The Kentucky Derby is known as the fastest two minutes in sports. Along with thrilling fans on the first Saturday in May, the race serves as the most prestigious race for young horses.
If you are looking for the best way to wager on one of the best sporting events of the entire year, you came to the right place. When Derby Day rolls around, this page will feature the best picks and analysis for the 152nd Kentucky Derby, scheduled for May 2nd, 2026.
Winning the Kentucky Derby is also the first step toward the Triple Crown. Any Derby winner who proceeds to sweep the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes joins one of the rarest clubs in sports. Only 13 horses have achieved it, most recently Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015). For many, Derby Day is the moment where championship dreams either ignite or disappear.
If you are looking for the best racebook to bet on everyone’s favorite race, check BetOnline!
Before you dive into our Kentucky Derby betting guide, check out this valuable video about wagering on the race known as the “Run for the Roses.”
Betting on the Kentucky Derby Online
Bettors at the Kentucky Derby cheer on the winning horse
Although the Kentucky Derby carries a certain gravitas, the ways that players can wager on the race remains largely the same as all races during the year.
Along with the traditional methods of placing bets on site, at other tracks around the country, or at the local OTB, the world wide web provides another more convenient option.
Thanks to online platforms like Bovada, BetOnline, MyBookie, and BetDSI, players can place wagers from the convenience of their own home or a Derby party.
Adding to the allure of these sites is the fact that players can increase their bankroll by taking advantage of signup bonuses, promotions, and rebates.
How to Bet on the Kentucky Derby: Best Racebooks for Betting on Horse Racing
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Kentucky Derby Bet Types
The Kentucky Derby offers the same traditional bets offered at most racetracks daily. However, there are some great novelty bets that get added to the menu for the special event. Novelty bets such as the Oaks-Derby Double can often have massive pools and provide a great pathway to profit.
Betting News will cover the wagering menu each year prior to the race for a comprehensive look at the various bets being offered. However, there are some bet types that will be available.
Straight Bets
These wagers require players to pick a single horse to finish somewhere in the top 3.
Bet on a Horse to Win
When players bet a horse to win, the horse must win the race. This is the most challenging single horse bet but offers the highest return when correct.
Future Bets
One of the unique win bets offered on the Kentucky Derby is called a future bet. This bet allows players to lock in a better price on the winning horse by picking it weeks or months in advance of the race.
The positive of this wager is the inflated payout that comes with a correct opinion. However, if your horse doesn’t make the gate of the Derby for any reason, your bet is a losing ticket.
Place Wager
The place wager provides a little extra wiggle room, but the payouts are often much less than the win payouts. When betting a horse to place, you are betting that horse will finish in the top 2. If your horse takes first or second, you cash the ticket.
Show Bets
The final single horse bet is the easiest one to hit, but often provides very little return unless you are betting on a longshot. When betting to show your horse must come in first, second, or third for you to cash a ticket.
In 2015 American Pharaoh paid just $4.20 to show. This is significantly more than the average show payout on a favorite which can be just cents on the dollar. However, with 20 horses, money does get spread around.
Inversely, Rich Strike who won as an improbable longshot paid $29.40 to show on a $2 bet.
Straight Bets in the 2015 Kentucky Derby
2015 Kentucky Derby Straight Bet Payouts
In 2015, a win bet on favorite and eventual Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah returned $7.80. This was the highest return on any of the single horse wagers on American Pharoah.
The place and show payouts, while offering more security with the favorite, paid out less due to the number of horses sharing those pools. However, with the 20 horse field the place and show payouts are still substantially more than your everyday wager which can often return just cents on the dollar.
Place and show betting is often best leveraged when you like a longshot in the race. In 2015 longshot Firing Line had the highest place and show payouts. For context, Rich Strike who won the Kentucky Derby at win odds of 80-1 paid $29.40 on every $2 show bet.
Verticals Wagers
Wagering can be done at the windows with live tellers on track or via your favorite online racebook.
Vertical wagers refer to picking horses in multiple finishing positions. One of the unique aspects of vertical wagers is the ability to play them straight, boxed, or wheeled. These concepts can be applied to any of the vertical wagers.
The Basic Wager
When placing this wager you selecting the finishing position of each horse exactly. The wager will cost the denomination of the wager placed. Betting a $1 trifecta on 1-2-3 will cost $1 but the final order of finish must be #1 in first, #2 in second, and #3 in third to win.
