Kentucky Derby Preview

All of the hard work is done... now 20 horses will head to the starting gate on Saturday and race for about 2 minutes for the most prestigious race for 3yo's in the US. Here is the field for this year's Kentucky Derby!


11th Race - Churchill Downs - Saturday, May 2nd, 2015
STAKES. 1 1/4 Mile Dirt. Purse $2,000,000. Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade 1). FOR THREE YEAR OLDS. (06:34 PM)
PP Horse A/S M/E Wgt Jockey Trainer
1 Ocho Ocho Ocho 3 C L 126 Trujillo Elvis Cassidy James M.
2 Carpe Diem 3 C L 126 Velazquez John R. Pletcher Todd A.
3 Materiality 3 C L 126 Castellano Javier Pletcher Todd A.
4 Tencendur 3 C L 126 Franco Manuel Weaver George
5 Danzig Moon 3 C L 126 Leparoux Julien R. Casse Mark E.
6 Mubtaahij (IRE) 3 C 126 Soumillon Christophe de Kock Michael F.
7 El Kabeir 3 C L 126 Borel Calvin H. Terranova, II John P.
8 Dortmund 3 C L 126 Garcia Martin Baffert Bob
9 Bolo 3 C L 126 Bejarano Rafael Gaines Carla
10 Firing Line 3 C L 126 Stevens Gary L. Callaghan Simon
11 Stanford 3 C L 126 Geroux Florent Pletcher Todd A.
12 International Star 3 C L 126 Mena Miguel Maker Michael J.
13 Itsaknockout 3 C L 126 Saez Luis Pletcher Todd A.
14 Keen Ice 3 C L 126 Desormeaux Kent J. Romans Dale L.
15 Frosted 3 C L 126 Rosario Joel McLaughlin Kiaran P.
16 War Story 3 G L o 126 Talamo Joseph Amoss Thomas M.
17 Mr. Z 3 C L 126 Vazquez Ramon A. Lukas D. Wayne
18 American Pharoah 3 C L 126 Espinoza Victor Baffert Bob
19 Upstart 3 R L 126 Ortiz Jose L. Violette, Jr. Richard A.
20 Far Right 3 R L 126 Smith Mike E. Moquett Ron
21 Frammento 3 C L 126 Nakatani Corey S. Zito Nicholas P.
22 Tale Of Verve 3 C L 126 Hernandez, Jr. Brian Joseph Stewart Dallas

Stanford is Preakness bound in all likelyhood so Frammento draws in. American Pharoah and Dortmund are a powerful 1-2 punch for Baffert. Carpe Diem could be the best of the East, but Frosted is trying to break an 12 year curse on the Wood (15 years for a winner of that prep to win the Derby, but 12 years since a runner has won the Derby). Materiality is trying to become the first horse since Apollo to not run at 2. Mubtaahij is trying to become the first internationally based horse to win. International Star is trying to show that his Fair Grounds form was not a fluke. Upstart and Tencendur are the NY breds in the race. Bolo could make history if he wins making his trainer the first female to win the race. El Kabeir and Mr. Z could be this year's "oops wrong ownershipmate!" horse if they get the win. Itsaknockout, War Story and Ocho Ocho Ocho at one point where contenders. Keen Ice could be very dangerous. Danzig Moon could be a dark horse, Far Right will be coming from well that direction. Finally Itsaknockout well... maybe his name is precursor to what will be happening in the nightcap of what will be a big Saturday.

So who wins? Before the post draw I was all over Carpe Diem. I loved that his 2 big wins at been in KY. Keeneland and not Churchill.... but I thought he could make it work. Then he gets the 2 hole. I still like him, but not 100% sure now. My pick is Upstart. He'll be coming out of the 18 hole which is better then coming out of 19. Jockey is young, but he has ridden some great races in the past. Carpe Diem for second and Keen Ice for third. Mubtaahij is my dark horse.