Meet Kentucky Derby 2026 owners, from Repole Stables to Wathnan Racing

Commandment

President Donald J. Trump speaks with Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al Thani as he departs the Al Udeid Air Base for Abu Dhabi on May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar.

Owner: Wathnan Racing (Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani)

What to know: Wathnan Racing's owner is Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar. Per the stable's website, "Wathnan Racing is named after a desert Arabian, a beloved stallion of Al Thani family folklore. He, in turn, was named for his kind and eager disposition — 'wathnan' can be translated as a 'crown of ears,' referring to his pricked ears, the surest sign that a horse truly is your friend." The stable was founded in October 2022, first racing in Qatar before beginning to run in the United Kingdom. Wathnan has not yet made North America a priority — since 2023, it has just 152 starts on the continent, per Equibase. This also doubles as Wathnan's Derby debut. It's a strong hand: Commandment enters atop the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard with 150. He's won four of his five starts, with victories in the Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes (both run at Gulfstream Park) this year.

Danon Bourbon

Owner: Danox Co. (Masahiro Noda)

What to know: Noda, one of Japan's richest men, owns Danox Co. (and by extension, Derby starter Danon Bourbon). According to Forbes, Noda has a net worth of more than $3.4 billion. He is the chairman and CEO of Obic, which Forbes notes is a "publicly traded computer-system integrator and custom software maker." Forbes reports that through the fiscal year that ended in March 2025, Obic "posted $452 million in net profit on $848 million in revenue." Noda founded the business in 1968 using money from his wife's savings. Though this will be Noda's first Derby appearance, he's a longtime race-winning owner in Japan.

Emerging Market

Owner: Klaravich Stables (Seth Klarman)

What to know: Klarman, the owner of Klaravich Stables, gives it a go for the fifth time in the Run for the Roses. In his first two appearances, in 2004 (with Read the Footnotes, which placed seventh) and 2017 (Practical Joke, which finished fifth), Klarman was in a partnership. But in his two most recent Derby starts — a ninth in 2021 with Highly Motivated and a 13th in 2024 with Domestic Product — he's been the sole owner. He founded Klaravich Stables more than three decades ago with his friend, Jeff Ravich. The stable took its name by combining the first three letters of Klarman's last name with Ravich. After nearly a decade together, Ravich left the partnership "to start his own stable on the West Coast," according to America's Best Racing. While Derby glory has eluded Klarman to this point, he has a pair of Preakness Stakes wins to his name: 2017 (courtesy of Cloud Computing, which he owned in partnership with William Lawrence) and again in 2022 (via Early Voting). Klaravich Stables has finished in the top three in earnings among North American owners six straight years (2020-25). Klarman made his money in investments, running The Baupost Group. Forbes reports he's worth $1.5 billion. An ardent fan of the Boston Red Sox, Klarman is one of the team's minority owners.

Fulleffort

Owners: St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola); Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf)

What to know: Both St. Elias and Starlight have already had a taste of Derby success. St. Elias won in 2017 with Always Dreaming. Starlight is a two-time winner, first with Justify (2018) and then Authentic (2020). Justify went on to capture the Triple Crown.

Viola is one of the world's richest people. Forbes put his net worth at $7.1 billion, as of April 21. But he wasn't born with a silver spoon. Forbes points out Viola was the "son of a truck driver from Brooklyn" before founding Virtu Financial, an electronic-trading firm, in 2008. He took the company public seven years later. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 2003, he created the Combating Terrorism Center at his alma mater. Viola also owns an NHL team, the Florida Panthers.

A native of Louisville, Wolf founded Starlight Racing in 2000 along with his wife, Laurie Wolf. A onetime professor, Wolf later started an Atlanta-based hedge fund, Columbus Partners. He stayed with the hedge fund until his retirement. If Fulleffort reaches the line first May 2, Wolf will become only the fourth owner with at least three wins in the Run for the Roses, joining Calumet Farm (eight) Col. E.R. Bradley (four) and Belair Stud (three).

