Kentucky Derby Post Draw 2025, Contenders, Dark Horses with Best Odds

The 2025 Kentucky Derby winner might be easy to pick.

Journalism is in a class of his own among the 20-horse field entered into the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Although Journalism is the clear favorite, there are a few other contenders who could land in the winners' circle on Saturday.

Contenders

Journalism

The discussion of potential Kentucky Derby winners could start and end with Journalism.

The pre-race favorite has not lost a race since October and he's coming off his best win yet at the Santa Anita Derby.

Journalism has won at three different distances in his career and he's defeated all challengers since November.

It wouldn't surprise anyone if Journalism ran away with Saturday's race.

The only thing not on Journalism's side is history since the last four Derby winners closed with odds of 10-1 or higher.

Sandman

Sandman is one of two other horses with odds of less than 10-1 to capture the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Sandman's win at the Arkansas Derby at the end of March proved he could win a major stakes race.

The knock against Sandman is that he hasn't been as consistent as Journalism over his last few races.

Before the win in Arkansas, Sandman took third at the Rebel Stakes and second at the Southwest Stakes.

He's certainly a contender for the top three places, but whether he can beat Journalism remains to be seen.

Dark Horses

Render Judgment

There's really no reason to pick Render Judgment based off recent results.

However, the 30-1 horse is trained by last year's Derby-winning trainer Kenneth McPeek.

The McPeek-trained Mystik Dan went into the starting gate with 20-1 odds.

Render Judgment hasn't won in his last five races and missed out on the top three in three of those five appearances.

But there's always a chance magic strikes twice for McPeek and another dark-horse candidate surges into the winners' circle.

Rodriguez

You can never really count out a Bob Baffert-trained horse.

After all, Baffert trained the last two Triple Crown winners and won the Kentucky Derby on six occasions.

Rodriguez is a dark-horse candidate to win on paper, but he's placed in the top three in five starts dating back to November.

The 12-1 horse is in the clear second tier of contenders in the field, but he could pull off an upset over Journalism.

He has the form to support a potential upset. Rodriguez won the Wood Memorial in April and finished second and third in his two races prior.