Expert: Jim Johnson - 7/7/2009

Question
How does a horse gets assigned the race number?

Answer
Hi Ana:

Thanks for your question.  For just everyday races, someone in the racing office writes each of the entries in a race on a separate piece of paper "called the entry slip", then a similar number of "numbered pills" are placed in a shaker box.  On person in the racing office pulls an entry slip for a horse and another person in the racing office pulls a "pill" from the shaker box.  The number pulled becomes the horse's post position number.  The horse will also wear the saddle cloth with the post position number.  In the case of coupled entries (when an owner or trainer has more than one entry in a race)- the coupled entry will be numbered 1 and 1A and will wear that saddle number, however, the horse still goes into the post position numbered gate.  For instance, lets say that horses with post positions 6 and 10 are coupled in an entry - the horses will still be placed in the gate according to the number that was drawn, but the saddle cloths will be numbered 1 and 1A.

For stakes races like "The Kentucky Derby" or "The Florida Derby", the racing office does the same thing except it is witnessed by viewers in the track on that particular day.  I work at Oaklawn Jockey Club and have witnessed many drawings for "The Arkansas Derby" that is feature race on the final day of each year's season.
The drawings are conducted on a podium, usually televised over the track's television network.  Anyone and everyone that is at the track on that particular day can witness the event.

I hope this helps you understand how saddle cloths are determined and again, thanks for your question.

Regards,

Jim