Kentucky Derby 2015 Post Positions: Slotting Info and Predictions for Each Horse

With just one day to go until the 2015 Kentucky Derby, it's time to predict where each horse in the field will finish.

The post positions for the 141st Run for the Roses were released on Wednesday, with favourite American Pharoah running from Gate 18.

However, Stanford was scratched from the Derby on Thursday night, with Frammento moving into the field, as confirmed by Churchill Downs PR:

The Daily Racing Form explains how Stanford's absence will affect the post positions:

Wave-TV's Kent Taylor highlighted what this means for American Pharoah:

Despite now racing off the dreaded Gate 17—the only gate never to produce a winner—American Pharoah remains the favourite for the race, with Dortmund close behind, according to odds from Odds Shark.

The latest odds can be found below, accurate as of 11:30 a.m. BST. 

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Morning-Line Odds
1	Ocho Ocho Ocho	Elvis Trujillo	Jim Cassidy	25-1
2	Carpe Diem	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	17-2
3	Materiality	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	16-1
4	Tencendur	Manny Franco	George Weaver	50-1
5	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	40-1
6	Mubtaahij	Christophe Soumillion	Mike de Kock	12-1
7	El Kabeir	Calvin Borel	John Terranova II	33-1
8	Dortmund	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	7-2
9	Bolo	Rafael Bejarano	Carla Gaines	40-1
10	Firing Line	Gary Stevens	Simon Callaghan	16-1
11	International Star	Miguel Mena	Mike Maker	22-1
12	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	33-1
13	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	50-1
14	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	16-1
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	13-5
18	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	22-1
19	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	40-1
20	Frammento	Corey Nakatani	Nick Zito	50-1

Ocho Ocho Ocho drew the dreaded first gate and will start next to the rail.

Per Times Argus, starting up against the rail is considered a serious disadvantage. With the other 19 horses angled inside right out of the gate, it's easy for the No. 1 horse to hit traffic and be squeezed out of contention.

Historically, Gate 2 offers little chance of winning either. Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde was less than enthusiastic over Carpe Diem's chances:

The gate has not seen a winning horse since Affirmed in 1978; however, all is not lost for Carpe Diem.

The gate has produced a top-three finish 29.4 percent of the time, second only to the coveted Gate 10, which has produced the most winning horses.

Running in Gate 6 is the impressive Mubtaahij. The colt could be a genuine contender for the Derby, if his performance in the United Arab Emirates Derby at the end of March is anything to go by:

Mubtaahij won the $2 million race at a canter, crossing the line eight lengths ahead of his rivals.

Second-favourite Dortmund is off No. 8, which Forde believes to be a fortunate draw:

Like American Pharoah, Dortmund is trained by Bob Baffert. After six wins in all six of his races so far, Dortmund is sure to be a strong contender at Churchill Downs.

Keen horse racing enthusiast and tour guide at the Kentucky Derby Museum Carly Kaiser rates Dortmund's chances:

Despite the change in gate, DubaiRaceNight's Pat Cummings believes American Pharoah should not be written off:

American Pharoah has won four of his five races to date and is being ridden by last year's winning jockey, Victor Espinoza. 

Predicting the winning horse is a combination science, history and more than a little luck. Nevertheless, here is how the field could finish:

Position	Horse	Post
1	Dortmund	8
2	American Pharoah	17
3	Firing Line	10
4	Carpe Diem	2
5	Mubtaahij	6
6	Frosted	14
7	Upstart	18
8	International Star	11
9	Materiality	3
10	Tencendur	4
11	Bolo	9
12	Far Right	19
13	Danzig Moon	5
14	Itsaknockout	12
15	Frammento	20
16	El Kabeir	7
17	Keen Ice	13
18	War Story	15
19	Ocho Ocho Ocho	1
20	Mr. Z	16

One thing is for certain, there will be plenty of thrilling drama come post time on Saturday.