Kentucky Derby 2015: Race Replay, Highlights, Analysis and Prize Money Info

It was but two minutes of furious racing under the Kentucky sun in a Saturday jam-packed with monumental sporting events, but the 141st edition of the Kentucky Derby lived up to the hype.

In what amounted to a thrilling three-horse race in front of a record 170,513 spectators at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, Derby favorite American Pharoah powered to a win in the Run for the Roses with a brilliant final stretch. Spurred on by jockey Victor Espinoza and seemingly growing stronger with every stride, American Pharoah powered past Firing Line and Dortmund to win by a single length.

Here's a look at the complete race results:

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
	11	Stanford	Florent Geroux	Todd Pletcher	SCR
	12	International Star	Miguel Mena	Michael Maker	SCR

The NBC broadcast detailed the payout info, and CPA Robert Raiola broke down the prize-money split:

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

Didn't catch the race? Busy watching the NFL draft or prepping for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao? Here's the Derby replay:

American Pharoah's silky stride and little wasted motion proved to be critical to his win in this race. AP broke from the No. 18 post and never quite fully made his way to the rail. The fact that he had enough left in the tank to catch Firing Line and the hulking Dortmund—both American Pharoah and Dortmund are Bob Baffert trainees—speaks to the bay colt's impressive strength.

American Pharoah's dominant wins leading up to the Derby generated an immense buzz around the horse. Now on a five-race win streak, he crushed the competition by eight lengths at the Arkansas Derby (Grade 1) on April 11 and won by six and one-quarter lengths at the Rebel Stakes (Grade 2) in March.

"I have not been that impressed with a horse in a long time,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, per Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde. "We came up to him, and when [jockey] Victor Espinoza just nudged him, he opened up four or five lengths on us... That just breaks horses' hearts. That impressed the hell out of me."

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Those races had decidedly smaller fields than the Derby, and AP broke from positions much closer to the rail than the one he had at Churchill Downs. One has to wonder how the race might have turned out had American Pharoah not been on the outside for so much of the run and had a position like Dortmund's No. 8 post or Firing Line's No. 10.

Even though he started wide, his power and stamina were such that Espinoza had no problem staying wide on the final turn, per USA Today's Dan Wolken:

American Pharoah's blistering start from the outside and ability to avoid any significant bumps or entanglement in the crowded, deeply talented field was crucial to his honing in on Firing Line and Dortmund over the homestretch. AP doesn't have the big body of Dortmund to power through a scrum, but his speed at both the beginning and end of races nearly turns that into a moot point.

Steve Jones of The Courier-Journal shared a comment from Dortmund jockey Martin Garcia about American Pharoah's prowess:

American Pharoah should now be a major favorite to win the 2015 Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 16. Provided his training leading up to the race is as powerful and impressive as it was leading up to the Derby—count on it, with Baffert in control—there's no reason to doubt AP pulling off a win and giving fans a Triple Crown hopeful for the 2015 Belmont Stakes in Belmont, New York.