How much each horse in the 2026 Kentucky Derby cost its owners to buy
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Potente was purchased for $2.4 million at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.
- Since 1960, 33 Derby winners were purchased at auction, and only one cost over $575,000.
- Renegade was purchased for $950,000 and is the morning-line favorite at 4-1.
If purchase price were the most important indicator of a horse’s racing success, there would be a runaway favorite for the 2026 Kentucky Derby.
But the betting favorites do not include the most expensive horse in the field.
That distinction goes to Bob Baffert-trained Potente, who was purchased for $2.4 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale in 2024. Potente would be the fifth-most expensive horse to start the Derby and the seventh ever purchased for at least $2 million at public auction.
Despite his hefty purchase price, Potente was listed at 20-1 in the morning-line odds. Seven other horses have better odds.
History suggests Potente’s Derby chances should be viewed with skepticism.
Since 1960, 33 Derby winners have been purchased at a public auction. Only one of those horses (Fusaichi Pegasus, $4 million) was purchased for more than $575,000.
Fusaichi Pegasus holds the distinction of most expensive Derby horse purchased at a public auction since 1982, but only four of the other 25 Derby starters purchased for at least $1 million in that span have even finished in the money.
Baeza and Sandman, the two most expensive horses in last year’s Derby field at $1.2 million, finished third and seventh respectively. The last two Derby winners were homebreds, meaning they were bred by their current owners.
The last Derby horse purchased for more than $2 million (Sierra Leone, $2.3 million) did finish in second place in 2024, but the most recent before him (Mendelssohn, $3 million) finished last in 2018. Fusaichi Pegasus and Sierra Leone are the only $2 million horses to finish in the money in the Derby. The other four finished eighth or worst.
Potente will need an improvement in performance to have a chance Saturday.
In his last race, he helped set the early pace in the Santa Anita Derby but finished in second 23/4 lengths behind fellow Derby horse So Happy. Potente did not race as a 2-year-old and has never raced outside of Santa Anita Park.
Potente cost more than twice as much as any other horse in the 2026 Kentucky Derby field, but the second-most expensive horse (Renegade, $950,000) is the morning-line favorite at 4-1.
The cheapest horse in Saturday’s field (Incredibolt, $75,000) has the same 20-1 morning-line odds as Potente. He would be the cheapest Derby winner since I’ll Have Another ($35,000) in 2012.
There are four homebreds in the field. Four of the last five and five of the last eight Derby winners have been homebreds.