The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds.
The Derby Stakes, officially the Investec Derby, popularly known as the Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey over a distance of one mile, four furlongs and 6 yards, on the first Saturday of June each year.
Steve Cauthen is an American jockey who is now retired.
Giacomo is an American Thoroughbred race horse and sire best known for winning the 2005 Kentucky Derby.
Spectacular Bid was an American Thoroughbred race horse. In a racing career which lasted from 1978 through 1980, Spectacular Bid won 26 of 30 races, set several track records and earned US$2,781,607, a then-record sum. He won Eclipse Awards in each of his three seasons.
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Saturday in May. Thus the Florida Derby is currently run either at the end of March or the beginning of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade I race is run at 1 1⁄8 miles on the dirt for a purse currently set at $1 Million.
Pensive was a bright chestnut Thoroughbred racehorse that in 1944 won the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown. Pensive also began only the second sire line "hat trick" in the Kentucky Derby, as his son Ponder won the 1949 Derby, and Ponder's son Needles won the 1956 edition.
Laffit Alejandro Pincay Jr. was once flat racing's winningest all-time jockey, still holding third place many years after his retirement. He competed primarily in the United States.
Dancer's Image was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the first winner in the history of the Kentucky Derby to be disqualified.
Chateaugay was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who won two of the three U.S. Triple Crown races. Bred at Darby Dan Farm near Lexington, Kentucky by his prominent owner, John W. Galbreath, Chateaugay was a son of Swaps, the 1956 U.S. Horse of the Year and a Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
Troy was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1978 to 1979, he ran eleven times and won eight races. He is most notable for his form in the summer of 1979, when he won the 200th running of the Derby and subsequently added victories in the Irish Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup. He was retired to stud at the end of the season. His career as a stallion lasted only four years before he died in 1983.
The Tokyo Yūshun (東京優駿), also called as the Japanese Derby is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies run over a distance of 2,400 metres at the Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchū, Tokyo in late May or early June.
Henbit was an American-bred and British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the Derby in 1980. After winning one minor race as a two-year-old he showed improved form in 1980 to win the Classic Trial Stakes and the Chester Vase. He won the Derby in a fast time but sustained a leg injury in the race which ruled him out for the rest of the year. He failed when returning as a four-year-old and was retired to stud, where he had limited success as a sire of winners.
Flying Ebony (1922–1943) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1925 Kentucky Derby.
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a title awarded to a three-year-old Thoroughbred horse who wins the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. These races are now run annually in May and early June of each year. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a Triple Crown winner.
Determine, was an American Thoroughbred race horse. In a racing career which lasted from 1953 through 1955, the California-trained colt ran forty-four times and won eighteen races. His best season was 1954 when he became the first gray horse to win the Kentucky Derby.
Camelot is a British-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the leading European two-year-olds of 2011 and won the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster. He was made the winter favourite for the 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby. On his three-year-old debut, Camelot won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and followed up by winning the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby at the Curragh. His bid for the Triple Crown failed when he lost to Encke in the St Leger.
Gang Forward (1870–1899) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from 1872 until 1874 he won ten races. He was one of the best colts of his generation in England, winning the 2000 Guineas in 1873. He later became a successful sire of winners in Australia.
Art Sherman is an American horse trainer and former jockey. At the age of 77 he became the oldest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. He began his career as a stable hand for Rex Ellsworth and Mesh Tenney. While working in Ellsworth's barn, he was the exercise rider for the 1955 Kentucky Derby winner Swaps and 1956 Kentucky Derby entrant Terrang. In 1957, Sherman became a licensed jockey, enjoying modest success, and began training horses in 1979. Sherman had trained ten Graded stakes winners and is credited with over 2,100 wins prior to becoming the trainer of California Chrome. He was hired to train California Chrome in 2013, due to his "old school" training techniques. Prior to the 2014 Kentucky Derby, he had conditioned the horse through four consecutive wins, and California Chrome entered the Derby as the favorite and won. Two weeks later, California Chrome also won the 2014 Preakness Stakes. Sherman is married and has two sons, Alan and Steve, both in the horse training business.
The 2019 Kentucky Derby was the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby, and took place on Saturday, May 4, 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky. The field was open to 20 horses, who qualified for the race by earning points on the 2019 Road to the Kentucky Derby. The Derby is held annually on the first Saturday in May, at the end of the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. It is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1 1⁄4 miles (2.0 km), and has been run at Churchill Downs racetrack since its inception in 1875. The purse for 2019 was increased from US$2 million to US$3 million.
