Bellamy Road, who has won his two races in 2005 by a combined margin of a dazzling 33 ¼ -lengths, has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite as the maximum field of 20 3-year-old Thoroughbreds was entered in Saturday's 131st and richest running of the $2 million guaranteed Kentucky Derby (Grade I) at Churchill Downs.

Owned by the Kinsman Farm of New York Yankees President George Steinbrenner, the colt is one of five contenders in the race trained by two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Nick Zito. Jockey Javier Castellano will make his debut in the famed "Run for the Roses" aboard Bellamy Road, who has won four of five career starts and comes into the race off a record-smashing 17 ½-length romp in the Wood Memorial (GI) at New York's Aqueduct.

Zito chose post position 16 for Bellamy Road in the Derby's novel method of post position selection. That is in the track's auxiliary starting gate, which is required when a field of more than 14 horses is entered in the Kentucky Derby. Three horses have won the race out of that position in the starting gate in the past decade, with Monarchos in 2001 being the most recent. The others were Thunder Gulch ('95) and Charismatic ('99).

"We got everything we wanted," said Zito. "I like the fact Bellamy Road will get the chance to run (in the clear). He's the favorite. He's on the outside and that is just what we wanted."

His other contenders (with morning line odds) are Live Oak Plantation's High Fly (8-1), post 11 under jockey Jerry Bailey; My Meadowview Farm's Noble Causeway (12-1), post 4 under Gary Stevens; Tracy Farmer's Sun King (15-1), post 3 under Edgar Prado; and Robert LaPenta's Andromeda's Hero (50-1), post 2 under Rafael Bejarano.

Zito looms as just the second trainer in Kentucky Derby history to start five horses in the race. The only other trainer to do so was D. Wayne Lukas, who saddled Overbrook Farm's victorious Grindstone among his five starters in the 1996 "Run for the Roses." His other starters that day were Prince of Thieves (3rd), Editor's Note (6th), Victory Speech (10th) and Honour and Glory (18th).

Outside of Zito's five starters, major contenders for the mile and a quarter race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds include Cash Is King Stable's Afleet Alex, the winner of the Arkansas Derby (GII) and 9-2 second choice, and Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Bandini, winner of the Toyota Blue Grass (GI) at Keeneland and the 6-1 third choice in oddsmaker Mike Battaglia's morning line odds.

Afleet Alex will is trained by Tim Ritchey and brings a sparkling record of 6-2-0 in nine races and earnings of $1,315,800 into the race. First-time Derby rider Jeremy Rose will be in the saddle aboard the Florida-bred son of Northern Afleet, who will break from post position 12.

"It's a good spot for this horse," said Ritchey. "But the 12 has always been a lucky number for anybody associated with the city of Pittsburgh - Terry Bradshaw, four Super Bowls - so I went with the luck."

Bandini is one of three Derby 131 contenders trained by 37-year-old Todd Pletcher, last year's Eclipse Award winner as America's outstanding trainer. The son of 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus will be ridden by John Velazquez and Pletcher chose post 15 - the first slot in the auxiliary gate - for the colt.

"We wanted to be toward the outside because you have more options out there," said Pletcher. "Post 15 has that extra space between the main gate and the auxiliary gate. And five of the last 10 winners came out of the auxiliary gate."

Two trainers who dominated the Kentucky Derby in the 1990's - D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert - are participating in the race, but each trains an outsider. Four-time winner Lukas will saddle Robert and Beverly Lewis' Going Wild, a 50-1 shot, while three-time winner Baffert will start Stonerside Stable and Preferred Pals Stable's Sort It Out, who is also a 50-1 longshot.

The race also includes the first supplemental entry in the history of the Kentucky Derby. Illinois Derby (GII) winner Greeley's Galaxy was not nominated to the race at either the early or late nomination stage, but owner B. Wayne Hughes paid $200,000 to make him eligible for the race. The entire supplemental nomination fee will be added to the Kentucky Derby purse, which was doubled to $2 million guaranteed this year and will total a record $2,399,600 if all 20 horses start. The winner's share will be $1,639,600.

This year's renewal is the first since the completion of Churchill Downs' sweeping $121 million renovation. The two-phase project that got underway in late 2001 was completed in April when the finishing touches were applied to six floors of the rebuilt clubhouse in the $95 million second phase of the renovation.

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