Kentucky Derby 2015: Results, Payouts, Highlights from 141st Run for the Roses

American Pharoah started far from the rail but used his superior speed to make a late move and win the 141st Kentucky Derby by one length over Firing Line on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

The Louisville crowd and the numerous spectators who tuned in by other means were treated to one of the best Runs for the Roses in recent memory.

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 ¼
5	5	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	6 ½
6	3	Materiality	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	7 ¾
7	14	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	8 ¾
8	6	Mubtaahij	Christophe Soumillon	Mike de Kock	9 ½
9	13	Itsaknockout	Luis Saez	Todd Pletcher	10 ¼
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 ¾
13	17	Mr. Z	Ramon Vazquez	D. Wayne Lukas	15 ½
14	1	Ocho Ocho Ocho	Elvis Trujillo	Jim Cassidy	15 ½
15	20	Far Right	Mike Smith	Ron Moquett	15 ¾
16	16	War Story	Joe Talamo	Tom Amoss	19 ¼
17	4	Tencendur	Manny Franco	George Weaver	35
18	19	Upstart	Jose Ortiz	Rick Violette Jr.	60 ½
	7	El Kabeir	Calvin Borel	John Terranova	SCR
	11	Stanford	Florent Geroux	Todd Pletcher	SCR
	12	International Star	Miguel Mena	Michael Maker	SCR

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

An outstanding lineup of top contenders saw three quality horses finish in the money, with American Pharoah's barn mate, Dortmund, settling for third after leading for a good portion of the race.

The pace was just a bit too quick for Dortmund to hold out. No one ever knows quite how the horses will respond to the 10-furlong test at Churchill Downs, and stamina can be an issue even for a horse like Dortmund, who'd won all six of his career starts prior to the Kentucky Derby.

Having Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as a trainer helps and had to give Dortmund some help as he worked into shape and put together such a magnificent streak before taking off in Louisville.

But Baffert also trains American Pharoah, who now has the look of a potential Triple Crown threat. Doug Salvatore of TwinSpires.com highlighted perhaps the most encouraging part of American Pharoah's trip at Churchill Downs:

No one has pulled off horse racing's elusive trifecta of victories since Affirmed in 1978, so American Pharoah has his work cut out.

What helps at least in the Preakness Stakes is that jockey Victor Espinoza has dealt with those types of expectations before—once with Baffert and once without—to produce similar success.

At the Races host Steve Byk logged what Baffert had to say about Espinoza's savvy strategy at Churchill Downs, when he used American Pharoah's natural speed to his advantage:

Espinoza was aboard War Emblem, Baffert's most recent Derby winner before American Pharoah, and rode to victory in the 2002 Preakness as well before falling short at the Belmont Stakes. The same held true when Espinoza rode California Chrome last year.

Fresh off that near-miss with California Chrome and in the irons for perhaps an even more talented horse, Espinoza has to be licking his chops ahead of May 16's start at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

It remains to be seen which Derby entries will make the trip and compete in the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans. However, Odds Shark has American Pharoah as a 21-10 bet to win the Triple Crown, which shows just how gifted he is.

The fact that Espinoza was able to bide his time while still staying with an incredible Kentucky Derby pace indicates American Pharoah still has yet another gear he can hit. Even if the Preakness pace is quick on the shorter Pimlico track, the smaller field will most likely create an easier starting post for American Pharoah—provided he isn't right on the rail, of course.

American Pharoah is so skilled, as is Espinoza, that even a No. 1 post position in the Preakness could be surmounted. The big question will be the grueling test of the Belmont, which has upended Espinoza's two prior Triple Crown bids.