Kentucky Derby Results 2015: Winner, Final Race Times and Purse Payout

Pre-race favourite American Pharoah lived up to the unrelenting hype, as he claimed the 141st Kentucky Derby in style before a record crowd of 170,513.

The Bob Baffert-trained colt was the 5-2 favourite coming into the showpiece and edged across the finish line a length ahead of Firing Line, with Dortmund two lengths back in third. For jockey Victor Espinoza, it's his second successive win in the Run for the Roses after triumphing aboard California Chrome 12 months ago.

The race’s official Twitter feed posted this snap, showing the moment the winner crossed the line:

Here’s a rundown of the final race time, the respective purse payouts and a closer look at how the action played out in what was a thrilling race.

Horse	Win	Place	Show
American Pharoah	$7.80	$5.80	$4.20
Firing Line	-----	$8.40	$5.40
Dortmund	-----	-----	$4.20

Place	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Lengths	Time
1	18	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	-----	2:03.02
2	10	Firing Line	Gary Stevens	Simon Callaghan	1
3	8	Dortmund	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	3
4	15	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	3 1/4
5	5	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	6 1/2
6	3	Materiality	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	7 3/4
7	14	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	8 3/4
8	6	Mubtaahij	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock	9 1/2
9	13	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	10 1/4
10	2	Carpe Diem	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	11
11	21	Frammento	Corey Nakatani	Nick Zito	12
12	9	Bolo	Rafael Bejarano	Carla Gaines	12 3/4
13	17	Mr. Z	Ramon Vazquez	D. Wayne Lukas	15 1/2
14	1	Ocho Ocho Ocho	Elvis Trujillo	Jim Cassidy	15 1/2
15	20	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	15 3/4
16	16	War Story	Joe Talamo	Tom Amoss	19 1/4
17	4	Tencendur	Manny Franco	George Weaver	35
18	19	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	60 1/2
	7	El Kabeir	Calvin Borel	John Terranova	SCR
	11	Stanford	Florent Geroux	Todd Pletcher	SCR
	12	International Star	Miguel Mena	Michael Maker	SCR

Total Purse	Winner's Purse	Runner-Up Purse	Third-Place Purse	Fourth-Place Purse
$2 million	$1.24 million	$400,000	$200,000	$100,000

For full payout info click here.

American Pharoah Shows His Class

Elsa/Getty Images

For those who missed it—or just want to watch an engrossing race again—here’s a look at the race in full:

There’s something special about Derby Day in Louisville and as the main event edged ever closer, there was a sense of undeniable anticipation. Indeed, as we can see here courtesy of the event’s official Twitter feed, there was an unbelievable amount of spectators that had packed into this illustrious course:

The Run for the Roses has a reputation for thrilling finishes and major upsets and this year, while the latter may have not come to fruition, the former most certainly did.

There’s been a lot said about American Pharoah this week. Could he handle the distance? How would he cope in a big field? Does he have the staying power? But with the savvy Espinoza aboard, he did exactly what was needed to etch his name into Derby folklore and take the first leg of a potential Triple Crown.

Elsa/Getty Images

As reported by Amy Lawrence of CBS Sports, the winning jockey—now a three-time winner in the Derby—was ecstatic in the aftermath of the race:

It was a sensational race too. As the horses rounded the bend and into the home straight, any of the eventual top three could have won this one. Initially, it seemed as though Firing Line—who edged ahead of both Dortmund and American Pharoah with a couple of furlongs remaining—was going to have too much.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

But American Pharoah has proven his quality in the build-up to this race and in the final furlong he turned on the afterburners superbly.

Jay Privman of Daily Racing Form paid tribute to Firing Line, who was an outsider to triumph here at 12-1:

Dortmund also deserves credit for the manner in which he stayed until very late on. The colt—who is also trained by Baffert—has never been in a field quite as good as this before, but he showed scintillating early pace to get away from the group and a third-place finish in the big one at Churchill Downs is nothing to be ashamed of.

But the winner deserves the most acclaim. It’s not often a favourite comes home to take victory in this ferociously-contested race, but Espinoza made the most of a favourable draw. One length may seem like a narrow margin of victory and while it made for an entertaining spectacle, there was an unerring sense that American Pharoah had this one well under control.

Naturally, thoughts will turn to the Triple Crown for Baffert’s stable. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated thinks this colt has the potential to complete the illustrious treble too:

If he does go on to win the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes it would be some achievement. But for the time being we should revel in the brilliance illustrated by this horse and jockey combination on the grandest stage in the sport.

American Pharoah is a special horse and to make good on the hyperbole that accompanies and has routinely hampered pre-race favourites in the Derby is a remarkable achievement in itself. But after coming so close to the coveted treble on board California Chrome in 2014, Espinoza will certainly fancy his chances of becoming a Triple Crown winner aboard this unique champion.