For the 2023 race, see 2023 Kentucky Derby. For the season point system, see Road to the Kentucky Derby.
American stakes race for Thoroughbreds, part of the Triple Crown
Horse race
Kentucky Derby
Grade I race
"The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" "The Run for the Roses"
Location
Churchill Downs Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Inaugurated
May 17, 1875 (148 years ago) (1875-05-17)
Race type
Thoroughbred
Sponsor
Woodford Reserve[1] (Brown–Forman)
Website
www.kentuckyderby.com
Race information
Distance
1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2 km)
Record
1:59.4, Secretariat (1973) more
Surface
Dirt
Track
Left-handed
Qualification
3-year-old
Weight
Colt/Gelding: 126 lbs (57.2 kg) Filly: 121 lb (55 kg)
Purse
US$5 million[2] 1st: $3.1 million
The Kentucky Derby (/ˈdɜːrbi/) is an American Grade I stakes race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2,012 metres). Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kilograms) and fillies 121 pounds (55 kilograms).[3]
Held annually on the first Saturday in May, the race is the first leg of the Triple Crown. The Derby is known as "The Run for the Roses", as the winning horse is draped in a blanket of roses. Lasting approximately two minutes, the race has also been called "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" or "The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports". It is preceded by the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival.[4]
The race was first run in 1875. Unlike the other races of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the Kentucky Derby, along with its sibling race, the Kentucky Oaks, has been run annually since its first edition. They were twice rescheduled within the same year, the first time due to World War II in 1945, and the second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[5] Further, the Derby and the Oaks are the oldest continuously held major sporting events in the US, as well as the oldest thoroughbred stakes races held in the same location since their beginning.[6]
The Derby is the most-watched and most-attended horse race in the United States. The 2024 Kentucky Derby marks the 150th running of the race.
^Cite error: The named reference Woodford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Frakes, Jason (January 10, 2024). "2024 Kentucky Derby to feature record $5 million purse. Here are payouts for 150th running". Courier Journal. Archived from the original on January 28, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
^"Tenth Race Churchill May 1, 2004". May 1, 2004. Daily Racing Forum. Accessed on May 9, 2006.
^"What is the Derby Festival®? – Our Story". Kentucky Derby Festival. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024. The Festival blasts off each year with the Opening Ceremonies – Thunder Over Louisville, one of the nation's largest annual fireworks extravaganzas! The ensuing two weeks of excitement and entertainment promise something for everyone.
^https://www.tvg.com/promos/kentucky-derby/kentucky-derby-history.html Archived January 27, 2019, at the Wayback Machine Kentucky Derby History
^Renau, Lynn S. (2001). "Kentucky Derby". In Kleber, John E. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 467. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0. OCLC 247857447. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
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