THE KENTUCKY DERBY FIELD

Here’s a look at the 19 horses running today in the Kentucky Derby , listed in post position order, with jockey, starts-firsts-seconds-thirds and career earnings. 1. DAZZLING FALLS

Garrett Gomez

13-7-3-2

$675,531

This colt won the Remington Park Derby from an inside post, but his inside post today is in a 19-horse field. So what does jockey Garrett Gomez do? Gun his horse to get position, even though Dazzling Falls usually runs just off the pace? Or watch the horses outside him go on, clogging the inside and shuffling his mount farther back than he wants to be? There are no other options for the first Nebraska-bred to run in the Derby. 2. KNOCKADOON

Chris McCarron

5-3-1-0

$175,057

This is not an easy horse to bet. In his last two starts, he was fourth in the Louisiana Derby and second, but 7 3/4 lengths behind, as Talkin Man won the Wood Memorial. His biggest asset is jockey Chris McCarron, winner of the Derby with Alysheba and Go For Gin. 3. PYRAMID PEAK

Herb McCauley

5-4-0-1

$181,522

John Ward Jr. is listed as the trainer of this horse, but actually the conditioner is John’s wife, Donna, while her husband tends to Jambalaya Jazz, Pyramid Peak’s Derby entrymate. Pyramid Peak won the Flamingo, but the field he beat at Hialeah was a collection of second-raters. 4. WILD SYN

Randy Romero

6-3-0-1

$344,974

His Blue Grass victory at Keeneland last month was a case of the right horse matching up with the right field: There was no other early speed, and the jockeys behind Wild Syn and Randy Romero were watching one another, figuring the speed would back up, but it never did. Wild Syn covered the last eighth of a mile in 11 4/5 seconds, winning at 30-1. 5. JAMBALAYA JAZZ

Craig Perret

8-3-2-1

$287,720

After three victories in four races as a 2-year-old, this colt has tailed off. His only victory this year was negated by a stewards’ disqualification. He finished sixth and fifth, respectively, in the Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes. Trainer John Ward Jr. keeps changing jockeys, and Craig Perret, who won the Derby with Unbridled, is the rider today. 6. SUAVE PROSPECT

Julie Krone

14-4-6-1

$458,850

Suave Prospect came to Nick Zito after he had run six times in three months as a 2-year-old, and is one for four under his new trainer. Zito, however, is two for three in the Derby. Suave Prospect has a string of three second-place finishes that includes a loss by a nose to Thunder Gulch in the Florida Derby and a 2 1/2-length defeat in Wild Syn’s Blue Grass. 7. ELTISH

Eddie Delahoussaye

7-3-2-2

$380,373

Eltish, who didn’t arrive here from England until Monday, will be running on dirt for the first time, and his final prep resulted in a third place at 1 1/8 miles about two weeks ago. That has been his only start this year, but he has a race at Churchill Downs--a second place behind Timber Country in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. 8. LAKE GEORGE

Shane Sellers

5-1-1-1

$76,100

The Santa Anita Derby would have accounted for six Kentucky Derby starters if the winner, Larry The Legend, hadn’t been injured. As it is, Churchill Downs has the five horses that finished immediately behind Larry The Legend, including Lake George, who was fifth, beaten by seven lengths. Lake George’s only victory was over maidens, but he was a respectable third behind Afternoon Deelites and Timber Country in the San Felipe Stakes. 9. IN CHARACTER

Chris Antley

5-1-2-0

$90,316

The furor over who would ride trainer Bruce Jackson’s colt has subsided, but Jackson’s bitterness lingers. He believes that trainer Wayne Lukas, who will have Corey Nakatani riding Serena’s Song, was the culprit. “Mr. Barnum & Bailey,” Jackson calls Lukas. Chris Antley, who won the Derby with Strike The Gold, will ride the late-running, English-bred In Character for the first time. 10. JUMRON

Goncalino Almeida

8-5-2-1

$369,380

Another English-bred horse, Jumron has been running since October for Charles Dunn, who bought him for an estimated $150,000. Jumron, 30-1 in the Las Vegas future books, was a fast-closing third, beaten by half a length, in the Santa Anita Derby. 11. TALKIN MAN

Mike Smith

8-5-1-0

$677,967

With Serena’s Song parked on the outside, Talkin Man has the turn of foot that might put him on the lead, although his camp would prefer to be aiming at the filly instead of running ahead of her. Not many horses win the Derby off two starts as a 3-year-old, but Talkin Man is the second choice because of easy victories at Aqueduct in the Wood Memorial and Gotham Stakes. 12. AFTERNOON DEELITES

Kent Desormeaux

6-5-1-0

$668,125

Owner-breeder Burt Bacharach’s Soul Of The Matter finished fifth a year ago. Afternoon Deelites is a better prospect for the composer, having finished a head behind Larry The Legend in the Santa Anita Derby. 13. SERENA’S SONG

Corey Nakatani

14-8-2-1

$1,231,435

Bob and Beverly Lewis, who bought this filly as a yearling for $500,000, let Lukas decide about running in the Derby instead of against her own sex in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks. The first time Serena’s Song raced colts, she was inexperienced and finished second to Mr Purple in the Hollywood Juvenile. This year in the Jim Beam Stakes, she beat Tejano Run and Mecke, who will also run today. 14. TEJANO RUN

Jerry Bailey

8-3-2-2

$481,147

Trainer Ken McPeek is vanning Tejano Run from Keeneland to Churchill Downs this morning, a few hours before the race. Tejano Run missed some training in February because of a lung infection. McPeek was playing catch-up when the colt ran second to Serena’s Song in the Jim Beam, but then at 2-1 in the Blue Grass, Tejano Run was third, beaten by 2 1/2 lengths. Jerry Bailey, who won three times with him last year, is back aboard. 15. TIMBER COUNTRY

Pat Day

10-4-1-3

$1,043,590

This strapping colt will have to do his bullying from a terrible post position. And Pat Day’s personality may fit this horse too perfectly. Timber Country is a take-his-time colt who could use some early rousing, and that’s not the patient Day’s style. There is plenty of speed in this Derby, and they will have to pass a lot of horses to make a successful run approaching the quarter pole. 16. THUNDER GULCH

Gary Stevens

9-4-2-1

$716,006

Lukas talks more about Serena’s Song and Timber Country, relegating Thunder Gulch to 15-second sound bites. The colt went from Santa Anita to Gulfstream Park and won twice, including the Florida Derby, but then his mystique was dulled by a lackluster fourth place in the Blue Grass. Gary Stevens gave Lukas his only Derby winner when he rode Winning Colors. 17. SKI CAPTAIN

Yutaka Take

4-3-1-0

$849,587

The Kentucky-bred, Japanese-raced son of Storm Bird would be at least 20-1 instead of 12-1 if the track handicapper hadn’t dropped him into the parimutuel field with five other horses just as unlikely to win. Ski Captain came out of quarantine Thursday morning to be greeted by about 70 Japanese media representatives waiting outside his van with cameras, tripods, microphones and notepads. 18. MECKE

Robbie Davis

17-5-3-6

$373,570

This colt, with more races than any other Derby starter, has run outside Florida only once, when he was third in the Jim Beam, beaten by 8 1/2 lengths. He has won only one of seven starts this year. 19. CITADEED

Eddie Maple

5-2-0-1

$19,436

This English colt was the last Derby horse to land a jockey, when American veteran Eddie Maple was named midweek. Citadeed has never gone farther than seven furlongs, never run on dirt and drew the No. 19 post. Winning from that far out has been rare. Gato Del Sol was No. 18 when he won in 1982; Clyde Van Dusen was No. 20 in 1929.