The 151st running of the Kentucky Derby is almost here. The first jewel of the Triple Crown is unlike anything else in North American horse racing. Twenty horses will enter the starting gate and run 1 1/4 miles with a $5 million purse on the line. Post time is scheduled for 6:57 PM ET on May 3 on NBC.
Kentucky Sports Radio will provide detailed coverage throughout the week, but let’s start with the basics for each horse in the field for the 2025 edition fo the Kentucky Derby.
1. Citizen Bull
Jockey: Martin Garcia
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Odds: 20-1
Record: 4-0-1 in 6 starts
This frontrunner was the 2-year-old champion, winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 15-1. Nyquist are Street Sense are the only two horses who have won both the Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby. Citizen Bull is coming off his worst career start, a fourth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby.
2. Neoequos
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Trainer: Saffie Joseph
Odds: 30-1
Record: 2-2-2 in 7 starts
One of the final entries into the Kentucky Derby field, this frontrunner was leading the Florida Derby in the straightaway before ultimately falling back and losing by four lengths. He finished third in each of his two prep race appearances on the Florida circuit.
3. Final Gambit
Jockey: Luan Machado
Trainer: Brad Cox
Odds: 30-1
Record: 2-1-1 in 4 starts
This horse is at his best when closing from the back of the pack. Even though its two recent wins were on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park, its style, gray color, and impressive works will make it a popular long-shot pick.
4. Rodriguez
Jockey: Mike Smith
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Odds: 12-1
Record: 2-2-1 in 5 starts
This horse just couldn’t get through during the California prep circuit. After coming up short in consecutive races while trying to lay off the lead, Bob Baffert changed tactics. He shipped to New York for the Wood Memorial and let the horse take the lead. The son of Derby-winner Authentic went wire-to-wire.
5. American Promise
Jockey: Nik Juarez
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas
Odds: 30-1
Record: 2-1-1 in 9 starts
This is the first Virginia Derby winner to be in the Kentucky Derby. The summer race at Colonial Downs was moved up to the spring to be a part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby. It will be Nik Juarez’s first Kentucky Derby mount and the 52nd horse Lukas has raced on the first Saturday in May.
6. Admire Daytona
Jockey: Christophe Lemaire
Trainer: Yukihiro Kato
Odds: 30-1
Record: 2-2-0 in 6 starts
This Japanese horse has finished first or second each time Lemaire was on the mount, including a win by a nose in the UAE Derby that punched its ticket to Churchill Downs.
7. Luxor Cafe
Jockey: Joao Moreira
Trainer: Noriyuki Hori
Odds: 15-1
Record: 4-1-0 in 6 starts
The son American Pharoah has won four straight races, two of them by 5 lengths. It will likely be among the horses fighting for the front. A Japanese horse has never won the Kentucky Derby, but Forever Young only missed it by a nose a year ago.
8. Journalism
Jockey: Umberto Rispoli
Trainer: Michael McCarthy
Odds: 3-1
Record: 4-0-1 in 5 starts
The deserving favorite, Journalism has won five straight races and improved its speed figure in each one. He overcame adversity in the Santa Anita Derby and posted a 108 Brisnet figure, the highest among this year’s field. Expect to see Journalism stalking just behind the frontrunners in this year’s race.
9. Burnham Square
Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.
Trainer: Ian Wilkes
Odds: 12-1
Record: 3-1-0 in 6 starts
The closer first in two of this year’s three starts, coming from behind to win the Blue Grass Stakes and the Holy Bull. Brian Hernandez Jr. is looking to become the first jockey to ride back-to-back Derby winners since Victor Espinoza (California Chrome 2014, American Pharoah 2015).
10. Grande
Jockey: “Johnny V” John Velazquez
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Odds: 20-1
Record: 2-1-0 in 3 starts
Renowned owner Mike Repole has brought plenty of Derby favorites to Churchill Downs. This year, he has a long shot. The lightly-raced closer has only appeared in one stakes race and couldn’t chase down wire-to-wire winner Rodriguez in the Wood Memorial.
