Lukas Given Outside Chances if He Wants to Win the Derby : Draw: Serena’s Song gets Post No. 13, Timber Country No. 15 and Thunder Gulch No. 16. Dazzling Falls on rail.

After the 19-horse field for the Kentucky Derby was assembled Thursday, trainer Wayne Lukas’ entry mates, Timber Country and Serena’s Song, shaky favorites to begin with, are so far outside in the starting gate that a Churchill Downs usher might check them for tickets.

Actually, all three of Lukas’ Derby starters--Thunder Gulch is the other--drew unfavorable positions for Saturday’s $957,400 race. The speedy filly, Serena’s Song, drew the 13th stall, and outside her are Timber Country, No. 15, and Thunder Gulch, No. 16.

Even their trainer, who can put positive spins on almost anything, turned into D.--for Dejected--Wayne Lukas when the numbered pills were shaken out of a bottle in the post-position draw at the Churchill Downs Museum.

“It stinks,” he said. “We took the worst of it. It was a bad draw. But like I said to Bill Young (one of Timber Country’s owners), it’s more important to have the best horse than the best draw.”

In the Derby’s last 26 runnings, only two horses--Swale in 1984 and Gato Del Sol in 1982--have won from post positions outside No. 12.

Serena’s Song, who had been expected to set the pace, appeared to be the most affected of the Lukas horses, but Lukas said he feels the opposite.

“I don’t think the draw hurts Serena’s Song that much, but it wasn’t good for the other two horses,” he said. “We won’t know if it was a good draw or a bad draw until after the race. I remember the year (1986) that (trainer) Charlie Whittingham brought Ferdinand to the Derby. He was sick after they drew the No. 1 spot, but they wound up winning the race, anyway.”

Ferdinand was the first horse in 23 years to win from the No. 1 post, and no horse has done it since. Arkansas Derby winner Dazzling Falls drew the inside for Saturday.

Mike Battaglia, the Churchill Downs linemaker, said that the post positions didn’t affect his morning-line odds.

Timber Country and Serena’s Song, coupled in the betting because Bob and Beverly Lewis of Newport Beach own the filly and one-third of the colt, are listed at 5-2, followed by Talkin Man, the Wood Memorial winner, at 7-2 and Afternoon Deelites, the previously undefeated runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby, at 9-2.

Talkin Man and Afternoon Deelites, expected to run close to the pace, are next to one another in the starting gate with posts 11 and 12. After them, the odds jump to 10-1 on Jumron and Tejano Run. Florida Derby winner Thunder Gulch is 12-1 after his fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes.

A favorite hasn’t won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979, and Timber Country is carrying that curse and this baggage: A winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, first run in 1984, has never won a Triple Crown race.

As for Serena’s Song, she is trying to become only the fourth filly out of 36 to win the Derby.

Compounding the problems for Timber Country and Thunder Gulch is that they’re also breaking from the auxiliary starting gate, used when the field is larger than 14. Separated from the main gate by the width of a couple of stalls, the auxiliary gate moves a horse even farther outside.

“I always feel that the auxiliary gate won’t function properly,” said Pat Day, the Hall of Fame jockey who rides Timber Country. “I don’t think being where we are compromises our chances significantly, but if I had my druthers, I’d rather be in the other gate.”

Only two Canadian-bred horses, Northern Dancer in 1964 and Sunny’s Halo in 1983, have won the Derby. Talkin Man will try to become the third.

“The (No. 11) post is fine,” said Talkin Man’s trainer, Roger Attfield. “He won’t have any excuses from there.”

Attfield and six other trainers with Derby contenders in Barn 42 are monitoring their horses after Alybro, an Attfield trainee who isn’t a Derby horse, was moved to Keeneland because he couldn’t shake a cough and was running a 102-degree fever.

“Jumron was coughing for a few days about a week ago, but he’s all right now,” trainer Gary Lewis said. “We ran (a blood test) and he hasn’t had a temperature. We’ve been lucky so far.”

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Notes

Urbane is the 4-5 favorite in today’s $300,000 Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. With Urbane, trainer Brian Mayberry can become the first back-to-back winner of the Oaks since Wayne Lukas with Open Mind and Seaside Attraction in 1989-90. Mayberry won the stake last year with Sardula, who died earlier this year from a bone disease. Eddie Delahoussaye, who also rode Sardula, has the mount on Urbane. A jockey hasn’t repeated in the Oaks since Eddie Arcaro’s victories with How, Real Delight and Bubbley in 1951-53.