Luck of Draw Isn’t All Good : Kentucky Derby: Favorite Fly So Free gets the rail and will be a long way from contender Best Pal, who gets No. 15.

Two of the four solid favorites for Saturday’s 117th Kentucky Derby appeared to have their chances compromised Thursday when the post-position draw left Fly So Free on the inside and Best Pal in the No. 15 spot in a 16-horse field.

Ian Jory, the transplanted Englishman who trains Best Pal, tried to keep a stiff upper lip, still predicting victory; and Jose Santos, who rides Fly So Free, didn’t think his colt’s No. 1 position would matter. But other horsemen in the first race in the Triple Crown series said that either horse will have to overcome the draw to win.

“Those starting spots are not good for Best Pal and Fly So Free,” said Ron McAnally, who trains Sea Cadet, the expected pacesetter in the Derby.

With a large field and veteran jockeys taking more chances than they might in any other race, a clean trip for a horse in the Derby is always difficult. An unfavorable post position makes the assignment all the more so.

It is no coincidence that only one horse--Ferdinand, in 1986--has won the Derby from the No. 1 post in the past 27 runnings. Ferdinand also ran in a 16-horse field, and to win he needed a canny ride from Bill Shoemaker. Crowding in the long run to the first turn almost resulted in the colt’s being forced over the rail.

But being on the outside is no bargain, either. Gato Del Sol, that renowned plodder, won from No. 19, the far outside, in 1982, and Swale won from the No. 15 hole in a 20-horse field in 1984, but they are the only Derby winners in the past 29 years to have won from outside No. 13.

Despite Fly So Free’s No. 1 post, Mike Battaglia, the Churchill Downs oddsmaker, made trainer Scotty Schulhofer’s colt the lukewarm 5-2 favorite. A post-time Derby favorite hasn’t won the race since Spectacular Bid in 1979.

Battaglia installed Hansel, the winner over Fly So Free in the Blue Grass at Keeneland three weeks ago, as the 3-1 second choice, followed by Best Pal at 7-2 and Strike The Gold at 4-1.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if any of those four horses goes off the favorite Saturday,” Battaglia said. “The line has nothing to do with the post positions, but it is related to the way the horses have worked since getting to Kentucky. Best Pal seems to love this track, so I moved him up a notch, and Strike The Gold had that slow workout the other day. I came close to making Hansel the favorite, but I decided to stick with Fly So Free.”

Here’s the field for the 1 1/4-mile race, in post-position order, with jockeys and odds:

Fly So Free, Jose Santos, 5-2; Alydavid, Corey Black, 20-1; Wilder Than Ever, Joe Deegan, 20-1; Sea Cadet, Chris McCarron, 10-1; Strike The Gold, Chris Antley, 4-1; Hansel, Jerry Bailey, 3-1; Forty Something, Mark Johnston, 20-1; Green Alligator, Corey Nakatani, 20-1; Lost Mountain, Herb McCauley, 30-1; Mane Minister, Alex Solis, 30-1; Paulrus, Shane Sellers, 20-1; Corporate Report, Pat Day, 12-1; Another Review, Art Madrid, 20-1; Happy Jazz Band, Cash Asmussen, 50-1; Best Pal, Gary Stevens, 7-2; and Quintana, Angel Cordero, 30-1.

Battaglia dumped Another Review, Forty Something, Green Alligator, Paulrus and Wilder Than Ever into the parimutuel field, which means that the crowd of more than 100,000 can cover all five with one bet. All 16 horses will carry 126 pounds.

If all 16 start, the Derby purse will be $905,800 and the winner will get $655,800, both records.

Pleasant weather Thursday and today may change by Saturday. The forecast is for temperatures about 80 degrees, with a 40% chance of thundershowers. At least three horses--Sea Cadet, Mane Minister and Corporate Report--would be helped if the track came up muddy.

Santos, one of the country’s leading jockeys, finished fourth in 1987 with Cryptoclearance and ninth in 1989 with Triple Buck. Like Fly So Free, Cryptoclearance broke from the inside, but he lacked the tactical speed that Santos’ mount will have at his disposal.

Theoretically, if Sea Cadet breaks sharply, McCarron will quickly angle him to the rail, leaving Fly So Free just behind them and perhaps feeling pressure from a stacking of horses on the outside.

Schulhofer has said that he made a mistake when he asked Santos to rate Fly So Free in the Blue Grass, and Santos held the colt back so hard that he was, perhaps, discouraged from running when his time came. Some Derby trainers, including Strike The Gold’s Nick Zito, heard that Santos would be told Saturday to let Fly So Free go out of the gate, putting him in close pursuit of Sea Cadet, but Santos said something Thursday that contradicts that.

“Before the first turn, I think there will be two groups of horses,” Santos said. “I think I will have the first position in the second group.”

In the Kentucky Derby Museum, where the numbered pills were shaken out of a bottle Thursday to determine the post positions, Jory and Schulhofer were standing next to one another.

“We both got bad spots,” Jory said to Schulhofer.

“I’d rather have the (No.) 1 than your 15,” Schulhofer said.

“I’d rather have the 15 than the 1,” Jory said.

The first 14 horses break from the main gate, and there’s a small space between them and the last two horses--in this case, Best Pal and Quintana--in the auxiliary gate. Gato Del Sol and Swale are the only auxiliary-gate horses to have won the Derby in the past 61 years.

“This (No. 15) wasn’t what we wanted, but there’s not much you can do about it,” Jory said. “We’ll have to show some early speed out of there, and I hope that it doesn’t take too much out of the horse early. It doesn’t help our case, but we’re still planning to win.”

KENTUCKY DERBY FIELD

PP HORSE JOCKEY ODDS 1 Fly So Free Jose Santos 5-2 2 Alydavid Corey Black 20-1 3 f-Wilder Than Ever Joe Deegan 20-1 4 Sea Cadet Chris McCarron 10-1 5 Strike The Gold Chris Antley 4-1 6 Hansel Jerry Bailey 3-1 7 f-Forty Something Mark Johnston 20-1 8 f-Green Alligator Corey Nakatani 20-1 9 Lost Mountain Herb McCauley 30-1 10 Mane Minister Alex Solis 30-1 11 f-Paulrus Shane Sellers 20-1 12 Corporate Report Pat Day 12-1 13 f-Another Review Art Madrid 20-1 14 Happy Jazz Band Cash Asmussen 50-1 15 Best Pal Gary Stevens 7-2 16 Quintana Angel Cordero 30-1

f-mutuel field

TRAINERS (by post position): 1. Scotty Schulhofer; 2. Phil Hausewald; 3. John Churchman; 4. Ron McAnally; 5. Nick Zito; 6. Frank Brothers; 7. Reggie Vardon; 8. Murray Johnson; 9. Tom Bohannan; 10. Juan Gonzalez; 11. Steve Penrod; 12. Wayne Lukas. 13. Johnny Campo; 14. Phil Gleaves; 15, Ian Jory; 16. David Cross.

WEIGHTS: Each 126 pounds. DISTANCE: 1 1/4 miles. PURSE: $905,800 if 16 start. First place: $655,800; Second place: $145,000; Third place: $70,000; Fourth place: $55,000. POST TIME: Saturday, 2:32 p.m. PDT. TELEVISION: Ch. 7, 3, 10, 42 (coverage starts at 1:30 p.m. PDT).