Kentucky Derby 2015 Horses: Contenders and Race-Day Overview for Entire Field

A field of 20 will take to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, looking to clinch the first leg of three en route to ending a 36-year Triple Crown drought.

Not since the triple sweep of Affirmed in 1978 has a horse won all three legs of the thoroughbred competition, but an elite cast has assembled to end that wait this year.

Saturday's contenders have been given their post positions for the Run for the Roses, and we provide predictions of where each candidate will finish, along with analysis of which contenders to keep an eye on.

No.	Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
1	2	Ocho Ocho Ocho	Elvis Trujillo	Jim Cassidy	25-1
2	3	Carpe Diem	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	8-1
3	4	Materiality	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	16-1
4	5	Tencendur	Manny Franco	George Weaver	50-1
5	6	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	33-1
6	7	Mubtaahij	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock	12-1
7		El Kabeir	Calvin Borel		SCR
8	8	Dortmund	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	18-5
9	9	Bolo	Rafael Bejarano	Carla Gaines	40-1
10	10	Firing Line	Gary Stevens	Simon Callaghan	12-1
11		Stanford	Florent Geroux		SCR
12		International Star	Miguel Mena		SCR
13	11	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	33-1
14	12	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	40-1
15	13	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	16-1
16	14	War Story	Joe Talamo	Tom Amoss	50-1
17	15	Mr. Z	Ramon Vazquez	D. Wayne Lukas	50-1
18	16	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	13-5
19	17	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	25-1
20	18	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	40-1
21	19	Frammento	Corey Nakatani	Nick Zito	66-1

All odds come courtesy of OddsShark.com and are correct as of 9 a.m. ET on May 1. It was confirmed by the official Kentucky Derby Twitter account on Friday that El Kabeir had been scratched from the field, with gate No. 1 left open as a result, according to Gene Kershner of Buffalo News:

Firing Line

Gary Stevens will be the oldest jockey competing in this year's Kentucky Derby, and the 52-year-old brings a huge resource of wisdom to Louisville, having raced professionally for 36 of those.

He rides aboard Firing Line in the 2015 edition of a race he's already won three times in his career, and a post position of 10th, sitting right in the core of the field, could be hugely advantageous for the pair.

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Here, Stevens can go for one of a number of tactics as he looks to bring trainer Simon Callaghan the top prize, standing a good chance of emerging early or opting to hold back and develop after assessing the break-up of the field.

Either way, Callaghan is excited with his team's progress coming into the contest and told Blood-Horse of his anticipation building toward Saturday:

Should the plan selected be the correct one, Stevens is the right man to execute it, and it just so happens that Firing Line is a reliable ride in his own right.

Winning at the Sunland Derby in his most recent race, the colt will be required to make a step up to the 1 1 1/4 mile distance, but he looks capable of doing just that.

Prediction: Third Place

American Pharoah

Garry Jones/Associated Press

Horse racing is perhaps the greatest example in the world of a sport where it's more acceptable to back against the favourite, but American Pharoah is one of those outstanding talents it's hard to look past.

Following the scratch of Stanford, Bob Baffert's favourite recently came upon some bad luck, after Kent Taylor of WAVE TV confirmed his move to post No. 17, from which no horse has ever won the Derby:

With that being the case, Baffert needs to do away with any notion of luck playing a role, as the wide position could actually be of extreme use.

Owner Ahmed Zayat is one who trusts deeply in the pedigree of his asset—winner of two Grade I meets out of his last three outings—and is quoted by Kellie Reilly of the official Kentucky Derby website saying:

"

From day one, when he was born, he was gorgeous. The way he was muscled, the way he's built, his gaskins, his hind end -- you can tell that he's built different. Looking at a total athlete from day one."

Horses who have possessed a lot of talent and a lot of speed tend to be a little bit more tough and arrogant. Usually horses who are incredibly fast, who are incredibly ahead of their class, so to speak, on the farm, they tend to walk with some sort of an aura almost, kind of say, 'I'm the man.'

But what was amazing was he's the most kind horse you can own -- he's almost like a pet. You can do anything with him - you can pet him, you can kiss him. He is so easy. He's the kindest, sweetest, cuddly horse you would want -- you literally want to cuddle with him.

"

Zayat will hope his prized breed can shed any niceties in place of a battle mask for Saturday's main event, where his quality stands to make him the race's most-watched participant.

That being said, anything can happen in a field of 20. The eerily timed shift to that dreaded No. 17 gate could prove too unlucky to evade.

Prediction: Second Place

Dortmund

Garry Jones/Associated Press

There are only a couple of horses inside Baffert's other favourite, Dortmund, who would look to pose an issue on paper. Those horses are Todd Pletcher's Carpe Diem and Mubtaahij, trained by Mike de Kock.

Given his current trail of form, shown by Bleacher Report UK, Dortmund is in world-beating form at present and was fortunate to receive a favourable post position at No. 8:

Should the imposing Carpe Diem and Mubtaahij be beaten to the turn, there's a good chance Dortmund can develop an early edge at the rail and is capable of holding his own from there.

Rick Snider of The Washington Post Express is one of those putting his faith in the race's second favourite, currently pitched at odds of 7-2:

Like stablemate American Pharoah, Dortmund runs the risk of falling short of expectations, having drawn such massive praise in recent months.

However, with 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Martin Garcia aboard, he's in good hands and will look to give Baffert his first Derby triumph since 2002 this weekend.

Prediction: First Place