One of the most iconic horse races in the world, the Kentucky Derby is run every year since 1875 on the first Saturday of May under the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the longest-running yearly sporting event in America, and one of the greatest betting events in the world.
The idea for the Kentucky Derby came from the Epsom Derby, which had been running in England since 1780. Based on the Epsom, the Kentucky Derby was designated as a race for three-year-old horses, originally run at the Epsom distance of 1 1/2 miles. After a few years this was shortened to 1 1/4 miles, as it remains today. The race happens on Saturday, May 3, 2025, and features 20 of the best three-year-olds in America.
Over the past 100 years, the Kentucky Derby has also gained prominence as the first leg in the US Triple Crown of racing, which also includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Since the first Triple Crown winner in 1919, only 12 other horses have accomplished the feat.
The purse of the Kentucky Derby was raised to a colossal $5 million in 2024, and remains at that level. The winning horse also receives a blanket of roses, thus the race is often referred to as “The Run for the Roses.” It is often also called “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” since it takes the horses roughly two minutes to run the race. Between this race and the Kentucky Oaks for the fillies one day earlier, this is a great betting season at Churchill Downs.
Pour yourself a mint julep and keep reading to find out how to bet on the Kentucky Derby, and who your best options are for online betting for Kentucky Derby 2025!
Kentucky Derby Future Bets
While hundreds of horses are nominated every year to race in the Kentucky Derby, only 20 make the starting gate. As the horses progress through their two-year-old and into their three-year-old racing season, the best ones begin to stand out, and horseplayers can start to narrow in on future bet choices.
Long before the race is run, racebooks such as Bovada start to offer future bet choices, and locking in a potential Kentucky Derby winner early can lead to a huge payout if your choice hits the wire first on the first Saturday of May.
Where to Bet on the Kentucky Derby
Fortunately, we make it easy to find the best places for Kentucky Derby betting online. All of our recommended sportsbooks offer market-leading odds, trusted payouts, and great incentives like welcome bonuses, sign-up bonuses, and horse racing rebates.
Keep checking in with these top-rated online racebooks to find a future bet winner in the field.
The Road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby
Starting in 2013, Churchill Downs implemented a qualifying-points system to determine the 20 horses that will make it into the Kentucky Derby field. Prior to this, qualifying for the Derby was based on money earned in graded-stakes races. Kentucky Derby qualifying races happen all over: Kentucky, New York, California, Florida, and even overseas!
Typically horses trying to qualify for the Derby will each run in three or four of the 35 races held in the US to try and gain enough points to qualify. There is no set schedule for when a particular horse will run in a particular race, as entering a horse is at the discretion of the trainer when he feels a horse is ready to run.
Kentucky Derby Prep Season
The U.S. Kentucky Derby trail is divided into two segments. First is the prep season of 21 races at racetracks across the country, beginning with the Iroquois (G3)at Churchill Downs and ending with the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway. This includes major early targets like the Champagne (G1), the American Pharoah (G1), and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Juvenile and early-season three-year-old races in that series offer 10-4-3-2-1 points to the top five finishers, with the exception being the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which is a 30-12-9-6-3 points race.
Starting in mid-January, the stakes rise. Later races in the Prep Season offer 20-8-6-4-2 points: not enough to get the winner into the Derby, but enough to put them on good footing if they run well in one or two other prep races.
Kentucky Derby Championship Series
Just as the prep series is wrapping up, the horses move to the championship series, which itself is divided into two legs. The first leg features a total of seven races, beginning with the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds and running through the Virginia Derby.
For these races, points are awarded on a 50-20-15-10-5 scale. It is enough to get the winner into the Kentucky Derby, and enough for underneath finishers to stay on track if they do well in other races.
The second leg of the Championship series kicks off with the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and runs another eight races, beginning with the Louisiana Derby (G2) and ending with the Lexington (G3) at Keeneland.
For this leg, points are awarded on a 100-50-25-10-15 scale in every race but the Lexington.
