Kentucky Derby Field 2015: Pinpointing Contenders from All Horses and Jockeys
The 2015 Kentucky Derby is rapidly approaching, so it's time to look at the horses and jockeys who are in contention to win the first leg of the Triple Crown.
Where the horses might finish will also be determined by the post positions that were drawn on Wednesday.
The positions saw a shift on Thursday night, however, with Stanford scratched and replaced with Frammento.
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Churchill Downs PR confirmed the news, while Daily Racing Form explained how Stanford's withdrawal will change the post positions:
Here, we take a closer look at the horses and jockeys eyeing a win in the 141st Running of the Roses.
American Pharoah
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
At 13-5 odds, American Pharoah is the favourite for this year's race, and it's easy to see why.
The Thoroughbred has won four of his five races so far in his career with earnings of $1.4 million, per Equibase.com. As the clip below shows, courtesy of racing writer Doug Salvatore, American Pharoah is a lightning-fast horse and has the endurance to match:
Even more promising for the colt is that it will be ridden by last year's winning jockey, Victor Espinoza, who also won the race in 2002. However, American Pharoah has not had the best of luck in the draw for post positions.
Initially given Gate 18, Stanford's absence moves American Pharoah into the dreaded Gate 17.
No. 17 is the only gate to have never produced a winning horse and has not seen a top-three finish since 1988. DubaiRaceNight's Pat Cummings does not believe the gate will affect American Pharoah's final position, however.
Aside from the gate, American Pharoah has everything going in his favour, so expect another strong race here. In a contest of such fine margins, though, the gate could prove critical to the colt's chances of crossing the line ahead of the field.
Dortmund
Jockey: Martin Garcia
Dortmund, the strong second favourite, is trained by Bob Baffert alongside American Pharoah. The powerful horse is a 7-2 favorite to win the Derby and is undefeated in six races, per Equibase.com.
Dortmund's most recent win came in the Santa Anita Derby in early April, winning comfortably by five lengths:
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde believes Dortmund to have received a favourable gate in the draw:
Dortmund's jockey, Martin Garcia, is an experienced rider who has tasted success at Churchill Downs before. Garcia won the Kentucky Oaks in 2011 as well as another Triple Crown race—the Preakness Stakes—in 2010.
The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg is skeptical of both Dortmund and American Pharoah's chances, however. Both horses are progeny of Storm Cat, whose descendants are 0-for-44 in the Derby since 1988.
However, with both horses in such fine form and ridden by such experienced jockeys, the chance for one of them to step out of Storm Cat's unfortunate shadow is now.
Dortmund is still a firm contender here.
Firing Line
Jockey: Gary Stevens
At odds of 16-1, Firing Line is not one of the immediate favourites, but he has a number of things going in his favour that could make him a surprise contender.
In five races, Firing Line has won twice and finished runner-up three times, so a win or money position is definitely in the cards. Further, jockey Gary Stevens is as experienced as they come, having won the Derby three times before, albeit not since 1998.
Even better for Firing Line is his starting gate.
Gate 10, historically, is the best place to start, having produced Derby winners 11.4 percent of the time and top-three finishes 30.8 percent of the time.
With history on his side, Firing Line has a great chance of contesting the money positions with American Pharoah and Dortmund.
On current form and with American Pharoah potentially handicapped by Gate 17, Dortmund and Martin Garcia are the most likely pair to win the Derby.
All odds, which are courtesy of Odds Shark, are accurate as of 11:30 a.m. BST.
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