It’s the first Saturday in May – you know what that means? Horses, Hats and juleps!
Date: Saturday, May 3
Post Time: 6:57 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Who Is it gonna be? Gotta watch to see.
I always bet on the Black Stallion!!
Bucephalus Solid Bronze
Odds and post position;
No. 1 Citizen Bull (17-1)
Jockey: Martin Garcia | Trainer: Bob Baffert
Career Highlight: Won the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
Fun Fact: This will be Garcia’s fifth Derby. His best finish was third in 2015 aboard Dortmund.
No. 2 Neoequos (60-1)
Jockey: Flavien Pratt | Trainer: Saffie Joseph Jr.
Career Highlight: Finished third in the Fountain of Youth Stakes
Fun Fact: Bred in Florida, Neoequos is attempting to become the seventh horse bred in Florida to win the Kentucky Derby. The last was Silver Charm in 1997.
No. 3 Final Gambit (17-1)
Jockey: Luan Machado | Trainer: Brad H. Cox
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Jeff Ruby Steaks
Fun Fact: The Kentucky Derby will be Final Gambit’s first race on dirt.
No. 4 Rodriguez (9-1) SCRATCHED
Jockey: Michael E. Smith | Trainer: Bob Baffert
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Wood Memorial
Fun Fact: Both of Rodriguez ’s victories have been wire to wire, and he figures to be at or near the front early in the Derby.
No. 5 American Promise (12-1)
Jockey: Nik Juarez | Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Virginia Derby
Fun Fact: The phrase “American Promise” is also associated with a handful of moments leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
No. 6 Admire Daytona (40-1)
Jockey: Christophe Lemaire | Trainer: Yukihiro Kato
Career Highlight: Won the UAE Derby
Fun Fact: The UAE Derby was the fourth consecutive time a Japan-bred horse has won the race.
No. 7 Luxor Cafe (14-1)
Jockey: TBA | Trainer: Noriyuki Hori
Race Highlight: Won the 2025 Fukuryu Stakes
Fun Fact: Luxor Cafe won three stakes races in Japan to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. Trainer and horse are making their first starts outside Japan.
No. 8 Journalism (4-1)
Jockey: Umberto Rispoli | Trainer: Mike McCarthy
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Santa Anita Derby
Fun Fact: Curlin (Journalism’s sire) has sired winners of the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic but not the Kentucky Derby.
No. 9 Burnham Square (22-1)
Jockey: Brian T. Hernandez Jr. | Trainer: Ian R. Wilkes
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Blue Grass Stakes
Fun Fact: Burnham Square’s grandfather is the 1990 Derby winner, Unbridled.
No. 10 Grande (17-1) SCRATCHED
Jockey: John Velazquez | Trainer: Todd A. Pletcher
Career Highlight: Rallied from seventh for a second-place finish in the Wood Memorial to qualify for the Derby.
Fun Fact: Pletcher and Velazquez teamed up to win the Derby with Super Saver in 2010 and Always Dreaming in 2017.
No. 11 Flying Mohawk (39-1)
Jockey: Joseph D. Ramos | Trainer: D. Whitworth Beckman
Career Highlight: Second in the 2025 Jeff Ruby Steaks
Fun Fact: The Kentucky Derby will be Flying Mohawk’s first race on dirt.
No. 12 East Avenue (36-1)
Jockey: Luan Machado | Trainer: Brendan P. Walsh
Career Highlight: Second in the 2025 Blue Grass Stakes
Fun Fact: Medaglia d’Oro, East Avenue’s sire, raced in all three Triple Crown races in 2002, finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, eighth in the Preakness and second in the Belmont.
No. 13 Publisher (33-1)
Jockey: Flavien Prat | Trainer: Steven M. Asmussen
Career Highlight: Finished second in the Arkansas Derby
Fun Fact: Asmussen is the winningest trainer of all time, having amassed over 10,000 victories as a trainer.
No. 14 Tiztastic (19-1)
Jockey: Joel Rosario | Trainer: Steven M. Asmussen
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Louisiana Derby
Fun Fact: Asmussen’s father was a jockey, as are his two sons.
No. 15 Render Judgment (12-1)
Jockey: Julien Leparoux | Trainer: Kenneth G. McPeek
Career Highlight: Finished fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes
Fun Fact: The Kentucky Derby will be Leparoux’s first ride on Render Judgment.
No. 16 Coal Battle (31-1)
Jockey: Juan P. Vargas | Trainer: Lonnie Briley
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Rebel Stakes
Fun Fact: Coal Battle’s parents, Coal Front and Wolfblade, are descendants of Seattle Slew.
No. 17 Sandman (5-1)
Jockey: Jose L. Ortiz | Trainer: Mark Casse
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Arkansas Derby
Fun Fact: Tapit (Sandman’s sire) is the No. 1 active sire by lifetime Grade 1 winners and the all-time leading sire by earnings.
No. 18 Sovereignty (11-1)
Jockey: Manuel Franco | Trainer: William I. Mott
Career Highlight: Won the 2025 Fountain of Youth
Fun Fact: Mott was the trainer of Resilience, who finished sixth in the Derby last year.
No. 19 Chunk of Gold (37-1)
Jockey: Jareth Loveberry | Trainer: Ethan W. West
Career Highlight: Placed second at the 2025 Louisiana Derby
Fun Fact: This is Loveberry’s second Derby ride. He rode Two Phil’s to a second-place finish in 2023.
No. 20 Owen Almighty (44-1)
Jockey: TBA | Trainer: Brian Lynch
Career Highlight: Won the Tampa Bay Derby with the second-fastest time in its history.
Fun Fact: Irad Ortiz Jr. rode Owen Almighty at Tampa, but the ride is in question for the Derby .
No. 21 Baeza (12-1)
Jockey: Flavien Pratt | Trainer: John A. Shirreffs
Career Highlight: Placed second in the Santa Anita Derby
Fun Fact: Baeza was purchased for $1.2 million at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