The Lexington offers 20-10-6-4-2. This is not enough to punch a horse with no points a ticket to the Kentucky Derby, but it can be enough to get a horse just under the qualifying line into the main field!
Wild Cards and Overseas Kentucky Derby Qualifying
In an effort to broaden the international appeal of the Derby, race organizers decided to reserve three of the 20 starting spots for overseas qualifiers. There was one from Japan starting in 2017, and one from Europe starting in 2018, and a second from Europe, now rebranded the Europe-Middle East Road to the Kentucky Derby, in 2025. The UAE Derby was moved to the Europe spur to make the new Europe-Middle East series.
There are four races in Japan's qualification series, and seven races in Europe and the Middle East.
If a horse from the series in Japan or Europe decides not to go, it frees up an extra spot for horses who earned points in the United States to make the Kentucky Derby.
2025 Kentucky Derby Betting Guide
Your Kentucky Derby betting options are as extensive as they are for other races all year. You can play single horses with win bets, place bets, or show bets. Or, you can go for a life-changing score with exotic wagers like exacta, trifecta, superfecta, or multi-race bets like a Pick 5 or Pick 6! Using a Kentucky Derby betting odds calculator can help make it easy for you to construct a winning ticket.
Whatever you like to bet, the 20-horse field ensures that Kentucky Derby betting payouts will be huge. This is an experience you do not want to miss!
Handicapping the Kentucky Derby
Following along during the Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying series is a key to handicapping not only the Derby itself, but the entire Triple Crown series. It shows you which horses are trending better and improving with distance, which horses may need a turn back, and who may need a drop in class. This can help you ignore false favorites and make your Kentucky Derby bets on good long shots!
Kentucky Derby Futures
Some bettors wonder, how early can you bet on the Kentucky Derby? The answer is, the Kentucky Derby betting season starts as soon as the Iroquois in September, runs all the way through the Lexington (the final prep race) in April, and all the way until post time!
As the contenders start to emerge from the pack by gaining points for either winning or getting into the top four of each race, it obviously helps bettors narrow in on lucrative future bet choices for both the Derby and Triple Crown.
And when race day comes, having a clear idea how each of the horses managed to get into the race in the first place goes a long way to figuring out how they run, what kind of competition they have faced and if they are in top form to hit the Churchill Downs finish line in front. When betting on the Kentucky Derby, an educated bettor is a profitable bettor!
2025 Kentucky Derby Favorites
The likely favorite for the Kentucky Derby is Journalism. The leader of the Santa Anita spur of the Kentucky Derby trail, he is undefeated at two turns. He beat a deep group of California horses over and over again in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), San Felipe (G2), and Santa Anita Derby (G1), and consistently runs speed figures that stack up well.
Another good horse near the top of the market is Sovereignty. The Bill Mott trainee is already a graded-stakes winner at Churchill, he closed well in both of his three-year-old races at Gulfstream, and will benefit from a likely red-hot pace in front of him in the Kentucky Derby.
2025 Kentucky Derby Best Bet
The best bet in the 2025 Kentucky Derby is Burnham Square. Coming off a sharp victory in the Blue Grass (G1), he carries the good recent form any serious Kentucky Derby contender needs. That day he ran down a lone leader, but on Kentucky Derby day he should get an even better setup. He is also tactical enough to sit more midpack instead of only being a deep closer if track biases demand that.
2025 Kentucky Derby Longshots
Chunk of Gold has rallied for second in two preps at Fair Grounds, and is consistent enough to be able to do that again in Louisville. With a likely hot pace he can take advantage, and his under-the-radar connections should keep the price very high. Trainer Ethan West is new to the Kentucky Derby, though his underrated jockey Jareth Loveberry gave Two Phil's a great ride in 2023, the one other time he has been to the Derby!
One of the nicest stamina pedigrees in the field belongs to Grande. Though he has only race three times, trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez have all the experience in the world, which builds some confidence. He was also able to swap his stalking style in Florida to something off the pace in the Wood, meaning he has the versatility a 20-horse field demands.