LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Unbeaten Big Brown and the filly Eight Belles were among a full field of 20 horses entered for the Kentucky Derby.

A total of 24 horses were placed into the entry box this morning, but only the top 20 horses based on graded stakes earnings made the field, including the first filly in nine years.

Big Brown, the expected Derby favorite, will have the No. 16 selection at the post position draw later Wednesday.

Eight Belles will have the No. 6 selection in the draw, a spot that clinched the filly's place in the field as she will attempt to become the fourth of her sex to take the Derby. Winning Colors was the most recent, winning in 1988.

Trainer Larry Jones said Eight Belles would run in Friday's Kentucky Oaks if she drew an outside post in the Derby. That won't happen now.

"We'll be out of the Oaks and in the Derby," Jones said.

Owner Rick Porter called his wife with the good news. "We're in the Derby," he told her from the Kentucky racing office across the street from Churchill Downs.

"I'm willing to take a shot," Porter said. "I know a lot of people like to see a filly run. I'm always for the underdog. So I'm making myself a good underdog."

The field, in order of the post position draw, is Visionaire, Big Truck, Colonel John, Z Fortune, Pyro, Eight Belles, Anak Nakal, Court Vision, Z Humor, Monba, Smooth Air, Adriano, Bob Black Jack, Denis of Cork, Cowboy Cal, Big Brown, Tale of Ekati, Cool Coal Man, Recapturetheglory and Gayego.

The four horses excluded were Halo Najib, Tomcito, El Gato Malo and Kentucky Bear.