Thoroughbred horse racing is a sport and industry involving the racing and hound racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: flat racing and jump racing, called National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
Mr. Prospector was a Thoroughbred racehorse who became an outstanding breeding stallion and notable sire of sires. A sprinter whose career was cut short by repeated injuries, he won seven of his 14 starts, including the Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack and the Whirlaway Handicap at Garden State Park.
Foolish Pleasure was an American bay Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1975 Kentucky Derby.
The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is run at 1 1⁄8 miles on the dirt and currently offers a purse of $1,000,000. It ran as a Grade II event in 2017. The Blue Grass was a Grade I event from 1974 through 1989 and again from 1999 to 2016.
The Risen Star Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in February at the Fair Grounds Race Course. It is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt. A Grade II event, it currently offers a purse of $400,000. The race is the major prep race to the Louisiana Derby and one of many prep race preparing colts for the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown. The American Graded Stakes Committee upgraded the race to Grade II from Grade III in 2010.
Ferdinand was a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1986 Kentucky Derby and 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic. He was voted the 1987 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.
The Pat Day Mile Stakes is an American Grade 3 Thoroughbred horse race held on Kentucky Derby day run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky for three-year-olds willing to race one mile on the dirt. The current purse is $250,000 for the event.
Iron Liege was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1957 Kentucky Derby.
Gallahadion was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the 1940 winner of the Kentucky Derby. He was a son of the Champion sire Sir Gallahad III, and his damsire was U.S. Horse of the Year Reigh Count, who won the 1928 Kentucky Derby. Owned by Ethel V. Mars' Milky Way Farm Stable, named for her company's famous chocolate bar brand, Gallahadion raced at age three in California. Although he was unplaced in the Santa Anita Derby and the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, after winning the 1940 San Vicente Stakes and finishing second in the Derby Trial, Gallahadion was entered in the Kentucky Derby.
Little Current was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the final two legs of the 1974 U.S. Triple Crown both the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.
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.
Hoop Jr. was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Kentucky Derby in 1945.
J. Larry Jones is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer. He has trained over one thousand winners, including three winners of the Kentucky Oaks: Proud Spell in 2008, Believe You Can in 2012, and Lovely Maria in 2015. He has trained two horses who have finished second in the Kentucky Derby; Hard Spun, and the filly Eight Belles.
Burnt Cork (1940–1944) was a thoroughbred race horse, a son of Mr. Bones, who was owned by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson. His career earnings totaled $21,130 in 38 starts. The horse had 9 wins, places, and shows.
Blue Swords was an American Thoroughbred race horse who debuted as a two-year-old in 1942. Bred in Kentucky by Samuel D. Riddle, he was owned by Allen T. Simmons of Akron, Ohio, a rubber mogul and radio station operator. He was rated a close rival of Occupation, owned by Chicago, Illinois contractor John Marsch, in horse racing competition in the Western United States.
Slide Rule was a Thoroughbred race horse who was owned by William E. Boeing of Boeing. He sired by Metropolitan and Suburban Handicap winner, Snark and was out of the mare King's Idyll, a daughter of the outstanding Champion sire and broodmare sire, Sir Gallahad III.
Master Charlie was a championship thoroughbred American race horse born in Great Britain in 1922, from the line of the famed New Zealand horse Carbine . He was purchased for $1,000 in 1923 by turfman William Daniel of Chicago.
Gen. Duke (1954–1958) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1957 Florida Derby.
The 1973 Kentucky Derby was the 99th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Secretariat won the Derby in a record time of 1:59 2⁄5, 2 1⁄2 lengths ahead of Sham, while Our Native finished in third position. Of the thirteen horses that entered and started the race, all horses completed the event. The event was viewed in person by a then-record crowd of 134,476, while also being broadcast both on television and over the radio.
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.
