Preakness 2015: Full Results and Analysis from American Pharoah's Victory

American Pharoah's Triple Crown bid continues, as the Kentucky Derby winner took the 2015 Preakness Stakes by storm, navigating a rain-soaked track to notch a decisive seven-length victory over a strong field of contenders.

Adding to the impressive nature of the colt's run, Pharoah was forced to overcome an ominous historical trend at Pimlico. He was tasked with the tall order of winning from the No. 1 post—a position that had only yielded one winner (Tabasco Cat in 1994) since 1961. Pharoah promptly ended that 54-year streak.

Before we turn our attention to the Belmont Stakes in anticipation of a potential Triple Crown winner, let's take another look back at Pharoah's sparkling run in the Preakness:

That wire-to-wire victory displayed an impressive combination of acceleration, stamina and closing ability that produced these results:

Place	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Lengths
1	1	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	----
2	5	Tale of Verve	Joel Rosario	Dallas Stewart	7
3	7	Divining Rod	Javier Castellano	Arnaud Delacour	8
4	2	Dortmund	Martin Garcia	Bob Baffert	15 1/2
5	3	Mr. Z	Corey Nakatani	D. Wayne Lukas	17 1/4
6	4	Danzig Moon	Julien Leparoux	Mark Casse	18 1/4
7	8	Firing Line	Gary Stevens	Simon Callaghan	45
8	6	Bodhisattva	Trevor McCarthy	Jose Corrales	48 1/4

While Pharoah's run was a sight to behold, it wouldn't have been possible without jockey Victor Espinoza's intelligent decision to push the colt right out of the gate.

The reason starting in the No. 1 hole is dreaded by jockeys and trainers is due to the strong chances of getting pinned inside against the rail or running into heavy traffic early—two instances that will promptly send a horse to the rear of the pack and kill his momentum. Espinoza utilized Pharoah's ability perfectly to overcome that obstacle.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Pharoah broke a bit inside out of the gate, but Espinoza straightened the colt quickly, getting him back on track before asking him to run hard. The Kentucky Derby winner displayed phenomenal acceleration in the muddy conditions, swiftly moving past the pack and settling into the lead position.

Starting in that manner would hurt the stamina of many horses, but Pharoah didn't appear to mind his brisk pace early on, maintaining his silky smooth gallop around the first turn. Wisely, Espinoza allowed the colt to ease up on his pace just slightly, knowing full well Pharoah would need to salvage some endurance to make a push down the final stretch.

With several other contenders in tow, Espinoza asked Pharoah to run one more time around the final turn. The horse complied and picked up his pace with ease, pulling further away from the pack until he had reached a seven-length lead when crossing the finish line.

Espinoza spoke of his tactics and reflected on Pharoah's run during an interview with Christine Brennan of USA Today following the race:

"

I pushed him to the front. As soon as I took the lead, that was it. He was very comfortable cruising around at a high speed. Each race, I learn something new about him, and it surprised me the way he runs. Today was an amazing race for him, but I couldn't really see how far I was in front because there was so much water in my eyes.

"

Pharoah left his opposition in the dust (or mud in this instance), but the closest to him was the surprising Tale of Verve. The long shot didn't have a solid start, falling well behind the lead pack early. However, he displayed a great deal of stamina and closing ability, racing past third-place finisher Divining Rod to notch a runner-up finish.

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

As for top contenders Firing Line and Dortmund, it was a forgettable day. Dortmund held strong near the lead pack for the majority of the race, but he couldn't muster the stamina to pick up speed down the final stretch and fell back to fourth place. Firing Line struggled out of the gate and lost all of his momentum. He was never a factor and finished seventh as a result.

Jockey Gary Stevens was very confident in the Kentucky Derby runner-up prior to the race, but he was a bit more somber following his colt's poor showing. He relayed one brief statement to Preakness.com: "We stumbled out of the gate and that was our race today."

With the first two jewels of the Triple Crown now in hand, Pharoah moves on to the Belmont Stakes. Since Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978, 13 horses have traveled to Belmont Park with the same aspirations—none were successful.

The odds are certainly stacked against Pharoah, as the fatigued colt will be contending with fresh-legged horses. However, if we've learned anything about this impressive horse over the first two legs of the Triple Crown, it's that he has a knack for producing jaw-dropping results no matter the obstacles in his way.