Further Ado

Spendthrift Farm's Eric Gustavson applauds as trainer Bob Baffert acknowledges the crowd after winning 2020 Kentucky Derby with Authentic. Gustavson is among the Breeders' Cup board members who will decide whether Baffert allowed to compete in this year's event.

Owner: Spendthrift Farm (Eric Gustavson)

Gustavson is seeking his second Derby win, as he was part of the ownership group for 2020 champion Authentic. According to Spendthrift Farm's official website, Gustavson joined "with the 2004 purchase of the farm by owner B. Wayne Hughes." Prior to becoming the owner, Gustavson was the farm's marketing director and president. Spendthrift originally was bought by Leslie Combs II in 1937. He died in 1990, and the farm went into bankruptcy amid a downturn in the thoroughbred industry. Prior to Combs' death, Triple Crown winners Affirmed and Seattle Slew lived on the farm after they retired from racing. Per America's Best Racing, "Ted Taylor purchased the main 496-acre tract of Spendthrift at a court-ordered bankruptcy auction in 1994" before Bruce Kline and a group of partners bought it in 2000. Once Hughes took over in 2004, he began returning Spendthrift to the status it had enjoyed during Combs' long reign.

Golden Tempo

Owners: Phipps Stable (Daisy Phipps Pulito); St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola)

What to know: Viola owns two other Derby entrants, Fulleffort and Iron Honor.

Phipps Pulito has one prior Derby start: She was 17th in 2021 with Dynamic One. While it's the only start she's credited with, Phipps Stable has a long history in the sport. Ogden Mills Phipps, who went by "Dinny," led Phipps Stable until his death in 2016. His daughter, Phipps Pulito, now campaigns horses with her family's name alongside her brother, Ogden. "When my grandfather and my dad had it, Phipps Stable was one of the biggest stables," Phipps Pulito told Daily Racing Form in February. "There wasn't all of these partnerships, and trainers didn't have that many horses either. When we had 35, 40 horses in training, we were one of the bigger stables, and this game is a bit of a numbers game, too." Prior to Dinny's death, he saw one of his thoroughbreds win the Run for the Roses, as Orb was the 2013 champion. Dinny's grandmother was Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps, who started Wheatley Stable in 1926. Though she never won the Derby, she made seven appearances in the race. Her most famous horse was Bold Ruler — Secretariat's father. And there's more: As America's Best Racing writes, Dinny's "great-grandfather, Henry Phipps, was a childhood friend and business partner of Andrew Carnegie, and they made their fortunes together in the iron and steel business in the 19th century."

Iron Honor

Owners: St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola); William Lawrence; Glassman Racing

Viola owns two other Derby entrants, Fulleffort and Golden Tempo.

Lawrence is CEO and chief investment officer of Meridian Capital Partners, a hedge fund. Per America's Best Racing, "Lawrence, who grew up outside Albany, New York, and started attending the races at Saratoga at the age of 12, was introduced to frequent partner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables by a mutual friend."

Glassman Racing is owned by the husband-and-wife team of Karl and Cathi Glassman. They launched their stable in 1995. Their most successful horse to this point is Arthur's Ride, the winner of the 2024 Whitney Stakes, a Grade 1 event at Saratoga. Beyond any on-track glory, Arthur's Ride always would have held a special place in the couple's heart: He was named after Karl's father, who died in 2022 at the age of 91, having lived through the Great Depression. "He was so poor when he was little," Karl told BloodHorse in 2024. "Heck, he spent the first 2 1/2 years of his life being raised in a chicken coop in Nebraska. That's how tough the Depression was."

