Kentucky Derby 2015 Odds: Best and Worst Horse-Jockey Tandem to Bet

Position	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	International Star	Miguel Mena	Mike Maker	20-1
12	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	30-1
13	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	50-1
14	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	15-1
15	War Story	Joe Talamo	Tom Amoss	50-1
16	Mr. Z	Ramon Vazquez	D. Wayne Lukas	50-1
17	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	5-2
18	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	15-1
19	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	30-1
20	Frammento	Corey Nakatani	Nicholas Zito	50-1

The Kentucky Derby is almost here.

With just two full days left between us and the 141st Run for the Roses, the excitement is building exponentially. The field is still continuing to take shape, and Thursday we saw No. 11 Stanford scratch out of the field, forcing everyone outside of the 11 hole to move in one spot, per FoxSports.com.

The move could cause a bit of a stir given the fact that morning-line favorite American Pharoah will now run out of the 17 position, a spot from which no horse has ever won, per KentuckyDerby.com.

That won't have any effect on what we're going to look at here though, as we'll take a closer look at the best and worst horse-jockey tandems to bet in this year's race.

First, read below to get a look at the full field of runners and their morning-line odds, and then continue on to find out who you should and shouldn't back in this year's Derby.

Field, Morning-Line Odds and More

Best Horse-Jockey Tandem to Bet

Is there really any other way to go with this? American Pharoah is the best three-year-old in the world, or at least North America, by a pretty wide margin.

According to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Bob Baffert-trained colt is the top-ranked three-year-old, receiving 22 first-place votes, with the next closest contender, Dortmund, receiving just nine. Beyond the fact that the NTRA has voted him as the best three-year-old in North America, AP has shown over and over again that he is well-deserving of that title.

In the last two months, AP has won two races (the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby) by a combined 14 lengths. Pretty impressive, right?

In the Rebel Stakes (March 14), AP bested former Derby contender Madefromlucky by 6 1/2 lengths, then went on to finish ahead of Far Right, Mr. Z and Madefromlucky by eight lengths, 8 3/4 lengths and nine lengths, respectively, in the Arkansas Derby.

AP has earned every bit of the hype surrounding him, and his most recent showing in the Arkansas Derby showed that.

Danny Johnston/Associated Press

Say what you will about the fractions set by Bridget's Big Luvy, how AP got the perfect trip and whatever else you can come up with to detract from his win, but the Pioneerof the Nile colt showed impressive kick when making the turn for home, a willingness for more distance and even the ability to win by open lengths while gearing down across the finish line.

There's also the little bit about him moving into the dreaded 17 position following the early scratch.

No horse has ever won from the 17th post position. In fact, the last horse to even finish in the money while riding out of the 17 hole was Forty Niner back in 1988—he came in second.

To be honest, I don't care about the move from 18 to 17, and it doesn't make him any less capable of winning this race.

To sum up my feelings on AP, he's really, really good. If that's not enough for you, he's going to have last year's Kentucky Derby winner, Victor Espinoza, as his rider.

Espinoza has built up a good rapport with AP, and, if you're ranking them by earnings during the 2015 season, the 42-year-old is the No. 5 jockey, according to the NTRA, via Equibase.com. Meanwhile, his average winnings of $19,518 per start ranks fourth behind Gary Stevens, John Velazquez and Mike Smith, making those rankings a who's who of Kentucky Derby winners and totally awesome jockeys.

Pulling Espinoza and his two Derby wins (War Emblem in 2002, and California Chrome in 2014) is no small matter, and it only helps to solidify American Pharoah's status as the top contender in this year's field.

Given his 5-2 morning-line odds, you're probably not going to get a great price on American Pharoah, especially once everybody and their mother comes out to bet their only race of the year. But, if you want the best chance to net yourself a winning ticket, you better include him at or near the top.

Worst Horse-Jockey Tandem to Bet

With all due respect to Ocho Ocho Ocho, trainer James Cassidy and his rider, Elvis Trujillo, this is a duo I just can't get behind.

There are a couple of problems with Ocho Ocho Ocho. First, this is his third different rider in three races. Last time out, Santiago Gonzalez rode him to a third-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes, and Mike Smith rode him to an eighth-place finish in the race before that (Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes).

With zero rapport to speak of, Ocho Ocho Ocho automatically gets less of a look from me.

A second problem here is the fact that he'll be riding out of the first post position.

At first glance, this might not be such a bad thing. In 85 races where the one hole was in play, the position has produced eight winners, per KentuckyDerby.com. Unfortunately, for this Street Sense colt, the position hasn't actually seen a winner since Ferdinand in 1986.

Riding off the rail isn't a good thing, but the fact that Ocho Ocho Ocho hasn't shown anything of value on the East Coast isn't good either. His lone race on the East Coast came last April in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, and he was trounced—by Carpe Diem.

His rider, Elvis Trujillo, does have some extremely limited Derby experience. The 31-year-old has appeared in the Derby just one time and rode Itsmyluckyday to a 15th-place finish back in 2013, per KentuckyDerby.com.

Beyond that limited Derby experience, there's concerns about the fact that Trujillo himself is shipping in from the West Coast. The Panama native has yet to run a race at Churchill Downs this year and has won at just a 10 percent clip in 2015 (25 wins in 246 mounts), per Equibase.com.

It seems obvious given his status as a morning-line 50-1 shot, but cross Ocho Ocho Ocho and Trujillo right off your racing form as soon as you get it.