I will update the list of horses to reflect their post draws the same day.

Post time for the race is set for approximately 5/21/2022 AT APPROXIMATELY 6:50 PM EST. This is when the horses will begin making their way to the gate to start the race. NBC Sports will be providing comprehensive race coverage and analysis live on CNBC, NBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Pea before, during and after the main event. Coverage begins at 2:00 PM EST on CNBC and moves over to NBC at 4:00 PM EST.

HOW OLD IS THE PREAKNESS STAKES? Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness, during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873. 2022 will be the 147th running of the race.

HOW DID THE PREAKNESS STAKES GET ITS NAME? Maryland governor Oden Bowie named the race in honor of the colt Preakness from Milton Holbrook Sanford's Preakness Stud farm in Preakness, New Jersey, who won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico opened (October 25, 1870).

WHAT IS THE RACE DISTANCE? The Preakness is 1 3/16 miles or 9.5 furlongs, making it the shortest of the Triple Crown horse races. The Preakness has been run at seven different distances since its establishment, but the current length has been the standard since 1925.

WHICH HORSE HOLDS THE RECORD FOR THE FASTEST TIME AT THE CURRENT DISTANCE? Secretariat holds the record at this horse track with a time of 1:53 in 1973.

HAS THE PREAKNESS STAKES ALWAYS BEEN HELD TWO WEEKS AFTER THE KENTUCKY DERBY? Prior to 1931, there were 11 years in which the Preakness preceded the Kentucky Derby. In fact, there were actually two years, 1917 and 1922, where the two horse races were held on the same day. Due to COVID concerns in 2020, the Kentucky Derby ran on September 5th while the Preakness Stakes ran on October 3rd. The Belmont Stakes were run on June 20th in 2020 which means it was the first time in Triple Crown history that the Belmont was run first.

01. There have been 16 winning horses with names beginning with B (the most recent being Big Brown in 2008), 17 with C (Cloud Computing in 2017), and 14 with S (Shackleford in 2011).

02. In 1918, 26 horses entered the race, and it was run in two divisions, providing for two winners that year. Currently, the race is limited to 14 horses, but the only years the Preakness starting gate was filled to capacity were 2011, 2005, and 1992.

03. The first Preakness, held on May 27, 1873, drew seven starters. John Chamberlain's three-year-old, Survivor, collected the $2,050 winning purse by galloping home easily by 10 lengths. This was the largest margin of victory until 2004, when Smarty Jones won by 11 1/2 lengths.

04. No horse racing at odds greater than 23-1 has won the Preakness. In the 1975 Preakness Stakes, Master Derby won with 23.40-1 odds.

05. The trophy is so valuable, not even the winners are allowed to hold it. The mammoth 13-kilogram, solid silver Woodlawn Vase, created by Tiffany and Co. in 1860, is worth $1 million -- making it the most valuable trophy in American sports. The trophy now remains on permanent display at the Baltimore Museum of Art, with winners instead given a $30,000 replica trophy.

06. The winner is draped in a blanket of Viking poms. It’s usually called a blanket of black-eyed Susans, but since the Maryland state flower doesn’t bloom until June, the Viking poms play the part. Previously, daisies with the centers painted black were used.

07. As soon as the race is over, the 1.5-meter wide weather vane atop Pimlico Race Course's Old Clubhouse, featuring a miniature horse and jockey, is painted in the winning jockey's silks.

08. The favorite wins the Preakness more than half of the time. In 141 editions of the race, the favorite has emerged victorious 72 times.

09. The U.S. House of Representatives adjourned for the only time in history in 1877, to watch what was known as the "Great Race."

10. There have been 6 fillies who have won; Flocarline in 1903, Whimsical in 1906, Rhine Maiden in 1915, Nellie Morse in 1924, Rachel Alexandra in 2009, Swiss Skydiver in 2020.

KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER RICH STRIKE TO SKIP THE PREAKNESS STAKES

Just days after Rich Strike's improbable upset win in the Kentucky Derby, owner Rick Dawson announced that the horse would not compete in the upcoming Preakness Stakes. Rich Strike's withdrawal from Preakness on May 21 will end the horse's chances at going for the Triple Crown.

Rich Strike's spectacular victory in the Derby, in which he surged out of mid-pack to win at 80-1 odds, created a somewhat unforeseen scenario. The horse was not even listed to participate in the race 24 hours beforehand. The choice to skip the Preakness was made in the interest of rest and recovery for the horse, Dawson said.

"Obviously, with our tremendous effort and win in the Derby it's very, very tempting to alter our course & run in the Preakness at Pimlico, which would be a great honor for all our group," Dawson said. "However, after much discussion & consideration with my trainer, Eric Reed & a few others, we are going to stay with our plan of what's best for Ritchie is what's best for our group, and pass on running in the Preakness, and point toward the Belmont in approximately 5 weeks."

Future plans for Rich Strike were always contingent on what happened at the Kentucky Derby,  The original one, which the trainers are sticking to, is to give the horse rest and recovery ahead of the Belmont Stakes on June 11. Rich Strike becomes the first Kentucky Derby winner to not compete in the Preakness since 2019, when Country House did not enter after being awarded the Derby win following the disqualification of Maximum Security. With Rich Strike skipping Preakness, Justify will remain the most recent horse to have won the Triple Crown, doing so in 2018.

KENTUCKY OAKS WINNER SECRET OATH TAKES ON THE COLT-DOMINATED FIELD

Briland Farm's homebred Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath has been confirmed for the Preakness Stakes instead of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

This won't be the first time the filly has raced against some of the contenders in the Triple Crown races. Secret Oath finished third against the boys in the Arkansas Derby on 4/2/2022, beat only by Cyberknife and Barber Road. She came from the back of the pack, ran most of the final stretch in second place, before losing it to Barber Road at the very end. You can watch a replay of the Arkansas Derby here!

There have been six fillies to take home the Preakness in it’s 146-year history, and the latest in 2020 was Swiss Skydiver who pulled quite the upset at 11-1 odds. Since the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans moved to 9.5 furlongs in 1925, Skydiver’s 1:53.28 is the second fastest time ever in the Preakness.

UN OJO MAKES A RETURN AFTER SCRATCHING FROM DERBY

Cypress Creek Equine and Whispering Oaks Farm’s Un Ojo is set to put his best foot forward May 21 in the 147th Preakness Stakes. The gelding was forced to bypass the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve because of a minor but untimely foot bruise, but his team believes he will be ready for the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.

The one-eyed Un Ojo was withdrawn five days before the Derby, on the morning entries were taken. Ethereal Road stepped into Un Ojo's spot, only to scratch from the race as well the night before the Derby, which allowed Rich Strike to enter and ultimately claim the win.

ZANDON PASSES ON REMAINING TRIPLE CROWN RACES

After finishing third in the Kentucky Derby, Zandon will bypass the final two legs of the Triple Crown, skipping the Preakness and Belmont Stakes to point toward the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

In a phone interview, owner Jeff Drown of St. Cloud said his colt has been shipped to Belmont Park and "looks fantastic." Drown and trainer Chad Brown decided not to run in the May 21 Preakness because of the quick two-week turnaround after the Kentucky Derby. "If he had won the Derby, we'd be talking about the Preakness," Drown said. "But we didn't, so we'll make another decision. We love this horse a lot, and we think being very patient is the right decision. He's at Belmont now, and he's a happy horse. We'll just give him the time to hopefully do well in the other races.''