Kentucky Derby 2015: Horses, Favorites and Contenders for This Year's Field

The 2015 Kentucky Derby is drawing ever closer, and while the final field for Saturday's race is yet to be determined, several top contenders have separated themselves from the pack and look like strong candidates to win this year's title.

Bob Baffert will enter the first leg of the Triple Crown with two of the favourites to win the Derby―American Pharoah and Dortmund―while International Star has won every race he has entered in 2015 and currently leads the pack with 171 season points, per the Derby's official website.

Here's the list of the 20 top-ranked horses, accurate as of April 26:

Horse	Trainer	Points
International Star	Mike Maker	171
Dortmund	Bob Baffert	170
Carpe Diem	Todd Pletcher	164
American Pharoah	Bob Baffert	160
Frosted	Kiaran McLaughlin	113
Mubtaahij	Mike de Kock	100
Materiality	Todd Pletcher	100
El Kabeir	John Terranova II	95
Upstart	Rick Violette Jr.	76
Far Right	Ron Moquett	32
Itsaknockout	Todd Pletcher	60
Firing Line	Simon Callaghan	58
Danzig Moon	Mark Casse	45
War Story	Tom Amoss	44
Tencendur	George Weaver	41
Stanford	Todd Pletcher	40
Mr. Z	D. Wayne Lukas	34
Ocho Ocho Ocho	Jim Cassidy	30
Bolo	Carla Gaines	30
Keen Ice	Dale Romans	22

American Pharoah and Dortmund

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Baffert is a happy man these days. As shared by AP Sports, the legendary trainer enters the Derby with two horses vying for the role of favourite:

Odds Shark currently has American Pharoah (2-1) sitting at the top of the board ahead of stablemate Dortmund (9-2) and a long way ahead of Carpe Diem (7-1).

American Pharoah won the 2014 Eclipse Award before a foot bruise sidelined the colt for several months. Since returning to the track, he has shown no signs of slowing down, and his most recent win came in the Arkansas Derby:

The performance in the Arkansas Derby all but ensured American Pharoah will start Saturday's race as the favourite, particularly with Victor Espinoza expected to ride the colt at the Kentucky Derby. The two-time winner rode California Chrome to wins in the Derby and the Preakness Stakes, and he has all of the experience in the world.

As for the colt's form, well, Yahoo's Pat Forde shared the times from his final prep runs:

American Pharoah will face some serious competition from stablemate Dortmund, however. The Colt comfortably won the Santa Anita Derby, keeping his undefeated streak alive:

Like American Pharoah, Dortmund looks like he's never really tested, although he showed plenty of heart to beat Firing Line at the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. The colt is huge and battle-tested, giving Baffert another strong candidate to win this year's Derby.

International Star

Garry Jones/Associated Press

International Star currently leads the season rankings thanks to three wins in 2015, including an impressive showing at the Risen Star in February, holding off War Story and Keen Ice in the final furlongs:

The colt's speed in the final furlongs is incredible, and as he is the offspring of former winner Fusaichi Pegasus, the pedigree is there to pull off the upset.

Owner Kenneth Ramsey has never won a Kentucky Derby, but as he told the Los Angeles Daily News' Art Wilson, he believes he finally has the horse to fill that gap on his resume this year:

"

Some of these horses ... I don’t know how they’ll fare when they get somebody else looking them in the eye. These horses just had really easy preps and ran off and won (by) five, six, seven lengths. My horse has been tested.

In other words, he’s been behind, he’s come through on the rail in tight quarters. He’s had to steady. He’s checked. I think he’s going to navigate the 20-horse field better than some of them. I think as some of them get bumped or have to check, or whatever, they’ll get a little frustrated.

"

International Star dominated Fair Grounds' three Derby prep races and will be ridden by Peruvian jockey Miguel Mena. Mena hasn't had much success running in the Kentucky Derby, but he has never lost on International Star.

Banking on the colt to beat the duo of American Pharoah and Dortmund may be a bit much, but if he gets a favourable draw and doesn't get pushed around in the opening furlongs, that incredible ability to finish could surprise a few.

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