Pavlovian

Owner: Reddam Racing (Paul Reddam)

What to know: Reddam Racing and its eponymous owner, Paul Reddam, hope the stars align for the third time on Derby day. Reddam has won the Run for the Roses twice, first in 2012 with I'll Have Another, then again in 2016 with Nyquist. Doug O'Neill was the trainer for both of those victories; he also trains Pavlovian. The lone difference between this year and Reddam's two prior wins? It won't be the same jockey. Mario Gutierrez was the winner in 2012 and 2016. But Pavlovian's jockey will be Edwin Maldonado, making his Derby debut. A Canadian who hails from Windsor, Ontario, Reddam once was a philosophy professor at California State University-Los Angeles. He then left higher education to found DiTech, a mortgage loan company. Per a 2016 Courier Journal article, the company "was the first of its kind to advertise its current rates on television and billboards." Reddam later sold DiTech to General Motors. As of April 19, Reddam Racing is 15th in winnings among North American owners in 2026. Like Wolf, a victory in this year's Derby would be the third for Reddam, making him only the fourth owner to accomplish that feat.

Potente

Owner: Speedway Stables (Peter Fluor, K.C. Weiner)

What to know: This will be Speedway Stables' second Derby start. It hopes the encore is better than the debut. In 2019, Roadster started wide and never got in the mix, taking 15th in a 19-horse field. Speedway isn't a stable that revs up too much in terms of starts: Since 2015, it's logged barely 300 total starts. And that's including races in which Speedway was in a partnership. Speedway doesn't yet have a Triple Crown win to its name, but it notched a Breeders' Cup victory in 2021, as Corniche captured the Juvenile. Speedway has 15 other graded-stakes wins — more than half of those in Grade 1 events. Speedway is a legacy ownership, in a sense. As America's Best Racing recounted, "Fluor and Weiner’s fathers were partners in racehorse ownership together, so the pair decided to pick up the torch." Fluor had been on the board of directors for the company of the same name, founded by his great-grandfather; Fluor retired from that position in 2021. He also once had been the chairman and CEO of Texas Crude Energy, an oil and gas exploration company. Weiner also worked at Texas Crude Energy as the company president.

Renegade

Mike Repole, owner of 2024 Kentucky Derby contender Fierceness, jokes with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. outside trainer Todd Pletcher's barn Friday morning, April 26, 2024, at Churchill Downs.

Owners: Robert & Lawana Low; Repole Stable (Mike Repole)

What to know: Neither the Lows nor Repole are new to the Derby. This will be the third showing for the Lows; their best finish was third, with Steppenwolfer, in 2006. It'll be Derby Try No. 9 for Repole, who took third with Mo Donegal in 2022.

The Lows have 14 graded-stakes wins, four of the Grade 1 variety. Robert Low founded the Prime Inc. trucking company. He and his wife own the Primatara Horse Farm, located in Springfield, Missouri. On the property is one of the largest homes in the U.S. measuring more than 70,000 square feet.

Repole needs little introduction. Year in and year out, Repole Stable is among the successful in the industry. It's finished in the top 45 in winnings every year since 2008. That includes seven top-10 finishes (2010-13, 2023-25). According to Forbes, Repole's net worth is $2.5 billion. He made his big bucks in the beverage industry. He founded Glaceau, which makes Vitaminwater, and then sold the brand to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. Repole then created Bodyarmor; he again sold to Coca-Cola, this time for $5.6 billion.

Right to Party

2026 Kentucky Derby horse Right To Party on the track during a morning workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. April 20, 2026

Owner: Chester Broman Sr.

What to know: It's been more than two decades since Broman had a horse running on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs. In 2004, Friends Lake never contended in a 15th-place finish. Broman owned Friends Lake with his wife, Mary. According to America's Best Racing, the husband-and-wife pair bred and owned racehorses dating back to the 1990s. Mary died Oct. 16, 2024, at 88. Their signature victory was in 2017, when Bar of Gold placed first in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. It was a stunning upset: Bar of Gold went off at 66-1 odds that day. The Bromans had a dozen other wins in graded-stakes events. Chester operates Chestertown Farm (the New York-based home of the stable's breeding arm) and has been owner, president and CEO of Clifford Broman and Son. Per Bloomberg, the company offers trucking services, hauling "industrial sand" for its clients. Chester has been a key figure in the horse racing industry in New York, with America's Best Racing noting he had "served on the board of the New York Racing Association, New York Breeders Sales Company and New York Thoroughbred Breeders."

