Kentucky Derby 2015 Horses: Odds and Post Positions for Contenders and Sleepers

The 2015 Kentucky Derby post positions were revealed Wednesday, along with the morning-line odds, and the two horses generating the most buzz drew quite favorable spots in the Churchill Downs starting gates. 

American Pharoah is the 5-2 odds-on favorite, and his stablemate Dortmund is garnering 3-1 odds as the No. 2 contender. The legendary Bob Baffert, a three-time winner in the Run for the Roses, trains both of the premier morning-line contenders.

Check out the complete post positions for the 20-horse field that will be in action this Saturday in Louisville:

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Morning-Line Odds
1	Ocho Ocho Ocho	Elvis Trujillo	Jim Cassidy	50-1
2	Carpe Diem	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	8-1
3	Materiality	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	12-1
4	Tencendur	Manny Franco	George Weaver	30-1
5	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	30-1
6	Mubtaahij	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock	20-1
7	El Kabeir	Calvin Borel	John Terranova II	30-1
8	Dortmund	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	3-1
9	Bolo	Rafael Bejarano	Carla Gaines	30-1
10	Firing Line	Gary Stevens	Simon Callaghan	12-1
11	Stanford	Florent Geroux	Todd Pletcher	30-1
12	International Star	Miguel Mena	Mike Maker	20-1
13	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	30-1
14	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	50-1
15	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	15-1
16	War Story	Joe Talamo	Tom Amoss	50-1
17	Mr. Z	Ramon Vazquez	D. Wayne Lukas	50-1
18	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	5-2
19	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	15-1
20	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	30-1

Renowned as the Hall of Famer Baffert is, he hasn't had one of his pupils win the Kentucky Derby since War Emblem in 2002. The man in the irons for that race was Victor Espinoza, who will jockey American Pharoah this time around.

Brisnet.com's Ed DeRosa offered his take on American Pharoah starting so far away from the rail:

Among the two potential extremes, it seems the prohibitive favorite drew a better fate on Wednesday than some of his top competition.

Espinoza sensed the tension when American Pharoah's status was still being determined, per SI.com's Tim Layden:

Todd Pletcher is another well respected trainer who has four entries in this year's Derby. Unfortunately, Carpe Diem and Materiality wound up in the second and third posts respectively. A ton of traffic can offset even the cleanest breaks from the beginning for both horses.

Jose A. Contreras won't project Carpe Diem or Materiality to finish in the money based on Wednesday's draw results:

The pedigree is most impressive for Dortmund, who was sired by Big Brown, the 2008 Derby champion. Big Brown is also the last undefeated starter to triumph in the first leg of the Triple Crown, and Dortmund has a perfect record in six prior races.

In terms of sleepers to watch for, Firing Line has to qualify despite being a decent 12-1 chance. Gary Stevens, who has won each Triple Crown race three times, is in the saddle and Sunland Derby winner, and has pulled off an upset in recent years on the big stage aboard 2013 Preakness winner Oxbow.

Stevens appears to have plenty of confidence in his horse, per ThoroughbredRacing.com:

Frosted is another viable dark horse option. Odds of 15-1 offer a rather strong return on investment, which isn't as much of a risk with Joel Rosario as jockey.

Rosario rode to victory in last year's Belmont Stakes to deny Espinoza and California Chrome of a Triple Crown bid, and he also guided Orb to first at the 2013 Kentucky Derby.

Despite not being the biggest horse, Frosted proved capable of taking on a strong field of competitors in a triumphant trip at the prestigious Wood Memorial Stakes. It was a huge breakthrough with Rosario aboard, because Frosted hadn't quite managed to finish strong enough in his prior three outings before exploding to the finish at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Even the fringe contenders in the 141st Kentucky Derby have to be considered sleepers at this point. American Pharoah and Dortmund are that formidable, and the former seems unlikely to be denied after an eight-length romp at the Arkansas Derby.