Kentucky Derby History — 150 Years of the Run for the Roses
The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States. It has been run every year since 1875 — through two world wars, a Great Depression, a global pandemic and more than a century of change in American life. That kind of continuity is rare in any sport and it is a big part of what makes the Derby feel different from other races.
But the history of the Derby is not just a list of winners and times. It is a story about horses that became legends, upsets that stunned the country, records that have stood for decades and a two-minute race that somehow manages to feel like the biggest thing in sports every single May.
This section covers all of it. Use the links below to go deep on any part of Derby history that interests you.
The Kentucky Derby at a Glance
The race has been run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., every year since 1875. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown, followed by the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore and the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York.
The distance is 1 and a quarter miles — one of the longer races most 3-year-olds will run in their entire career. The field is limited to 20 starters, which makes it one of the largest fields in American stakes racing and a significant factor in how the race is handicapped and wagered.
The 2026 running is the 152nd edition of the race. Secretariat's track record of 1:59.4, set in 1973, still stands. It is widely considered one of the greatest athletic performances in the history of American sport.
How the Kentucky Derby Started
The Derby was the idea of Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the grandson of the explorer William Clark. Clark had visited Europe in the early 1870s and was struck by the culture surrounding the Epsom Derby in England and the Grand Prix de Paris in France. He came home determined to build something similar in Louisville.
Clark founded the Louisville Jockey Club, raised money from local businessmen and constructed a track on land leased from his uncles — John and Henry Churchill, whose name the facility eventually took. The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875. Fifteen horses ran. Aristides, ridden by jockey Oliver Lewis, won by a length. The crowd was estimated at 10,000 people.
What Clark built that afternoon has grown into a race that generates more than $400 million in total wagering on a single Saturday in May. The foundation — a stakes race for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs in the spring — has never changed.
Churchill Downs — The Track Behind the Race
Churchill Downs is one of the most recognizable sports venues in the world. The twin spires that frame the grandstand have been a symbol of American horse racing since they were constructed in 1895 and they remain the most photographed landmark in Louisville.
The track itself is a one-mile oval with a long homestretch. The surface is dirt. The rail position changes throughout the meet based on track maintenance, which means the inside path is not always the fastest one — a detail that matters when you are handicapping a 20-horse field.
Churchill Downs is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Inc., a publicly traded company that also owns TwinSpires, the official advance deposit wagering platform of the Derby. The track hosts two major meets each year — the Spring Meet, which culminates in Derby week, and the Fall Meet in November.
Our Churchill Downs history page covers the full story of the track from its construction in the 1870s through the present day.
Past Winners and Results
The Kentucky Derby has been won by 151 different horses since Aristides crossed the line first in 1875. Some of those horses won and disappeared from history. A handful became something more.
The names that most bettors know without prompting are the ones that did something extraordinary. Secretariat in 1973. Citation in 1948. Man o' War never actually ran in the Derby — he skipped it — but his shadow falls over every conversation about the greatest horses that ever lived. Funny Cide in 2003. Mine That Bird in 2009 at 50-1. Rich Strike in 2022 at 80-1.
The complete list of past winners by year, including final odds, winning times, jockeys and trainers, is on our Kentucky Derby past winners page. It goes back to 1875.
Records and Milestones
Some of the numbers that define 150 years of Derby history.
1:59.4 is Secretariat's 1973 record time and the fastest the Derby has ever been run. The next closest is Northern Dancer's 2:00 flat in 1964. Secretariat's margin was not just the time — he won by 31 lengths, a record that also still stands.
20 is the maximum field size, a cap that was introduced in 1975 to manage safety concerns on the first turn. Before the cap the Derby regularly ran fields of 20-plus horses. The current system uses a qualifying points structure to determine which horses earn a starting spot.
Five is the record for most Derby wins by a trainer, held jointly by Ben Jones and Bob Baffert — though Baffert's wins are the subject of ongoing regulatory disputes that have complicated his record. Among jockeys, Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack share the record with five wins each.
Our Kentucky Derby records and milestones page documents every major record in the race's history with context on how each one was set.
The Triple Crown
Thirteen horses have won the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in the same year. The first was Sir Barton in 1919. The most recent was Justify in 2018.
The Triple Crown is considered the hardest achievement in American horse racing because the three races are run over five weeks on three different tracks at three different distances. A horse that wins the Derby at 1 and a quarter miles must come back five weeks later and run 1 and a half miles at Belmont — a distance that has ended more Triple Crown bids than any other single factor.
Between Affirmed in 1978 and American Pharoah in 2015, no horse won the Triple Crown for 37 years. Justify completed it just three years after American Pharoah, which led to genuine debate about whether the feat was becoming more achievable or whether two horses had simply been extraordinary.