Exacta Wager
The exacta is usually a $1 minimum wager and requires the player to have the first and second place horses correct.
Trifecta Bets – With Increased Difficulty comes Increased Payouts
Trifecta’s provide a little extra challenge with the bettor needing to correctly pick the first, second, and third place horses. With the increased difficulty comes increased payouts. The minimum denomination for this wager is typically $.50, though some tracks and events set the minimum at $1.
Superfecta
Hitting the superfecta in any race is no small feat, but it is particularly difficult in a big field like the Derby. This wager requires players to select the top 4 finishers in order. The difficulty makes this bet daunting, but the reward if hit tends to compensate for the added risk.
Most days you can play the wager for as low as $.10 but depending on the year the Kentucky Derby usually sets the minimum at $1.
Vertical Bets in the 2015 Kentucky Derby
Vertical Payouts in the 2015 Kentucky Derby
In the 2015 Kentucky Derby the result was favorite over 9-1 fourth choice Firing Line. The result was $72.60 on every $2 wagered. Just like the straight wagers verticals can often produced inflated payouts on higher probability outcomes.
The same is true of the Trifecta and Superfecta which saw horses no worse than 4th and 5th in the odds respectively factoring in the payout. Those payouts were in the hundreds of dollars for a 1-2 dollar bet! It is important to note that such formful results throughout the ticket are highly unusual on the first Saturday in May.
Playing Multiple Combinations in the Vertical Wagers
Picking the horses in the exact order can be a daunting task. Many players will take advantage of boxes and wheels to give themselves more chances to cash their ticket.
Boxed Wager – Covering All Possibilities
hen a wager is boxed, players cover every possible combination of the horses they selected. However, you will have to pay for each combination.
The same $1 trifecta on 1-2-3 will now be more expensive but give you more chances to win. A $1 trifecta box on 1-2-3 will cost $6 because there are 6 different combinations that 1, 2, and 3 can finish together in the top three spots.
Boxes can include more horses than finishing positions, but the cost will escalate quickly. For example, a 4 horse $1 trifecta box has 24 possible winning combinations and would cost $24.
Wheels – Between the Cost Efficiency of Straight Bets and the Coverage of Boxes
Spending $24 on a 4-horse trifecta box may seem a bit steep. Wheels can be a nice hybrid between the cost efficiency of straight bets and the coverage of boxes. In a wheel bet, players isolate horses in specific positions.
Let’s say that you like horses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the race to cover the top 3 positions. For a $1 trifecta box this is going to cost $60. However, your opinion is that #1 or #2 is likely to be the winner and #5 is only a threat to clunk up into third.
Doing the Math
Using this information, you can now bet a $1 trifecta wheel the 1, 2 over the 1, 2, 3, 4 over the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. That $60 wager has now been reduced to $18 (2 possibilities in first, 3 possibilities in second, and 3 possibilities in third or 2x3x3x$1).
Although this option doesn’t cover as many combinations as the box, it still gives you adequate coverage while matching your wager to your opinion.
With the knowledge of how to bet verticals, let’s look at the wagers offered in this category.
Horizontal Wagers
These wagers are called horizontal because they require players to select the winner of multiple races in a row or in a particular sequence. The Derby offers standard horizontal wagers as well as gimmicks that connect specific races of interest.
Daily Double – Simplest of all horizontal wagers
The Daily Double is the simplest of all horizontal wagers requiring the player to select winners of 2 races. Usually these are connected, but in the case of novelty bets the double will sometimes connect races not run together on the race card.
Pick X
These wagers can require players to pick anywhere from 3 to 6 races within a given sequence. The payouts tend correlate with the number of legs in the sequence meaning that a pick 3 is likely to have the lowest payout, while a pick 6 score is usually the largest payout of any wager at the track on a given day.
These wagers can range anywhere from $.50 minimums to $2 depending on the wager type and track.
Horizontal Wagers in the 2022 Kentucky Derby
In the payout chart below, the standard horizontal wagers have been underlined in red.
2022 Kentucky Derby Horizontal Results, Races underlined in red are standard horizontals.
Unlike the extremely formful finish in 2015, 2022 saw one of the biggest upsets in Derby history. The payouts reflect the chaos of the result. Despite predictable runners in the lower rungs of the verticals, the horizontals are winner dependent and thus blow up the tote board when a longshot gets home.