Silent Tactic

John and Debbie Oxley

Owner: John Oxley

What to know: The Derby is old hat for Oxley. Silent Tactic will be the ninth thoroughbred he's owned to run in the historic race. Oxley has one victory in the Run for the Roses: Monarchos won in 2001 with a time of 1:59.97. That was the second-best time in the history of the Derby behind the immortal Secretariat. Since Monarchos' triumph, the best an Oxley-owned horse has finished on Derby Day is fifth (Danzig Moon, 2015). Along with the 2001 Derby triumph, Oxley also has two Breeders' Cup wins: the 2016 Juvenile (with Classic Empire) and the 1999 Distaff (with Beautiful Pleasure). Oxley acquired his wealth via the oil industry, founding Oxley Petroleum — an oil and gas exploration firm based in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, per America's Best Racing — in 1962. He then sold Oxley Petroleum in 2003 to start another company: Oxley Resources LLC, which American's Best Racing wrote is "a smaller-scale oil and gas exploration and production venture." Oxley has athletic bloodlines, as his father is John T. Oxley, a Hall of Fame polo player and former chairman of the U.S. Polo Association.

Six Speed

Owners: Brunetti Dugan Stables; Black Type Thoroughbreds (Jake Ballis); Steve Adkisson; Swinbank Stables (Reagan Swinbank)

What to know: Every member of this ownership group is competing in the Run for the Roses for the first time ... except for Swinbank. In 2009, Swinbank was one of five owners of Join in the Dance, which finished seventh in the Derby. (One of Join in the Dance's other owners: then-NBA player Rashard Lewis.) A Texan, Swinbank had a heavy heart last year. His daughter was at Camp Mystic when it flooded in July 2025, killing 28 people, including 25 campers. Though Swinbank's daughter is among the survivors, it took a toll. "The funerals are brutal, but they do provide some closure. And as a community, we are getting through it," Swinbank told the Thoroughbred Daily News last year. "They're just kids. And they saw life-and-death situations that no one should ever have to see, let alone children."

Ballis co-founded Black Type Thoroughbreds. He and Swinbank are longtime friends. "I've known Jake since we were 10 years old, and I've kind of followed along with what Jake and his wife Maddie dictate,” Swinbank told TDN. "They say we should buy the horse, we buy it. I don't provide that much input, other than if the price gets too high."

Adkisson is a co-founder of Adkisson Group, a real estate development and investment firm based in Houston. "I've always loved the sport and the racing, and I finally got with the right group of people with Black Type Thoroughbreds," Adkisson told Past The Wire TV last year.

Brunetti Dugan Stables has been around less than a year. Little is known about it, other than it is a limited-liability company (LLC) registered in Texas.

So Happy

Jockey Mike Smith sits atop Kentucky Derby contender So Happy during an event at Santa Anita Park.

Owners: Norman Stables (Robbie Norman); Saints or Sinners (Hans & Ana Maron)

What to know: Norman had one of the most inspiring stories of last year's Derby. He was the sole owner of Coal Battle, which finished 11th. Unlike so many thoroughbred owners with astounding wealth, Norman owned a small chain of grocery stores in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He entered the industry more than a decade ago, which coincided with one of the most trying times of his life: Norman had recently gotten divorced. Watching a documentary on 2012 Belmont Stakes champion Union Rags inspired him. "I didn’t like to hunt, I didn’t like to fish, I tried golf and I didn’t like golf," Norman told the Call News last year. "I chose the perfect hobby for me." One can't argue with the results now that he owns Derby starters in consecutive years.

