But the trainers of the 17 entrants for Saturday's race shrugged off the snafu involving the cards with the names of the contestants as inconsequential.
Horses win races.
Congaree will be the last horse loaded in the main gate, after which Point Given will be the last to enter the auxiliary gate. Songandaprayer trainer John Dowd, who drew the 17th and last selection, was left with the No. 1 post position. Not only is the inside post considered undesirable, it also means that Songandaprayer will be the first to be loaded in the main gate, a possible source of added tension because he will have to wait for the other contestants to be led into their starting slots. The first step in the contrived selection process that determined post positions is drawing the cards with the names of the horses. After each name is drawn, a pill is drawn to determine the selection order for that horse.