A Complete Guide to the Kentucky Derby
Updated: 2025
The Kentucky Derby has more of a public hold than any other horse race. Since the 19th century, its premier competition for three-year-old thoroughbreds has occurred at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, which is the heart of horse country. More than any other single horse race, the Derby spans the wide cultural divide from the horse racing aficionado to the casual viewer who may not watch or wager on any other single horse race all year except this one.
Numerous top stars in the sport have drawn the crowds and captured the attention of fans when winning this exalted event. Some have been so favorite they seemed to have a lock on the race; others have come out of nowhere as they have upended the field. And when the race is over, you could almost say it is an afterthought that it is "The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports" because of how quick it goes by.
Certainly, when discussing the Kentucky Derby, one cannot avoid bringing up the wagering side of it. Throughout the year, many people engaged in the world of work do not make a wager on anything. But come Derby Day, they, too, find a couple of bucks to invest, and they head to the nearest large gathering of humanity, that is, the racetrack, and they place a bet. To these folks, the Derby becomes a kind of participatory event. And to those for whom $2 is an insurmountable barrier to entry, even a $1 bet would seem luxurious.
This is why most of the betting that takes place for the Derby happens online. Since the internet really started to catch on, sites for betting on horse racing have pretty much flooded the market, and these days, you can find them without even trying very hard. Many of these sites go well beyond the Kentucky Derby, using it as a springboard to offer all kinds of wagering opportunities on horse races, and some of them supplement the horse race opportunities with betting on casino games and other sports.
Finding the highest-quality Kentucky Derby betting sites can be difficult when there are so many to choose from. That’s why we’re here to guide you through the vast range of options. You might stick with a specific site, such as KentuckyDerby.com or TwinSpires.com, the latter associated with Churchill Downs. Or you might look for a site that presents you with a little more variety.
Regardless, acquiring some knowledge about the race beforehand is wise. You should also comprehend several of the wagers at your disposal along with the stratagems that are optimally employed during the Derby. With all that as your foundation, you can begin to peruse the top-tier betting sites for this celebrated race.
Kentucky Derby History
How did the Kentucky Derby become America's premier race and arguably the most renowned in the world? It began with a Kentuckian calling on some business savvy learned in the good old U.S. of A. and abroad. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. had spent time in England and had seen the grand Epsom Derby. The young man, in love with horses and with the business of horse breeding and racing, wanted to bring an event of that caliber back to his native Kentucky, an area already rich with equine enterprises.
In 1875, Churchill Downs opened its doors, and the inaugural Kentucky Derby took place the day it opened. The first race run at this newly minted horse track was one rowing strong bets on a filly for winning. Aristides, the first distinguished winner of an unbroken line of Derby champions, edged ahead by the slightest of margins amid a hail of dust raised from the recently tilled track. This palpable excitement was the award in witnessing horse racing's most illustrious form.
Regarding the specific details of the race, it takes place on the first Saturday of May and is limited to only the best three-year-old horses, with a maximum of twenty in the field. The race is run at a distance of 1.5 miles. Among other traditions, a winner is presented with a garland of roses (thus the nickname "The Run for the Roses"), and the spectators are out in their dress-up, with the ladies often sporting the elaborate hats that make such a fine visual statement.
What really increased the popularity of the Kentucky Derby was when it became the first leg of the Triple Crown. The Derby is followed by the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in this trio of very special races for three-year-olds. Any horse that can win all three is something to write home about, considering it has occurred only 13 times in racing history.
One reason people are drawn to the Kentucky Derby is they can place bets on it. Because there are so many horses in the field, bettors have the chance to make a hefty profit off a bet that costs them very little. If they can just manage to select the horse (or horses) that will finish in the right order, they might cash in.
Betting on the Kentucky Derby
If you are at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, you can place a bet on the Kentucky Derby in person. But if you are not in Louisville, you might try placing a bet at an off-track wagering site. Though these sites might sound as if they are set up on some sort of secret, underground horse racing farce, they are actually legitimate places associated with the tracks where you can wager on events happening at the track and some other events going on at the same time.
