In what many call the most exciting two minutes in sports, the annual running of the Kentucky Derby will take place this upcoming Saturday, May 2nd.  The race will be shown live the famous Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on NBC at 6pm (EST). Below you will find some of our 2015 Kentucky Derby picks with a breakdown of the odds & race entries.  The general general predictions from famous horse racing experts and handicappers are listed below. 

The overwhelming favorite for the 2015 Kentucky Derby is American Pharoah.  Listed at 3.5 to 1 odds (at 5Dimes Sportsbook), Pharoah is ridden by famous jockey, Victor Espinoza, who also jockeyed last year’s winner of California Chrome.  Many of of the famous experts, including Jill Byrne & Ed DeRosa, have predicted Pharoah will cross the finish first.  The duo of trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza is the most highlighted team of them all and why American Pharoah is the favorite.   We at Bankroll Sports truly don’t think you will find any value betting the popular pick in Pharoah.  He is likely to go off at very poor odds due to him being the popular expert pick and the fact that Espinoza will be on him and there are too many strong horses in the field. Pharoah will also have to work from way out outside as he got a bad draw with the 18th post position.

A very popular pick from racing cappers & a true thoroughbred that want to avoid overlooking, is undefeated Dortmund (2015 Kentucky Derby Odds: 3 to 1 at 5Dimes Racebook).  Dortmund will be coming out of the number 8 post and is trained by the popular Bob Baffert, who is also training the popular favorite, American Pharoah.  To fill out an MVP team, Dortmund’s saddle will be controlled by Martin Garcia.  

As we said, there are some other impressive horses in the field, and not all the experts are backing American Pharoah.  While not exactly contrarian picks, other experts, like Daily Facing Form’s David Grening, is keen on the other Bob Baffert trained horse. The handicappers at Bankroll Sports also like Grening’s pick of Carpe Diem who’s morning line is at 8 to 1 odds to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby (odds from 5Dimes Sportsbook).  Carpe Diem will be ridden by soon-to-be-retired and legendary jockey, John Velazquez.  Velazquez will look to add to his impressive resume including a 2011 derby win (on the back of Animal Kingdom).  Velazquez hopes to go out out on top by winning the grand daddy of them all one more time.  Our handicappers (as well as many) love trainer Todd Pletcher and expect him to have Carpe Diem ready for the longer track at Churchill Downs.  We also like that Carpe Diem has the inside number 2 post position, giving him the chance to get out in front and ride the rail.  Throw in that he’s not one of the Baffert trained horses, you are likely to end up with a decent price at post time.

Todd Pletcher (Carpe Diam’s trainer) will be training several horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby.  Aside from Carpe Diem, the most well-known of them (from many horse racing aficionados) would be Materiality (2015 Kentucky Derby Odds: 21 to 1).  Materiality is from the stud of the briefly-famous Afleet Alex.  This is a nice bloodline as Afleet Alex won the Preakness Stakes & Belmont Stakes in 2005 (as well as three other majors). Materiality is being ridden by a red-hot rider in jockey Javier Castellano. The experienced Castellano finished number one overall in jockey earnings the past two years (2014 & 2015) and did so on the backs of some significant horses.  If you are looking for a sleeper, Materiality’s morning line of 21 to 1 offers tremendous value.