Road to the Kentucky Derby 2022: Running for Roses

The Kentucky Derby, hosted by Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, is a grade one race for three year old thoroughbred horses. Starting in 1874, the Kentucky Derby has been run consecutively ever since, even through major historical events such as The Great Depression.

A grade one race is the highest classified race in many countries. To enter most grade one races, horses win qualifying races to rack up enough points to start. The twenty horses with the most points at the end of the qualifying season get a position in the starting gate on Derby Day. 35 qualifying races are held throughout the United States and other countries. 

In this first leg of the Triple Crown, colts (male horses under the age of four years) and fillies (female horses under the age of four years), race 1 ¼ miles or 10 furlongs in the “run for the roses”. A furlong is ⅛ mile. The purse (prize money) is set to be two million dollars and 155,000 racing fans grace the stands for “the most exciting two minutes in sports”.

The horses running in this years’ derby will have been born in 2019 and be three years old as of January 1st, the official birthday birthday of all thoroughbred racehorses regardless of the month they were born. Their sires (fathers) include notable horses like Gun Runner, Munnings, Union Rags, and Constitution. 

Race recaps, statistics, and horse spotlights will be included in the upcoming articles. We hope to keep you updated on the latest and greatest from the horse racing world.