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.

The 140^th running of the Kentucky Derby takes place this Saturday from Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. We’ll take a look at some of the contenders in the field that makes this the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.

California Chrome (3.1 to 1 odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook) is the current favorite to win the race and for good reason. With 6 wins in 10 starts, the chestnut is running at a high level that could win the race. He won the Santa Anita Derby is dominating fashion, running the last quarter mile in 24.2 seconds winning by more than five lengths. Should he replicate that performance, he will certainly be hard to beat.

Trainer Bob Baffert is no stranger to the Kentucky Derby, with 3 wins in his career. Baffert once again has a contender in Hoppertunity (15 to 1 odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook) with 2 wins in 5 starts. Hoppertunity didn’t look too impressive in the Santa Anita Derby, yet he did have a strong finish rallying from a slow start. How Baffert trains at Churchill should be interesting, and with his experience could be a major factor in the race.

With 5 wins in 6 starts, Samraat (21 to 1 odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook) looks like an attractive play. All of his wins have been in New York, and his last race was a second place finish to Wicked Strong (currently 9.5 to 1 odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook) in Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial. The 3-year-old colt runs hard no matter what, and his last race was the first time he was surrounded and covered up, yet showed a lot of determination in rallying a few times. This colt definitely should not be overlooked. Samraat’s trainer Rick Violette believes the last race will only make him better, should that be the case, Samraat is a contender.

Trainer Todd Pletcher’s colt Intense Holiday (currently 29 to 1 odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook) is showing some value with his lifetime 2-1-1 record in 8 starts. The colt has an effective kick, and he does have a good amount of starts under his belt. Some have said that his style is a perfect fit for the Derby this year. If he can stay in the pack and not get in trouble early, he has the ability to make a good stretch run.

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Long before there was gambling on the Super Bowl or NBA basketball or Major League Baseball, there was horse racing. For thousands of years, gamblers have been banking on which horse could run a certain distance or a certain track the fastest. Things have gotten a lot more sophisticated for the “Sports of Kings” in the last four millennia, but the news for the equestrian world has been grim over the last several years.

News out of New York in December was the worst of all. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) may be in a position where it can’t make payroll, which could effectively shut down the storied Belmont Racetrack, as well as all of the other racing circuits in the Empire State. The Triple Crown would never be the same again, as the third leg, the Belmont Stakes, would be compromised.

Every year, it feels like horse racing is ready to take off once again behind a new story and a new super horse. But alas, every year, the winner of the Kentucky Derby has fallen in one of the next two Triple Crown races. The sport hasn’t had an icon win its most illustrious three jewels since Affirmed did it in 1978.

Enter Zenyatta, the super filly who has successfully won all 14 races in her career, including the Breeder’s Cup Classic at Santa Anita last year over horses such as Mine That Bird (who won the Kentucky Derby), Summer Bird (who won the Belmont Stakes), and Colonel John. That made her the first filly ever to win the Breeder’s Cup Classic. Zenyatta finished runner-up for Horse of the Year honors in 2009, but was also finished second to Serena Williams for the AP’s Female Athlete of the Year last year to boot.

However, even though Zenyatta has all of the accolades in the world, there’s still one horse that she hasn’t conquered.

See Rachel Alexandra, who was the filly that bested all of the boys and Zenyatta for the Horse of the Year award in 2009. She was the only Triple Crown race winner that wasn’t in the Breeder’s Cup Classic, because her owners didn’t want to see her run on the synthetic track at Santa Anita. Rachel Alexandra marched into Pimlico last year as a favorite over Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and put both him and the rest of his mare counterparts to shame by taking the Preakness Stakes just two weeks after walking away from the rest of the field in the Kentucky Oaks by a whopping 20 lengths. That made her the first filly in 85 years to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.

How is it possible to separate two unbeaten horses? Experts have clamored all year about the prospects of seeing a Rachel/Zenyatta duel, and now, someone has come to the table with the money to make it happen. Oaklawn Park is offering a $5 million purse for a prospective race between the top horses in the sport.

The art and sport of horse racing clearly needs a superstar. Neither the six-year old Zenyatta nor the four-year old Rachel Alexandra can successfully do it by themselves, especially since their races will largely go unnoticed outside of the Breeders Cup. But with the Kentucky Derby just looming a month after the prospective race between these two behemoths, it may be just the kick needed to get horse racing back on the map.

As sports betting fans, we should all be dying to see this happen before it’s too late. It’s often that you get to see any matchup between two unbeaten people, horses, or teams, especially not ones that have been so dominant and look totally unflappable.

The race, as they say, must go on.