Kentucky Derby 2020 Horses: Contenders and Race-Day Overview for Entire Field

The 2020 Kentucky Derby will finally take place Saturday and will be unlike any other race in the event's history.

The Run for the Roses will be held four months after its scheduled date because of the COVID-19 pandemic, without fans and the pageantry that typically defines the event. Rather than leading the trilogy of races, it will act as the middle event in the longest Triple Crown in history.

Here's a look at the top contenders and the entire field as the world of horse racing gets ready for what will be a historic Kentucky Derby. 

Post Positions and Odds

1. Finnick the Fierce (scratched)
Jockey: Martin Garcia

2. Max Player (30-1)
Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.

3. Enforceable (30-1)
Jockey: Adam Beschizza

4. Storm the Court (50-1)
Jockey: Julien Leparoux

5. Major Fed (50-1)
Jockey: James Graham

6. King Guillermo (scratched)

7. Money Moves (30-1)
Jockey: Javier Castellano

8. South Bend (50-1)
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione

9. Mr. Big News (50-1)
Jockey: Gabriel Saez

10. Thousand Words (15-1)
Jockey: Florent Geroux

11. Necker Island (50-1)
Jockey: Miguel Mena

12. Sole Volante (30-1)
Jockey: Luca Panici

13. Attachment Rate (50-1)
Jockey: Joe Talamo

14. Winning Impression (50-1)
Jockey: Joe Rocco Jr.

15. Ny Traffic (20-1)
Jockey: Paco Lopez

16. Honor A. P. (5-1)
Jockey: Mike Smith

17. Tiz the Law (3-5)
Jockey: Manny Franco

18. Authentic (8-1)
Jockey: John Velazquez

Top Contender

Tiz The Law (3-5)

The unquestioned favorite for the event, Tiz the Law enters primed for a Triple Crown run.

The colt dominated at the Belmont Stakes in June under the guidance of jockey Manny Franco and added the Travers Stakes on Aug. 8 to his mantle in his final warmup to the Derby.

"He seems to terrorize the competition when he makes his move," trainer Barclay Tagg said, per the NYRA Press Office (h/t Paulick Report). "Every race I've seen, even the first one, has been great. He came off that turn, and I thought 'They're going to run by him like he's standing still' and then I look again and he's three in front. It was the same way yesterday. I thought, 'Get into him, Manny' and he just kept running, running, running."

Drawing the No. 17 post will make Tiz the Law's journey a little more difficult, given no one has ever won from that post. Horses are 0-41 historically starting at No. 17, the only post of the 20 to not have at least one winner.

With Tiz the Law being a historic favorite, the odds are that drought will end Saturday.

Honor A. P. (5-1)

Honor A. P. enters the Derby having finished no worse than second in his entire career, including a stellar victory at June's Santa Anita Derby.  The son of Honor Code and named after grandsire A.P. Indy, Honor A. P. has one of the strongest pedigrees of any horse in this field. 

"Obviously he's named after his grandsire, so what he really has is a really big stride," trainer John Shirreffs said, per Paulick Report. "He has a long underline, and he has a very big stride, and it's an effortless stride. Like, when you watch sprinters run, they kind of run hard, like they're turning the stride over, turning the stride over, turning the stride over. You're not seeing that swing, that little rhythm to their stride, usually.

"With Honor A. P., that's what you see, that sort of swing, the glide, the stride; swing, glide, stride. That shows or indicates that he's not putting a lot of effort into it, so that helps horses go farther."

Interestingly enough, Honor A. P. will line up in the No. 16 slot right alongside Tiz the Law. The winner of the race may come down to which of these two top contenders can get off the starting gate faster and push toward the inside of the track.