Betting in Person
If you are in one of these locations, just approach one of the wagering windows where a cashier is available. Or you might choose to use one of the kiosks, located throughout the betting area. Before you head over, it would be wise to decide on the following: 1. The amount of money you wish to wager. 2. The type of bet you want to place. 3. The number of the horse (or horses) you plan to select in the Derby.
Perhaps you want a day out with the many admirers of the Kentucky Derby. If so, placing a bet on the race might make a good choice for you. Alternatively, you might be seeking a more intimate setting for your Derby endeavors, in which case I have several suggestions for you. Yet, for sheer convenience, it’s tough to beat betting online. You have at your fingertips choices that mean you can get the best value for the money you would like to wager on the Kentucky Derby.
Betting Online
It is probable that your decision will rest on your individual likes and dislikes. You will want to inquire into some of the particulars of betting on horse racing from the sites that are available to you. Among the sites you consider, how do deposit and withdrawal procedures strike you? What about customer service? Reputation? Bonus offerings? To say nothing of betting on the Derby itself, do the sites you're considering at least provide that function, along with access to the most up-to-date odds?
Your choice depends largely on your experience and preference. But Bovada is a great pick. They aren't the oldest site on the market, but they have extremely competitive bonuses, and they are known for paying out in a timely manner. Still, any site listed above would serve you well; you might have even dealt with one or more of them in the past.
Because the Kentucky Derby ranks above all other horse races in terms of American popularity, that means most of the people laying down bets don't have much experience with them. If that's you, don't panic! Just go in with a half-decent grasp of the basic bet types and some roughly formed strategies. You should have a pretty good shot at picking the winning horse.
Betting Specifics
As you approach the window or access your computer to place a bet on the Kentucky Derby, excellent options abound concerning the sorts of wagers one can make. Some of these bets are easier to hit, yet they tend to return less money than they would if they were harder to win. At the same time, some wagers one can make require sheer genius and/or luck while offering a substantial payout if one happens to win.
Bet Varieties
If you are a beginner in the world of betting, then the straight bet may be your best option, at least for now. A straight bet is very easy to understand and to place. You choose a horse in a race and wager on it to win; if the horse does win, you receive the payout that corresponds with the odds at which your horse was going when you placed the bet. Again, as in all of these betting scenarios, the odds can change, but let's say that your pick in the Derby is going off at 10-1.
It's also possible to wager on horses to finish in a place or show position. If you back a horse to place, it must finish either first or second for you to win. If you back a horse to show, it may finish either first, second, or third, and your bet will pay off. These are probably the easiest kinds of horse-racing bets to win, but even the place and show bets can yield a handsome payoff if the horse you back is not heavily favored by other bettors.
A bit more complex and needing a bit more know-how and, let's face it, a tad more good fortune to come through, exotic bets are just that: exotic. There are numerous kinds, but what they all have in common is that they either involve more than one horse in a single race or more than one race. Prime examples of exotic wagers include:
As you can probably guess, hitting exotic wagers is not an easy task. However, you can make it a little easier by using certain tactics like boxing, which will enable you to win exactas, trifectas, and superfectas if the horses you select happen to come in any order. For instance, if you were to play a 1-2 exacta box, you would also win if the #2 came in first and the #1 came in second.
- Exacta: The first two horses in the order of finish
- Trifecta: The first three horses in the order of finish
- Superfecta: The first four horses in the order of finish
- Daily Double: The winner of two consecutive races
- Pick 3, Pick 4, etc.: The winner of three consecutive races, four consecutive races, etc.
Because a normal Kentucky Derby field has as many as twenty horses, the exotic combinations are virtually unlimited. Consequently, payoffs are as high as they are anywhere in the betting universe, because taking a Derby horse off in an exotic is your best chance for a hefty return on investment for a relatively small outlay.
When a large number of people place bets on the Kentucky Derby, they tend to simply select the horses that look the best to them or have names that resonate with them. And that's a fun way to do it. Your best opportunity to win is to analyze the historical performances of the horses in question. That information can be found in a race program, which is available at the track where you place your bets or through a number of online outlets.
Betting Strategy
One of the aspects you can concentrate on when wagering on the Kentucky Derby is the race's distance. When they run the Derby in early May during their three-year-old season, most of the horses have never run a race that long. Therefore, you need to find horses that have displayed, in previous contests, the ability not to weaken consistently in the closing stages but instead to exhibit a kind of muscular finishing surge.
