Kentucky Derby 2015 Results: American Pharoah Holds Off Firing Line For The Win

The Kentucky Derby 2015 results are in and American Pharoah has held off a strong charge by Firing Line to win the race.

The two horses were neck and neck going into the final stretch, but a strong late surge by American Pharoah brought him to the victory. Dortmund came in third.

Going into the race, American Pharoah and Dortmund were the frontrunners but there were some differences of opinion as to who the favorite would be. While many experts picked Dortmund or American Pharoah, others pegged Carpe Diem or Frosted.

The Washington Post‘s Neil Greenberg even made an argument as to why favorites American Pharoah and Dortmund weren’t likely to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

“Since 1988, Storm Cat’s progeny are 0 for 44 in the Derby,” he wrote. “Last year, eight runners had him in their pedigree — three of them finished in the last four spots. In 2013, six horses were descendants of Storm Cat, and four were among the last-place finishers. In 2012, eight Storm Cat runners ran and five finished in the bottom half of the field.”

Some horses were knocked out of contention long before the 2015 Kentucky Derby results came in. On Saturday morning, Churchill Downs announced that No. 12 International Star would be scratched due to a foot issue.

“The state vet got there this morning to check him out and did not like the way he jogged down the shedrow,” said owner Ken Ramsey. “Our blacksmith took the left-front shoe off and there was definitely some heat on the inside quarter of the left-front foot. Something’s brewing in there, probably an abscess. There’s nothing major wrong with the horse whatsoever. We think we’ll probably have him ready to come back for the Preakness but time will tell.”

Though International Star was only coming in at 19-1 odds, Ramsey said he thought the horse had a good chance of winning.

“It’s a devastating blow to come this far,” he said. “I thought I had a decent shot at winning the race. But it happened to A.P. Indy and a lot of other horses before. It’s bad news for the owners and the family that pinned so many hopes on finally getting to the other side of the racetrack (to the infield Kentucky Derby winner’s circle).”

The late scratch also played a role in the 2015 Kentucky Derby results. With his absence, the No. 1 gate was left open and the other horses were moved over so there was no gap in gates. Two horses — El Kabeir and Stanford — had already been scratched on Friday.

Complete results of the 2015 Kentucky Derby can be found here, along with details on all betting payouts. The leaderboard is expected to be updated within minutes of the race ending.

[Image via Getty Images/Rob Carr]