11. Flying Mohawk
Jockey: Joseph Ramos
Trainer: Whit Beckman
Odds: 30-1
Record: 2-2-0 in 6 starts
Former MLB All-Star Jayson Werth’s first horse got him to the Kentucky Derby and a Belmont Stakes win. Now he’s back in the field with a turf horse. Flying Mohawk previously won on the turf track at Churchill. This will be the horse’s first-ever start on dirt after coming in second on the polytrack at Turfway Park.
12. East Avenue
Jockey: Manny Franco
Trainer: Brendan Walsh
Odds: 20-1
Record: 2-1-0 in 5 starts
The race-day favorite at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile has not won since finishing ninth in that race at Del Mar. After bombing out in its 3-year-old debut, the frontrunner nearly wired the Blue Grass Stakes, falling by a nose to Burnham Square.
13. Publisher
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Odds: 30-1
Record: 0-2-3 in 7 starts
If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “broke its maiden,” that means it secured its first career win. This horse has not done that. The last horse to break its maiden with a Kentucky Derby win was Brokers Tip in 1933.
14. Tiztastic
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Trainer: Whit Beckman
Odds: 20-1
Record: 3-1-2 in 8 starts
This horse was bred for the distance with Tiz the Law and Tapit in its bloodline. He won the longest prep race, the 1 3/16 miles Louisiana Derby. Steve Asmussen has won more races than any other trainer in North America, but never the Kentucky Derby.
15. Render Judgment
Jockey: Julien Leparoux
Trainer: Kenny McPeek
Odds: 30-1
Record: 1-2-1 in 7 starts
This long shot was not originally slated to run in the Kentucky Derby, but when a spot in the starting gate opened up, its owners caught the Derby Fever and put him into the field.
16. Coal Battle
Jockey: Juan Vargas
Trainer: Lonnie Briley
Odds: 30-1
Record: 5-0-1 in 8 starts
This horse has continually answered the call while stepping up in competition, but after securing a win in the Rebel Stakes, it took a step back in the Arkansas Derby, finishing third by seven lengths.
17. Sandman
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Trainer: Mark Casse
Odds: 6-1
Record: 3-1-2 in 8 starts
Sandman is one of the most beautiful thoroughbreds you will ever see. The son of Tapit races like many of the sire’s progeny, a closer who loves the distance. Those are just a few reasons why it will be one of the most bet-on horses on the first Saturday in May.
18. Sovereignty
Jockey: Junior Alvarado
Trainer: Bill Mott
Odds: 5-1
Record: 2-2-0 in 5 starts
Another closer racing from an outside post position, Sovereignty looks like the biggest horse in the field. It failed to complete the comeback in the Florida Derby after winning by a neck in the Fountain of Youth.
19. Chunk of Gold
Jockey: Jareth Loveberry
Trainer: Ethan West
Odds: 30-1
Record: 1-3-0 in 4 starts
This horse spent his spring in Louisiana and finished second in a pair of preps at Fair Grounds. Jareth Loveberry ran in second on Two Phils in his Kentucky Derby debut.
20. Owen Almighty
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Trainer: Brian Lynch
Odds: 30-1
Record: 3-2-0 in 7 starts
Even after winning the Tampa Bay Derby, trainer Brian Lynch talked about running this speedster at a shorter distance in the Pat Day Mile. Horse-players were puzzled when his connections ultimately decided to put the horse in the Kentucky Derby field.
21. Baeza (Also-Eligible)
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Odds: 12-1
Record: 1-2-0 in 4 starts
Even though the morning line odds would have Baeza as a top-five choice in the Kentucky Derby, it still needs one more defection to enter the field. He posted a speed figure of 107, the second-fastest in the field, in a narrow loss to Journalism in the Santa Anita Derby.
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