Top Kentucky Derby Winners: Complete List and Highlights by Year

Dating back to 1865, the Kentucky Derby is one of the greatest traditions in sports. The race has been run every year since its founding, and barring major events like the pandemic in 2020, it is run on the first Saturday in May. From Aristides in the very first year through Mystik Dan in 2024 and beyond, some of the most exciting and best-loved horses in history have won the Kentucky Derby.

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History of the Kentucky Derby

Unlike many sporting events, which have skipped years due to factors beyond the control of their organizers, the Kentucky Derby has been held annually since its inception.

Beginnings of the Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby, run at 1 ¼ miles on the dirt at Churchill Downs, is the first jewel of what we now know as the Triple Crown. Churchill Downs founder Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. -- the grandson of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame -- was inspired by the Epsom Derby, a classic race for three-year-olds in England dating back to 1780, or 85 years before the first running of the Kentucky Derby.

Colonel Matt Winn

Though the Kentucky Derby dates back to Clark, no one person did more to make the Kentucky Derby popular than Matt Winn. He started working with Churchill Downs in 1902, and eventually became general manager. During his time at Churchill Downs, he shifted wagering from bookmakers to a pari-mutuel pool, and made an effort to frame the Kentucky Derby as one of the most important races in America.

Perhaps his most impactful coup came in 1915 when he convinced Harry Payne Whitney to send his star filly Regret to run in the Kentucky Derby. Her presence drew unprecedented attention to the Kentucky Derby, and she became the first filly to win Churchill Downs’ signature race. From there, Winn was able to market the Kentucky Derby to everyone from the fashionable set to the common folk, making it an important event for everyone.

Traditions of the Kentucky Derby

Over the ensuing years, not only did the race become more popular, but Kentucky Derby traditions began to take root not only among horse racing fans but in pop culture at large. Those include beautiful Derby hats, delicious mint juleps, and a raucous infield party. Sports columnist Bill Corum called the race the Run for the Roses in 1925, and 100 years later, that remains not only the nickname, but also literal in the sense that the winner has gotten a blanket of roses for over 90 years.

Points System

The most recent significant phase of Kentucky Derby history is the advent of the points system for the 2012-2013 road to the Kentucky Derby. Previously, spots in the starting gate took into account unrestricted stakes earnings, but that put more weight on two-year-old races than horses getting good at the right time for the Kentucky Derby. The points system has shifted the focus to route races at age three, meaning horses who can handle more distance and are getting good at the right time have priority.

Who Is the Most Famous Kentucky Derby Winner?

Of course, fame is a subjective measure. And every Kentucky Derby winner is famous to an extent, or was at least famous in their day. However, these are some of the first ones people think of.

Secretariat

If you ask someone who is new to horse racing or does not follow it every day, the first horse most people will think of is Secretariat. And, that’s no surprise at all! After all, 1973 Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat is perhaps the most impressive Triple Crown winner of all time, not only defeating Sham in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but going on to win the Belmont Stakes by a dizzying 31 lengths. Chic Anderson noted that he was moving like a “tremendous machine,” and there is still a blue and white pole at Belmont Park noting Secretariat’s win margin.

American Pharoah

Years passed after Affirmed’s 1978 Triple Crown win… as horse after horse won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but couldn’t win the Belmont. People had begun to lose hope that the Triple Crown could ever be won again. They suggested changing the times between the three races, adjusting the distances to make it achievable. But, in 2015, American Pharoah proved for the first time in 37 years that the Triple Crown could still be done. And, not only was the Bob Baffert trainee the first Triple Crown winner of the Breeders’ Cup era, but he became the first Triple Crown winner to win a Breeders’ Cup race when he ended his career with a victory in the Classic.

War Admiral

Seabiscuit is one of the most famous horses of all time, especially thanks to the 2003 movie that told his story. He was a rags-to-riches story unlike any other, racing in $2,500 claimers at Hialeah as a two-year-old and going on to win the Santa Anita Handicap to end his career. However, Seabiscuit never even ran in the race; he contested allowances and handicaps at Jamaica in New York the same spring as the 1936 Kentucky Derby.

Who did win the Kentucky Derby, though? Seabiscuit’s opponent in the 1938 Pimlico Special, the famous match race: War Admiral. In fact, War Admiral not only won the 1937 Kentucky Derby, but swept the entire Triple Crown. In fact, Seabiscuit is not the only very famous horse closely connected to War Admiral who did not run in the Kentucky Derby: his sire Man o’ War, one of the greatest of all time, did not even run in the 1920 Kentucky Derby, though he won both the Preakness and Belmont.

Rich Strike

One of the most exciting things about horse racing is when an underdog long shot wins a huge race. No horse in recent racing history encapsulates that better than Rich Strike. He is the only Kentucky Derby winner who was purchased at the claim box—owner Rick Dawson got him for $30,000 out of a 17 ¼-length win in a maiden claimer the September before, he had an up-and-down trip down the Kentucky Derby trail for trainer Eric Reed. Rich Strike wasn’t even originally in the main Kentucky Derby field—he needed a scratch to draw in off the also-eligibles. But he didn’t know that, and he rolled home to run down favored Epicenter at odds of 80-1, making his small group of bettors both happy and wealthy.

Eagle-eyed Kentucky Derby historians may remember there was one horse who has paid even more than Rich Strike. He is less famous nowadays only because there are only a few people alive now who were alive in 1913 -- but Donerail, who had to walk three miles to even get from his stable to Churchill Downs to run in the Kentucky Derby -- won at 91-1 odds!

Kentucky Derby Sire Lines

One of the most exciting things about following horse racing for a long time is getting to know the sire lines. You’ll see a horse win the Kentucky Derby, and then within the next decade or two, you’ll see their son or their grandson festooned with the blanket of roses, too.

Twelve different Kentucky Derby victors have gone on to sire winners of the country’s most famous race. 1936 winner Bold Venture stands out as the only Kentucky Derby winner to sire a pair of horses to win the race: his son, Assault, won the Triple Crown in 1946, and another son Middleground, took the blanket of roses in 1950. 1930 winner Gallant Fox, who swept the classics, is the only Triple Crown winner to sire another one -- his son Omaha accomplished the feat in 1935.

Only two horses are not only the father of a horse who won the Kentucky Derby, but the grandfather of one, as well! 1928 winner Reigh Count sired 1943 Triple Crown winner Count Fleet, who in turn sired 1951’s delightful long shot winner Count Turf. The second such sequence actually started while this first one was unfolding: 1944 Kentucky Derby winner Pensive sired 1949 winner Ponder, who in turn sired 1956 winner Needles.

Kentucky Derby Winners List

These are all of the winners of the Kentucky Derby, including the jockeys and trainers for each horse:

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