When Fusaichi Pegasus started off the 2000s as the Kentucky Derby winner, he was the first favorite to win the Derby since 1979.

The drought for Derby favorites hasn’t been as dry as that period, but it still doesn’t bode well for this year’s favorite, American Pharoah. American Pharoah is currently favored at 5/2, according to Oddsshark.com. If American Pharoah wins, the horse would be the fourth favorite to win the Derby since Fusaichi Pegasus ended the favorites drought in 2000.

Oh, and American Pharoah would have to do it from the No. 18 post position, a position where rarely a horse has ever won the Derby.

Other favorites to win since 2000 have included Smarty Jones in 2004, Street Sense in 2007, Big Brown in 2008 and California Chrome in 2014.

If the lack of favorites to win wasn’t enough for American Pharoah to overcome, the team of Bob Baffert and Victor Espinoza as a trainer and jockey haven’t won the Derby since War Emblem took the title in 2002. Baffert and Espinoza will look to end that string of losses when American Pharoah hits the track Saturday.

There’s no guarantee that American Pharoah will enter the race as the favorite. Other notable horses that could be the favorite by race time Saturday are Dortmund at 3/1, Carpe Diem at 8/1, and Materiality and Firing Line at 12/1.

 

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