In 2022 the Daily Double 6-1 Santin in in race #11 into 80-1 Rich Strike in race #12 paid a whopping $1,364.90 on just a $1 wager! Similar payouts can be observed across the standard and gimmick bets throughout the chart.
Understanding Derby Betting Payouts: The Pari-Mutuel System
The Kentucky Derby uses pari-mutuel wagering, meaning all bets of the same type are pooled together, and after deductions, the remaining money is divided among winning tickets. Because of this, odds aren’t fixed—they shift right up to post time based on how much money lands on each horse.
Big fields and huge betting pools often lead to inflated payouts, especially when mid-range or longshots hit the board. Betting early can secure potential value, while betting late gives a clearer picture of final odds. Understanding how the pool moves helps you spot overlays and build smarter Derby tickets.
Managing Risk for Kentucky Derby Betting: Scratches and Refunds
With 20 horses aiming for a single gate, scratches happen, sometimes even on race day. For most Win/Place/Show bets, a scratch means your money is refunded. Exotic wagers and multi-race bets can vary. Often the scratched horse is replaced with the post-time favorite, which changes your ticket upside.
Future bets are the exception. If your horse doesn’t run, the wager usually loses. Staying updated on prep performances, workouts, and late news helps protect your bankroll and avoid tickets that never get a chance to cash.
Kentucky Derby Picks
Bettors cheering on their charge as the horses run in the Kentucky Derby
Several services and handicappers will offer up their selections for the Kentucky Derby. However, the Derby is a unique handicapping puzzle.
Horses are running against more horses than they ever have, against many horses they’ve never faced as they are still in the early stages of their career.
With all of that it is important to mix data-driven handicapping with trend analysis. Betting News offers both our comprehensive track handicapping tools and narrative analysis of every race on the Oaks and Derby cards.
An additional challenge with the Derby is that racing coverage during the weeks leading up can be exhaustive. Every breath a horse takes gets reported. As a horse player it is important to weigh each piece of information and determine whether it should impact your technical analysis of the runner.
Road to the Kentucky Derby 2026: Prep Races for the 152nd Derby
The Kentucky Derby is exclusive to three-year-olds, meaning every horse in the starting gate is still early in its career and developing rapidly—one reason the race can be unpredictable and exciting. With only one shot in their lifetime to compete, connections spend months planning a campaign built around earning Derby entry.
The Road to the Kentucky Derby determines who makes the field. Throughout the prep season, horses compete in races that award qualifying points. When the final prep is complete, the top horses by points earn priority into the Derby, with a couple of additional spots available through international routes.
Even horses sitting outside the cutoff may land a spot in the race if others scratch late. Famously, Rich Strike was a late entrant in this way before his stunning 80-1 upset in 2022.
The current qualification system consists of three paths:
- Main Road (North America) – Primary route and the one that produces most starters. Major races include the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Southwest Stakes, Rebel Stakes, Florida Derby, and Arkansas Derby.
- Euro/Mideast Road – A separate points series featuring races such as the European Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes and UAE Derby.
- Japan Road – A four-race series including the Hyacinth Stakes and Fukuryu Stakes.
Winners of the Japan and Euro/Mideast series receive Derby invitations, though participation is optional. If they decline, their spot reverts to horses on the main leaderboard.
How Do Horses Qualify for the Kentucky Derby?
The main qualification route consists of:
- Kentucky Derby Prep Season – Early races awarding smaller point values, often featuring young horses still developing.
- Championship Series – The high-value second stage where major Derby contenders emerge. These races typically decide the majority of the starting gate.
Horses receive points based on finishing position, and standings update throughout the spring. Once prep season ends, the final Derby lineup locks in based on points, scratches, and any accepted invitations from Japan or European qualifiers.
Track Road to the Derby standings, prep race results, and emerging contenders here as the 2026 field continues to take shape.
What Is the Significance of the Kentucky Derby Post Position Draw?
Horses break from the gate in the Kentucky Derby
One of the biggest moments in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby is the announcement of post positions. This determines which gate each horse will race out of and as you will see in the chart below, some post positions produce far more winners than others.
Because of the field size, if you don’t have a lot of early speed and start from an inside position, you might end up being blocked all the way. If you start from way outside, you will probably run a longer race, being forced to the middle of the track on the turns.
The key the post draw is picking a horse that will start in a position that plays to their run style. While certain posts are more productive than others it can often be more important that your horse finds the right post for them, rather than a specific number in the gate.