The full history of every Triple Crown attempt, every near-miss and all 13 winners is on our Triple Crown history page.
Greatest Horses in Derby History
Picking the greatest Kentucky Derby horses is the kind of argument that fills up horse racing forums for weeks. But a few names come up in every serious conversation.
Secretariat is the starting point for almost everyone. His 1973 performance — winning by 31 lengths in a world record time that still stands more than 50 years later — is in a class by itself. The argument ends there for a lot of people.
Citation won the Derby in 1948 as part of a Triple Crown campaign that included 19 consecutive victories. His dominance was so complete that some historians consider him the most accomplished thoroughbred of the 20th century.
Man o' War never ran in the Derby — his connections chose to skip it — but his influence on the breed and his reputation among horsemen puts him in any conversation about the greatest racehorses ever regardless of that absence.
More recently Justify's undefeated Triple Crown in 2018 and American Pharoah's emotional win in 2015 — ending the 37-year Triple Crown drought — gave a new generation of fans their own legends.
Our greatest Kentucky Derby horses page covers the full list with historical context and career records for each horse.
Famous Upsets and Long Shots
The Kentucky Derby has produced some of the most dramatic upsets in American sports history. Part of what makes the race compelling is that the 20-horse field and the unique demands of the distance create conditions where a well-placed long shot can beat a field full of favorites.
Mine That Bird in 2009 is the modern standard. He went off at 50-1, had been overlooked by almost everyone and won by nearly seven lengths under Calvin Borel in one of the most stunning performances in recent Derby history. A $2 win ticket paid $103.20.
Rich Strike in 2022 took it a step further. He was added to the field as an also-eligible when another horse scratched — which meant his 80-1 morning line odds were not even available on most tote boards. He won by three-quarters of a length and paid $163.60 on a $2 win bet.
Donerail in 1913 remains the longest-priced winner in Derby history at 91-1.
These are not just interesting stories. They are a reminder that the morning line does not tell the whole story on a 20-horse field and that the potential for an extraordinary payout exists every single year.
Our famous upsets and long shots page documents every major Derby upset with the full payout history and the circumstances behind each win.
The History of Betting on the Derby
The Kentucky Derby has been a wagering event since its first running in 1875, when bookmakers set up at the track and took bets on the field. The modern parimutuel wagering system — where all bets on a race go into a common pool and payouts are determined by the total amount wagered on each horse — became standard at Churchill Downs in the early 20th century and remains the system used today.
For most of the Derby's history, betting meant being at the track or at an off-track betting facility in person. The Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 created the legal framework for advance deposit wagering, which eventually made it possible to bet the Derby legally online from any state that permitted it.
Today more money is wagered on the Kentucky Derby than on any other horse race in the United States. The total handle — the combined amount bet across all wagering pools — regularly exceeds $200 million on Derby day alone across all platforms.
The growth of online wagering has fundamentally changed who bets the Derby and how. Offshore racebooks like Bovada and BetOnline have extended access to millions of bettors in states without licensed ADW platforms and introduced bet types — fixed odds futures, prop bets, head-to-head matchups — that did not exist in the traditional parimutuel framework.
Our Derby betting history page traces the full arc of how wagering on the race has evolved from the bookmakers at Churchill Downs in 1875 to the online platforms available today.
Frequently Asked Questions
May 17, 1875. Aristides won, ridden by jockey Oliver Lewis. The crowd was estimated at about 10,000 people — a number that would grow considerably over the next 150 years.
One and a quarter miles, run on a dirt track at Churchill Downs. The race typically takes just under two minutes from start to finish, which is why it has been called the greatest two minutes in sports since at least the 1940s.
Secretariat, who ran the 1973 race in 1:59.4. It is still the fastest time in Derby history more than 50 years later. The second fastest is Northern Dancer's 2:00 flat from 1964. Most trainers and racing analysts consider Secretariat's record essentially unbreakable given the current state of the sport.
Three times in the race's history. Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980 and Winning Colors in 1988. Each win was considered a major upset at the time. No filly has won since Winning Colors.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby is draped with a blanket of red roses after the race, which is where the nickname Run for the Roses comes from. The tradition dates to 1896 when roses were presented to guests at a post-Derby party. The blanket itself contains 554 individual red roses and is assembled by hand each year.
Absolutely and many serious bettors do exactly that. Post position data, pace trends, prep race performance and trainer and jockey statistics all have genuine predictive value on a 20-horse field. Our historical betting data section compiles 20-plus years of Derby results into analysis designed specifically for bettors.
– Kentucky Derby past winners by year
– Kentucky Derby records and milestones
– Greatest Kentucky Derby horses of all time
– Churchill Downs history
– Triple Crown history
– Famous upsets and long shots
– Kentucky Derby betting history
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