Kentucky Derby 2015 Post Positions: Historical Look at Derby History's Top Slots

Even the best of horses can fall victim to the curse of an unfavorable post position in the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

When 20 horses line up and come out of the gate in a hurry, there are bound to be some horses who get left behind. Much of that has to do with the combined talents of the jockey and the horse, but the post position can often hold a team back even more.

The competition is expected to be fierce at Churchill Downs for the 141st Run for the Roses, which should make things even more difficult out of the gates. Legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas has witnessed many great runs of this race in his career, but he thinks this one is special, per the Kentucky Derby's official Twitter account:

The depth at the top of the pack is what makes this field so deep, with multiple horses showing early signs of success in practice runs on the track. Of course, the post positions (which will be finalized Wednesday night) can make or break their Derby hopes.

Below, you'll find a historical look at each post position, as well as a brief preview of the favorites for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Post Positions History

Post	Win %	Avg Finish
1	9.4	8.19
2	8.2	7.73
3	5.9	8.13
4	5.9	8.34
5	10.6	7.47
6	2.4	9.29
7	7.1	7.75
8	9.5	8.30
9	4.9	8.80
10	11.5	7.53
11	2.7	8.99
12	4.3	9.59
13	5.9	8.25
14	3.3	9.17
15	7.5	10.23
16	9.3	9.19
17	0.0	11.06
18	3.6	9.11
19	4.2	12.58
20	7.1	10.57

The Favorites

In the 20-horse field, there are two who stick out above the rest. Ironically, they're both trained by the same person.

Hall of Famer Bob Baffert is a lucky man. He'll probably leave Churchill Downs a winner given the current odds—which can be viewed at OddsShark.com—and he has a strong chance of finishing with two horses in the money.

Those two horses are American Pharoah and Dortmund. The odds put these horses at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, and Baffert has trained them to the point where it might even be a toss-up.

As Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde writes, Baffert is in rare territory when it comes to bringing multiple top contenders to the Derby:

"

Even in a career crammed with glory – three Kentucky Derby victories, five Preakness triumphs, one Belmont and 10 Breeders' Cup wins – the 62-year-old Californian has never brought a hand this powerful to Churchill Downs. It's debatable whether anyone has. Longtime Derby oddsmaker Mike Battaglia said the American Pharoah-Dortmund combo may be the best any trainer has had since Ben A. Jones had Citation and Coaltown run 1-2 here … in 1948.

"

Pharoah has the slight edge at this point, and that's likely because of the strong practice session he and jockey Victor Espinoza had earlier this week. The Kentucky Derby's official Twitter account outlined his splits:

The praise was handed down quickly following that showing:

Of course, Dortmund has quite the history. The colt has won all six of its races, each of which he entered as the favorite. It'll be interesting to see how he fares as a contender and not as the favorite, but jockey Martin Garcia should have confidence.

If nothing else, these two horses should push each other for all 10 furlongs. This Derby has all the makings of a shootout to the finish, one that could very well be decided by less than a full length.

But post positions have a lot to do with the outcome. The No. 17 slot might completely derail the hopes of a win by Pharoah or Dortmund. Conversely, the No. 10 position is the most favorable of all.

We won't know these positions until later on Wednesday. For now, roll with the assumption that either Pharoah or Dortmund will be victorious.  

Kenny DeJohn is a Breaking News Team Featured Columnist. Follow him on Twitter.