2015 Kentucky Derby entries and trainer quotes

Ocho Ocho Ocho (Post position 1, morning line 50-1) – Jim Cassidy (trainer) – “It is what it is. It’s a tough spot but what are you going to do? My plan, to be honest with you, is still to take hold and sit in the second flight. I’ve got to think Carpe Diem and a couple of those others are going to go but I don’t want to go with them, or sit behind. That’s what I’m going to talk to Elvis [Trujillo] about.”

Carpe Diem (Post position 2, morning line 8-1)/Materiality (Post position 3, morning line 12-1)/ Stanford (Post position 11, morning line 30-1)/Itsaknockout (Post position 13, morning line 30-1 – Todd Pletcher (trainer) – “In a perfect world, I would have liked to have been more toward the middle with Carpe Diem (and Materiality). But he’s a good gate horse and he’ll have to get away from there quickly. That’s pretty much true whatever your draw is in this race. Materiality is a good gate horse, too, so if he gets out he ought to be fine. My other two (Stanford and Itsaknockout), I like their draws. Good spots right in the middle.

Tencendur (Post position 4, morning line 30-1) – George Weaver (trainer) – “I would have preferred to be outside further. The further you are inside the more subject you may be to some bottlenecking going into the first turn. It’s very hard to predict everything that’s going to happen after that gate opens. It’s an OK post. We’ll deal with it.”

Danzig Moon (Post position 5, morning line 30-1) – Mark Casse (trainer) –- “Post position five isn’t the middle but with this post position we can sit in the back of the pack and come from behind. We’re not unhappy with the post.”

Mubtaahij (Post position 6, morning line 20-1) – Michael de Kock (trainer) – “I suppose we’ve got to be happy with that. One isn’t a good one, 20 isn’t a good one. I said we’d be happy with seven or eight and we drew six so we’ve got to be happy.”

* (possible foot injury and may scratch day or race) El Kabeir (Post position 7, morning line 30-1) – John Terranova (trainer) – “I’m fine with it. I think we drew great. We got speed on the inside of us. We’ve got speed outside of us. I actually glad about the post because we’d be in a position not to lose ground hopefully on the first turn or get pushed out. We’ll sit back and see how the race unfolds from there.”

Dortmund (Post position 8, morning line 3-1)/American Pharoah (Post position 18, morning line 5-2) – Bob Baffert (trainer) –Dortmund — “He’s a horse that gets going. He’s quick. He’ll be right there in the mix. It will be tougher to watch one in there, so whichever one breaks the best I’m going to key on him.” American Pharoah — “It’s OK. It’s good. Anything but being down there.
We talked about being on the outside. I feel like 20 would have been great for me. Out there at least you have a little bit of an option. He’s fast. American Pharoah is fast.” Jockey Victor Espinoza on post 18 — “I love my post, 18. I feel lucky with that number.”

Bolo (Post position 9, morning line 30-1) – Carla Gaines (trainer) – “I like it. Not too far inside, not too far out. We get options this way.”

Firing Line (Post position 10, morning line 12-1) – Simon Callaghan (trainer) – “I’m very happy with the draw. I believe we’re last to load, which is an advantage. And with the No. 10, you’ve got options.”

International Star (Post position 11, morning line 20-1) – Mike Maker (trainer) – “It was pretty straightforward. I’m glad we didn’t have the one but that’s about all. I don’t think we’ll be forwardly placed so [the horses around us] are really not an issue.”

Its a Knock Out (Post position 12)

Keen Ice (Post position 13, morning line 50-1) – Dale Romans (trainer) – “It’s one of the best spots of all of them. It might have been what I would have picked if I could.”

Frosted (Post position 14, morning line 15-1) – Kiaran McLaughlin (trainer) – “We’re very happy with it. We’re the first one in the auxiliary gate, so we have a little room at the break. There’s plenty of speed outside us; there’s plenty of speed inside us. The one hole is just the one that you feared. Other than that, we’re fine and we like the post.”

War Story (Post position 15, morning line 50-1) – Tom Amoss (trainer) – “I was a little ambivalent but my daughter texted me and said that 16 has had more success than any other post so I’m excited about that. I’m not worried about the post at all.”

Mr. Z (Post position 16, morning line 50-1) – D. Wayne Lukas (trainer) – “I love it. Great post. Just being out there, not being in the gate very long, being able to just pop in there and leave. That’s a good spot, great spot.”

FAVORITE American Pharoah (Post Position 17)

Upstart (Post position 18, morning line 15-1) – Rick Violette (trainer) – “The way I look at it is: my job the next three days is to convince Jose Ortiz it’s the best spot in the gate. My job the next three days is to convince Jose Ortiz that it’s the exact post position we wanted.”

Far Right (Post position 19) morning line 30-1) – Ron Moquett (trainer) – “For us it is actually OK because our running style won’t be affected. We’ll let everybody do that voodoo that they do and we’re just going to sit behind and watch them and come get them later.”

Frammento (Post Position 20)