A crucial aspect of betting on the Kentucky Derby is the horses' class. The horses that win this race are almost universally not only fast but also tough, having been seasoned against very tough competition. And the Derby, on the other end, is not a race for the faint of heart. Betting on a horse that has come from a weaker race just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
When seeking a shortcut for the handicapping of a particular field, one might consider the use of speed figures. These. When considering the for and against forces that help and hinder a horse's performance, and only watch every race that a given horse runs, experts assign numbers to the horse's performance that are meant to indicate how speedy (or not) a horse is compared to others in the Derby lineup. And those numbers, as close as the experts can come to science with their assignments, are what one looks to when seeking a fast (though imperfect) indication of the performance level of the various horses in the Derby.
Ultimately, quite a few individuals concentrate on the human side of the race when they attempt to select winning horses. The Derby's triumph hinges primarily upon the owners, trainers, and jockeys. On the Kentucky Derby's official website, under the heading "Rider Statistics, Trainer Statistics, Owner Statistics," you can find info not just on these folks' records in the Derby specifically, but also on their recent performances in the horse racing world at large.
Not yet in history. The Derby can be run in the rain; if it can be run on a sloppy track, it can be run in snow, and incidentally, the May date means snow is not really a factor.
FAQ
Has the Kentucky Derby ever been cancelled?
The only thing that could possibly stop the race from being run at its scheduled time, for the safety of horses and spectators, was lightning. But even this instance would generally only require a delay in the race until the lighting moved out of the area.
The magnificent Secretariat, in 1973, took the Derby's mile-and-a-quarter distance and whistled through it in a record 1:59.4 (just under two minutes). He also set the two same speed records at the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes that year!
Who is the fastest Kentucky Derby winner?
The legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro has a long career with many impressive victories. He won the most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby, not just once but five times, and he finished in the money (which means he came in one of the top places) ten times during a long span of years where he was famous. However, when it comes to short but extremely productive bursts of success that no one else can quite replicate, the name Bill Hartack stands out. Hartack rode in only 12 years of the Derby (from 1957 to 1969), yet in that time, he won the race not once, not twice, but five times.
What jockeys and trainers have performed the best at the Kentucky Derby?
In the division that deals with training, Ben Jones reigns supreme with six Kentucky Derby victories. Jones, who was the mentor for the legendary Triple Crown winners Whirlaway and Citation in the 1940s, is not the only one to find success on race day. Bob Baffert, the current trainer of champions, matches Jones in terms of stratospheric success—with five victories that make up his recent Derby dollar.
The Derby is technically open to every 3-year-old horse, yet fillies seldom run in it, preferring to contest the Kentucky Oaks, which is run at Churchill Downs the day before the Derby. Nevertheless, three times in the last century, the best fillies have tried their luck in the Derby and won: Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988.
Has a female horse ever won the Kentucky Derby?
No, but only because the rules say not to. Only horses of the age three can be in the competition.
Has a horse ever won the Kentucky Derby twice?
At present, the purse is $2 million. The bulk of that, just over 60%, goes to the winning horse's connections. Second- through fifth-place finishers also get a chunk of that substantial purse.
How much money is on the line for the horses at the Kentucky Derby?
It changes from year to year. But the 2018 occasion should serve as an indicator. More than $227 million was wagered on the Derby by itself, a figure that served as a new high-water mark at the time.
How much money is annually bet on the Kentucky Derby?
Actually, many times. The size of the field and the horses' inexperience relative to those in other stakes races cause even the best handicappers to whiff on the Derby favorite often enough that it's made the nation's premier race a likely win for any decent runner. It's one of the oldest adages in horse racing: If a horse can run respectably in the Kentucky Derby, he can run respectably in any race and is likely to earn a decent payday.
Has a long shot ever won the Kentucky Derby?
The biggest upset in the history of the Kentucky Derby, according to the odds, was produced by Donerail in 1913. He was sent off at odds of 91-1. That means that the people who bet just two bucks on him to win got back $184.90.
The biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history, according to the odds, was turned in by Donerail in 1913. He went off at odds of 91-1. That meant that those people who bet just two bucks on him to win walked away with $184.90.
