There are 4 barrels in Durotar. The 2nd middle barrel is in the rocks to the east side of the road, in between the one on the road and the last by the barrel guy.

Yes, you can. You can skip the one at the start - if you have the timing right, you'll hit the second one with 95 fatigue.

This comment shouldn't be modded down, it's perfectly valid.

On the Horde side, there are only three barrels. You need to use all three to keep your speed maxed through the barrel run.

The barking runs are different. On those, you ride through the city hitting four different flags, and there are no barrels. On *that* quest, you can safely dismount from your ram after you've hit the fourth flag, and ride your regular mount back to turn in your quest. That lets you push your ram faster through the first four flags.

THERE... ARE... FOUR... BARRELS!!!

Yes, there really is four barrels in Durotar, not 3. 1 in the kodo enclave where you get the quest, one off the right side of the road 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in, one behind a small dune at the left just before entering the walled-off portion of the course, and a fourth to the left just past the guy who throws you the barrels.

Fastest way is a straight line, which means barrels #1 and #3. Get the quest, run straight so that you pass right by the small dune and hit the apples that way, straight to the barrel thrower and back to the same barrel, straight to deliver the barrel, right into the enclave, hit the apples, and right, over the small fence and back towards the thrower. Always at top speed. I can get 12 barrels this way, 13 if everything is perfect.

Alliance race is much easier, Horde gets the short end of the stick and gets only about 1/2 the tickets you can get on an Alliance run.