In horse racing, how do they determine which position the horse starts the race in?

Question

Is it a random selection? Based on their win/loss record?

Answer 1

yes its a random draw, its the same in racing all over the world

Answer 2

don,t they all come out of a starting gate at the same time ?. this is what i thought.

Answer 3

It is a random draw.  FOr the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the draws were shown live on  ESPN.

They were done differently though.  

for the Derby, a "order to choose" was randomly drawn the Wednesday morning before the race. In that oder, the person for the particular horse went to a huge board and chose his post position.  Big Brown had the 16th draw our of 20 and chose Post 20.

The Preakness, a marble with a number was dropped randomly out of a bottle and a horses name was drawn to pair up post positions and horses.

In either case, it is the fair thing to do. .

It has nothing to do with the win/loss record of the horses.