Defending 2025 Kentucky Derby champion trainer William Mott has a lot on his plate tomorrow in the $5-million 152nd Kentucky Derby, not least, the fact that his son Riley is gunning for his touted contender Chief Wallabee with two runners down in the peloton, Albus and Incredibolt. Collectively, the Motts hewed to character in their press appearances, where they have been their understated, wry selves addressing the most rare father-son casting.

But before we get into what Mott, Alvarado and Chief Wallabee have to do tomorrow to take down Renegade and Commandment, herewith, a refresher on the newly revised field.

Note: revised post positions appear here in parentheses ONLY for those eight outside horses whose stalls and saddle cloths do not correspond. For the twelve inside horses whose saddle cloths and post positions still correspond, no change is made.

(Saddle Cloth, (Revised Post Position), Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Morning Line)

1) Renegade, Irad Ortiz Jr., Todd Pletcher, 4-1

2) Albus, Manny Franco, Riley Mott, 30-1

3) Intrepido, Hector Berrios, Jeff Mullins, 50-1

4) Litmus Test, Martin Garcia, Bob Baffert, 30-1

5) Right To Party, Christopher Elliott, Kenny McPeek, 30-1

6) Commandment, Luis Saez, Brad Cox, 6-1

7) Danon Bourbon, Atsuya Nishimura, Manabu Ikezoe, 20-1

8) So Happy, Mike Smith, Mark Glatt, 15-1

9) The Puma, Javier Castellano, Gustavo Delgado, 10-1

10) Wonder Dean, Ryusei Sakai, Daisuke Takayanagi, 30-1

11) Incredibolt, Jaime Torres, Riley Mott, 20-1

12) Chief Wallabee, Junior Alvarado, William Mott, 8-1

13) SCRATCH Silent Tactic, Cristian Torres, Mark Casse, 20-1 SCRATCH

14) (13) Potente, Juan Hernandez, Bob Baffert, 20-1

15) (14) Emerging Market, Flavien Prat, Chad Brown, 15-1

16) (15) Pavlovian, Edwin Maldonado, Doug O'Neill, 30-1

17) (16) Six Speed, Brian Hernandez Jr., Bhupat Seemar, 50-1

18) (17) Further Ado, John Velasquez, Brad Cox, 6-1

19) (18) Golden Tempo, Jose Ortiz, Cherie DeVaux, 30-1

20) (19) SCRATCH Fulleffort, Tyler Gaffalione, Brad Cox, 20-1 SCRATCH

21) (19) Great White, Alex Achard, John Ennis, 50-1

22) (20) Ocelli, Tyler Gaffalione, Whit Beckman, 50-1

The senior Mott, pictured above during morning workouts on April 27, has much to consider tactically in order to slip his hearty, but very lightly raced dark bay colt, with just three races in 2026 in his short track life, into the serious running with the big boys. Of Chief Wallabee’s three races, in two of them — February’s Fountain of Youth and March’s Florida Derby — he has faced Commandment quite commendably. In the Fountain of Youth, he ran a very close place by a neck to Commandment. In the Florida Derby, the race that took them both to Churchill, Chief Wallabee handily showed a half-length behind The Puma, who was just a nose behind the victor Commandment. Young as he is, he can get into the mix in the last furlongs, or put differently, he knows he’s in a race and he likes being with the chargers. He’s 8-1 in Nick Tammaro’s Churchill morning line because he’s just so darn game.

Silent Tactic’s scratch will bring Baffert’s Potente to the stall immediately outside Chief Wallabee’s 12-hole. More or less, at the break these horses in the Churchill gate’s long middle will experience what it’s like to be on a rail in an 8-to-ten horse field, with another 8-to-10 horses inside them. Wallabee’s task, a task he will share with all nineteen of his competitors, will be to get away and find his spot and then start to work.

In addition to his obvious ability, Mott senior’s colt has shown surprising focus in striving to get up front late in the race. Every Kentucky Derby presents every one of its contenders with a most sophisticated chess game — tactics in the moment are paramount. We just don’t know how coolly tactical Chief Wallabee can be just yet — with Mott’s champion Sovereignty last year, we knew it. But that’s what the Hall of Fame trainer will be working toward and looking for in this colt on Saturday.