Kentucky Derby 2015 Payout: Dissecting Prize-Money Purse and Final Race Results

American Pharoah lived up to his billing as one of the favourites to win this year's Kentucky Derby on Saturday, kick-starting his chances of claiming this year's Triple Crown.

The 2015 season sprang into life at Churchill Downs, where Firing Line and Dortmund came in second and third, respectively, as shown by NBC Sports:

Jockey Victor Espinoza has now claimed victory in the Run for the Roses in back-to-back years, enhancing his reputation on the American scene, as well as his chances of the first Triple Crown since 1978.

Read on for a full breakdown of the Derby results and a look at the prize pot split between the top finishers in Louisville's blockbuster event.

Place	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Lengths
1	18	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	-----
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	7
11	Stanford	Florent Geroux	Todd Pletcher	SCR	11
12	International Star	Miguel Mena	Michael Maker	SCR	12

Total Purse	Winner's Purse	Runner-Up Purse	Third-Place Purse	Fourth-Place Purse	Fifth-Place Purse
$2 million	$1.24 million	$400,000	$200,000	$100,000	$60,000

Triple Crown Chase on for American Pharoah

All engines go toward the Preakness for American Pharoah now, as he got the first and arguably most difficult hurdle out of his way in the hunt for 2015 glory.

Espinoza, last year's winning jockey, was fortunate enough to be aboard one of the standouts once again this year, and he was fully appreciative of that luck, according to The New York Times:

Less than a fortnight sits between now and the Preakness Stakes. It's run over a similar distance to the Derby, which American Pharoah has more than proved he's comfortable at.

Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post insists Bob Baffert's contender may be the best chance we've had in years to end the Triple Crown drought. Affirmed was the last to claim that accolade 37 years ago:

American Pharoah's performance at the Derby wasn't an easy one either, as Dortmund enjoyed the most fruitful start, forcing his stablemate to make up a lot of ground from the back.

In the end, it proved to be nothing more than a challenge for Pharoah to overcome as he made up the three-length deficit to triumph. Taking it one step at a time, winning the Preakness Stakes is now the highest priority, with Belmont a secondary concern.

Firing Line Shows Touch of Elite Quality

Elsa/Getty Images

No horse competing in the Kentucky Derby is a bad horse, of course, but the likes of Dortmund and American Pharoah sit among that group who can call themselves elite. Firing Line may not be far away either.

Ridden by 52-year-old veteran Gary Stevens, Firing Line went toe-to-toe with Dortmund for the third time in recent history, having lost by a head to Baffert's star pupil twice in the last few months.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The prizes for second place may not go down in songs, but trainer Simon Callaghan will take all the positives he can from finishing runner-up.

Losing to American Pharoah by a length is no embarrassing feat either, and Jay Privman of Daily Racing Forum touches on what a terrific story it would have been had Stevens managed to see Firing Line through:

As the most experienced jockey on Saturday's track, Stevens brought his share of positives to Firing Line's display, but there's no reason to think the colt's performance can't be improved further.

Another day, the three-year-old may have managed to hold on for the win, and it's not every day a superhorse like American Pharoah is in the order, which gives Callaghan huge hope for what lies ahead.