The other member of the ownership group, Saints or Sinners, is run by the husband-and-wife team of Hans and Ana Maron. Originally from Switzerland, Hans made his money via the beverage brand fairlife. Per Saints or Sinners' website, his "love affair with competition began with a passion for basketball (which he coached eventually) and quickly extended to horse racing at nearby Golden Gate Fields. Never afraid to take risks worth the experience, he bought his first race horse at the tender age of 25." He met Ana in college. Though she initially didn't have much interest in the sport, that's changed. "When we attend live racing, in the wee hours of the morning, you’ll find me at the barns in boots and jeans greeting the athletes and thanking the workers!" she said on the stable's website. Per Equibase, Saints or Sinners has a win-place-show rate of 53% (21-20-20 in 116 starts) in 2026, as of April 19.

Stark Contrast

Kentucky Derby contender Stark Contrast works out early at Churchill Downs. The horse is trained by Michael McCarthy and jockey Kazushi Kimora is slated to ride. The horse has won three of his six races. He's won on turf -- grass -- but not dirt. April 22, 2026

**Owner:**Amerman Racing (Jerry and John Amerman)

What to know: John Amerman served as the CEO of the Mattel toy company for 11 years. John and his wife, Jerry, originally got into thoroughbred ownership via partnerships. In 1995, John and Jerry founded their own stable: Amerman Racing. As years went on, the pair decided to focus their finances into breeding as opposed to buying yearlings. It's paid off, as this is Amerman's second homebred Derby entrant: Endlessly placed ninth in the 2024 Run for the Roses. "It's a different way of handling the industry," John Amerman told BloodHorse in 2017. "For many years we went to the sales and finally we decided to take things into our own hands. But it takes a few years to develop a good group of broodmares. We believe we're there now." Though the Amermans don't yet own a Triple Crown victory, they have two wins in the Breeders' Cup: the 2016 Juvenile Turf (with Oscar Performance) and the 2003 Distaff (with Adoration).

The Puma

Owners: OGMA Investments (Gustavo Delgado); JR Ranch (Ramiro Restrepo); High Step Racing (Randy Guy, Joe Noble, Kevin Avera, Jim Ferreira, Todd Perry)

What to know: This is the second Derby for Delgado and Restrepo. They were part of the winning ownership team in 2023 with that year's Derby champion, Mage. It will be the Derby debut for the five members of High Step Racing.

Delgado, as he was for Mage, is also The Puma's trainer.

Restrepo owns Marquee Bloodstock, which he launched in 2014. And he has deep roots in the sport. "Restrepo is the fifth generation of his family to participate in the Thoroughbred industry, reaching back to his great-great grandfather, who owned racehorses in Colombia in the 1800s," the Paulick Report wrote in a feature on Restrepo in 2019. "He could recall each branch of the family tree's contribution to its racing legacy with ease, from a grandfather who owned racetracks in Colombia to uncles who emigrated to New York and became trainers."

The quintet that comprises High Step Racing is a fairly new outfit. The stable was founded in 2023. Per its official website, "The group is based in Milton, (Georgia), focusing on collaborative ownership and racing of high-quality thoroughbred horses.

Wonder Dean

Owner: Yoshinari Yamamoto

What to know: In addition to being Wonder Dean's owner, Yamamoto is also its breeder. Additionally, Yamamoto owns the dam, Wonder Siang Praw, who had win-place-show percentage of 50% (3-3-5) in 22 starts. Nearly every horse bred by Yamamoto's family carries the "Wonder" prefix. This will be Yamamoto's Derby debut. Wonder Dean has two wins in six career races, with a pair of runners-up as well. In his most recent start, Wonder Dean captured the Group 2 UAE Derby at Meydan Racecourse, topping fellow Derby entrant Six Speed by 2½ lengths.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby 2026, meet owners for Run for Roses at Churchill Downs