Kentucky Derby Favorites Who’s Who: Top Morning Line Runner Renegade

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - APRIL 26: Renegade trains on the track during morning workouts ahead of the running of the 152nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on April 26, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Getty Images As Churchill’s sunny, outdoor post-position draw for the $5-million, 2026 Kentucky Derby got underway on April 25, there was a sociable background hum in the seating area as trainers, owners and the press met and greeted each other. But in the early going as leading unofficial backstretch favorite Renegade’s paper was pulled, and the horse received the dreaded Churchill stall on the rail, there was a sudden, noticeable silence.

You could almost watch the thought race through the crowd: Thank God that wasn’t me. And yet: minutes later, as Churchill’s new odds captain Nick Tammaro put through his very first Kentucky Derby morning line on the field, there was young Renegade as the top dog, at 4-1. Two questions: First, does stall No.

1 in the Churchill “new” 20-horse gate somehow not carry the “curse” of producing no Derby winners, even though it’s 0-6 since its debut in 2020? And, perhaps more importantly, second: What is it about Renegade (and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. ) that makes Mr.

Tammaro think that the dismal record of the post position — in the new gate or in the old 14-horse one — doesn’t matter? LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - APRIL 27: Todd Pletcher, trainer for Renegade, looks on during morning workouts ahead of the running of the 152nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on April 27, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Getty Images In answer to the second question, as trainer Pletcher and part-owner Mike Repole (of Vitamin Water and Body Armor fame) have both given us to understand, the Churchill rail is what it is, and they will try to make the best of it.