The Kentucky Derby is a key event in horse racing, marking the start of the Triple Crown quest. Only 13 horses have won the Triple Crown, with American Pharoah and Justify being the most recent winners since 1979.
Key points
The Kentucky Derby is a major spring sports event.
It initiates the quest for the Triple Crown.
Only 13 horses have won the Triple Crown.
American Pharoah and Justify are recent winners.
Eddie Arcaro is the only jockey with multiple Triple Crown wins.
The Kentucky Derby is a staple on the spring sports calendar partly due to its fashion and fanfare, but the "Run for the Roses" also kickstarts the quest for one of the most elusive titles in all of sports.
That would be horse racing's Triple Crown.
To date, there have only been 13 winners of the Triple Crown. Only two horses — American Pharoah and Justify — have accomplished the feat since 1979, and only one jockey, Eddie Arcaro, has won the Triple Crown multiple times.
The Kentucky Derby is the first leg of the three-race series and is the intermediate race of the event at 1 1/4 miles. It has been run since 1875 and is the youngest of the three Triple Crown races despite being known as the most prestigious.
The Derby is followed by the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes and the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. There is a two-week gap between the Derby and the Preakness, while the Belmont occurs three weeks after the Preakness is run.
As important as the latter two races are, neither can quite compare to the pomp and circumstance of the Kentucky Derby. The race at Churchill Downs provides its winner with a great deal of hope, as it guarantees the winner a chance to win the Triple Crown by being the first to be run.
So, which horses have won the Kentucky Derby and had a chance to complete the Triple Crown? And which ones have actually achieved that feat? Here's what to know about the history of winners on horse racing's grandest stages.
Secretariat is widely considered the greatest racehorse in American history, as he holds the all-time record for fastest Kentucky Derby at 1:59.40 in 1973 and cruised to the Triple Crown with wins in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
While Secretariat's Kentucky Derby was dominant, his performance at the Belmont Stakes is considered to be one of the greatest performances of all-time. Secretariat won the race by 31 lengths, leaving the rest of the field in the dust and capturing the Triple Crown with ease.
When Secretariat died, he was found to have an abnormally large heart that might have helped him become such a dominant racehorse.
Citation is considered one of the greatest American racehorses, as he won the Triple Crown in 1948 as part of a run of 16 consecutive wins. The first horse to win $1 million, Citation won each Triple Crown race by more than three lengths and tied the record at the time for fastest Belmont Stakes run.
American Pharoah, 2015
For 37 years, Kentucky Derby winners tried to snap a Triple Crown drought that started in 1978. No one could do it until American Pharoah, trained by Bob Baffert, completed the feat in 2015.
American Pharoah's time of 2:03.02 in the Kentucky Derby wasn't eye-popping, but he rose to the occasion as the focus shifted to the Triple Crown. In the Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah ran the second-fastest time of any Triple Crown winner and ended the nearly four-decade drought.
Donerail, 1913
Donerail remains the biggest longshot to win the Kentucky Derby, winning with 91-1 odds in 1913.
Trainer Thomas Hayes had to be convinced by jockey Roscoe Goose just to let Donerail run in the Derby, given the perceived low chance of winning. Donerail pulled off the victory by pulling in front of Ten Point late in the race, finishing with what was a record-setting Kentucky Derby time of 2:04.80.
While there have been plenty of upsets in the more than a century since the 1913 Kentucky Derby, no one has been able to match Donerail -- and it's extremely rare to even see a horse enter the race with odds as distant as 91-1.
Rich Strike, 2022
Rich Strike is the closest a horse has come to Donerail's piece of history, as the 80-1 longshot had the second-worst odds of any Kentucky Derby winner when he won in 2022.
Rich Strike was actually a late addition to the field, only added after another horse was scratched the day before the race, and he wasn't even in the top five at the final turn at Churchill Downs. Seemingly shot out of a cannon, Rich Strike pulled ahead from the inside at the last minute and stunned fans.
Rich Strike didn't get the chance to compete for the Triple Crown, as he was held out of the Preakness by his team, but he finished sixth at the Belmont Stakes.
Here are the 10 biggest upsets in Kentucky Derby history, from Donerail to Mystik Dan:
Winner
Odds
Year
Donerail
91-1
1913
Rich Strike
80-1
2022
Country House
65-1
2019
Mine That Bird
50-1
2009
Giacomo
50-1
2005
Charismatic
31-1
1999
Thunder Gulch
25-1
1995
Golden Tempo
23-1
2026
Animal Kingdom
21-1
2011
War Emblem
21-1
2002
Only nine horses with odds more distant than 20-1 have won the Kentucky Derby, but five have done it since the start of the 21st century. Rich Strike (2022), Country House (2019), Mine That Bird (2009) and Giacomo (50-1) have all registered upsets with 50-1 odds or worse since the turn of the century, but no one has been able to match Donerail's win at 91-1.
Country House has the distinction of winning without crossing the finish line first in 2019, as a rule violation got Maximum Security disqualified and put runner-up Country House in the winner's circle.
Three female horses, or fillies, have won the Kentucky Derby:
Winner
Year
Time
Regret
1915
2:05.04
Genuine Risk
1980
2:02
Winning Colors
1988
2:02.20
Regret became the first female winner in 1915, running the derby in 2:05.04, and two more fillies won in the 1980s when Genuine Risk and Winning Colors both ran impressive races to become part of history.
40 fillies have run in the Kentucky Derby, but fewer have participated in the 21st century, with only two running the Derby since 2000.
International horses that won the Kentucky Derby
Seven horses from outside the United States have won the Kentucky Derby:
Winner
Year
Country
George Smith
1916
Canada
Omar Khayyam
1917
United Kingdom
Tomy Lee
1959
United Kingdom
Northern Dancer
1964
Canada
Canonero
1972
Venezuela
Bold Forbes
1976
Puerto Rico
Sonny Halo
1983
Canada
No international horse has won the Kentucky Derby since Canada's Sonny Halo in 1983. Of the seven international winners, three are from Canada, while two are from the United Kingdom. The remaining two are from Venezuela and Puerto Rico, respectively.
2000 winner Fusaichi Pegasus is revered in Japan and was owned by a Japanese man, but the horse itself was born and bred in the United States.
How post position impacts success at Churchill Downs
No post position is universally advantageous or disadvantageous because each horse runs in a different style. Some jockeys may prefer their horse to have an inside post position, which gives horses less ground to cover but less room to run, while others may prefer an outer post position with more ground to cover but more space to get off to a strong start.
At the Kentucky Derby, the No. 5 post position has produced the most winners (10), while No. 1, No. 7, No. 8 and No. 10 have all produced either eight or nine. The Derby field has expanded over time, so the fact some of the outer-most post positions have fewer wins is largely the product of fewer opportunities.
Here is each post position and the number of Kentucky Derby wins from each:
Post
Kentucky Derby Winners
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
10
6
2
7
8
8
9
9
4
10
9
11
2
12
3
13
5
14
2
15
6
16
5
17
0
18
2
19
2
20
2
Triple Crown winners all time
Only 13 horses have ever won the Triple Crown. It was first won by Sir Barton in 1919, and Justify is the most recent Triple Crown winner after achieving the feat in 2018. Before Justify, American Pharoah notably ended a 37-year period during which no horse won the award.