There are some exceptions to this rule. Primarily in the extremes such as the inside and far outside posts.
Kentucky Derby Historical Information
While not necessarily valuable for handicapping the upcoming race, it can be interesting to look back at past results to see if any trends pop out.
Here is a rundown of Kentucky Derby winners from 2000 to the present:
Kentucky Derby Winners
| Year | Winner | Post Position | Jockey | Trainer | Time | Margin | Odds-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mystic Dan | 3 | Brian J Hernandez Jr. | Kenny McPeek | 02:03.3 | no | 18.0 |
| 2023 | Mage | 8 | Javier Castellano | Gustavo Delgado | 02:01.6 | 1 1/2 | 15.0 |
| 2022 | Rich Strike | 21 | Sonny Leon | Eric Reed | 02:02.6 | 3/4 | 80.0 |
| 2021 | Mandaloun | 7 | Florent Geroux | Brad Cox | 02:01.4 | 1/2 | 12.0 |
| 2020 | Authentic | 18 | John R. Velazquez | Bob Baffert | 02:00.6 | 1 1/4 | 8.0 |
| 2019 | Country House | 20 | Flavien Prat | William I. Mott | 02:03.9 | 1 | 65.0 |
| 2018 | Justify | 7 | Mike Smith | Bob Baffert | 02:04.2 | 2 1/2 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | Always Dreaming | 5 | John R. Velazquez | Todd Pletcher | 2:03:59 | 2 3/4 | 4.5 |
| 2016 | Nyquist | 13 | Mario Gutierrez | Doug O’Neill | 02:01.3 | 1 1/4 | 2.0 |
| 2015 | American Pharoah | 18 | Victor Espinoza | Bob Baffert | 02:03.0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| 2014 | California Chrome | 5 | Victor Espinoza | Art Sherman | 02:03.7 | 1 3/4 | 2.5 |
| 2013 | Orb | 16 | Joel Rosario | Shug McGaughey | 02:02.9 | 2 1/2 | 5.0 |
| 2012 | I’ll Have Another | 19 | Mario Gutierrez | Doug O’Neill | 02:01.8 | 1 1/2 | 15.0 |
| 2011 | Animal Kingdom | 16 | John Velazquez | Graham Motion | 02:02.0 | 2 3/4 | 20.0 |
| 2010 | Super Saver | 4 | Calvin Borel | Todd Pletcher | 02:04.5 | 2 1/2 | 8.0 |
| 2009 | Mine That Bird | 8 | Calvin Borel | Bennie L. Woolley, Jr. | 02:02.7 | 6 3/4 | 50.0 |
| 2008 | Big Brown | 20 | K. Desormeaux | R. Dutrow, Jr. | 02:01.8 | 8 | 3.5 |
| 2007 | Street Sense | 7 | C. Borel | C. Nafzger | 02:02.2 | 2 1/4 | 4.5 |
| 2006 | Barbaro | 3 | E. Prado | M. Matz | 02:01.4 | 6 1/2 | 6.0 |
| 2005 | Giacomo | 10 | M. Smith | J. Shirreffs | 02:02.8 | 1 1/2 | 50.0 |
| 2004 | Smarty Jones | 13 | S. Elliott | J. Servis | 02:04.1 | 2 3/4 | 4.0 |
| 2003 | Funny Cide | 5 | J. Santos | B. Tagg | 02:01.2 | 1 3/4 | 12.0 |
| 2002 | War Emblem | 5 | V. Espinoza | B. Baffert | 02:01.1 | 4 | 20.0 |
| 2001 | Monarchos | 16 | J. Chavez | J. T. Ward | 02:00.0 | 4 3/4 | 10.0 |
| 2000 | Fusaichi Pegasus | 15 | K. Desormeaux | N. Drysdale | 02:01.1 | 1 1/2 | 2.0 |
How to Watch the Kentucky Derby: Broadcast Schedule for Derby Week
The Kentucky Derby is more than just a single race. It is actually a four-day racing festival that takes place at Churchill Downs. Here’s how to watch all the races from Kentucky the first weekend in May.
Wednesday: Champions Day
- Stream races on your favorite online wagering platform
Thursday: Thurby
- Stream races on your favorite online wagering platform
Friday: Kentucky Oaks Day
- Coverage on USA Network and Peacock
Saturday: Kentucky Derby Day
- Coverage on USA Network, NBC, and Peacock