With less than six weeks until the Kentucky Derby, which horses will make the field?
Less than six weeks remain until the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby beneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
And the 20-horse field for the Run for the Roses is coming into full focus.
As spring has arrived, so have the top-level qualifying races for the Derby. The Kentucky Derby Championship Series — a group of 16 races that includes the top Derby points qualifiers — is underway.
The first two 100-point qualifiers for the Derby — the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds in New Orleans and the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in Florence — were both run Saturday. These races award qualifying points to potential Derby horses on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the top-five finishers in each race.
This positions the top two finishers in each contest well to make the 20-horse starting gate for the Kentucky Derby, which will be run May 3.
In addition to the Louisiana Derby and the Jeff Ruby Steaks, five other races in the Kentucky Derby Championship Series will serve as 100-point qualifiers in the coming weeks.
Those races are the Grade 1 Florida Derby (March 29 at Gulfstream Park), the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby (March 29 at Oaklawn Park), the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (April 5 at Keeneland), the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby (April 5 at Santa Anita Park) and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial (April 5 at Aqueduct).
Additionally, the Grade 2 UAE Derby on April 5 is also a 100-point Kentucky Derby qualifier, although that race is part of the Euro/Mideast Road to the Derby. Qualifying spots for the Kentucky Derby can also be secured via the Japan Road to the Derby as well as the Euro/Mideast Road to the Derby.
This is the ninth-consecutive year that a tiered points system is being used to determine which horses make the Derby field.
Here’s what went down in the Louisiana Derby and Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday, and which horses now find themselves in prime position to have a chance to win horse racing’s greatest prize.
Tiztastic captures the Louisiana Derby to earn Kentucky Derby spot
Tiztastic — ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by Steve Asmussen — captured the Louisiana Derby crown by hitting the line first in the Grade 2, $1 million race that stretches 1 3/16 miles on the dirt surface at Fair Grounds.
Tiztastic won by 2 1/4 lengths and delivered Asmussen his fifth Louisiana Derby crown. The horse now finds itself at the top of the Kentucky Derby qualifying leaderboard with 119 points.
Chunk of Gold — ridden by Jareth Loveberry and trained by Ethan West — also cemented his Derby spot with a second-place effort. Chunk of Gold, who was sold for $2,500 as a yearling, has 75 qualifying points and is third on the Derby leaderboard. West, the horse’s trainer, is only 32 years old.
The third through fifth-place finishers in Saturday’s Louisiana Derby are all on shaky ground when it comes to their Kentucky Derby status. Instant Replay (third) is now 24th in the Derby standings, John Hancock (fourth) is now 15th on the Derby leaderboard and Built (fifth) is 13th in the standings.
What kind of recent success has the Louisiana Derby signaled in terms of the Kentucky Derby?
Last year’s winner of the Louisiana Derby — Catching Freedom — ran fourth in the 2024 Derby and was the first horse to hit the line following a historic three-way photo finish in the 150th running of the Derby. The Louisiana Derby winner in 2023 — Kingsbarns — was 14th in that year’s Derby, but the second-place finisher in the 2023 Louisiana Derby — Disarm — ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby.
In 2022, Epicenter won the Louisiana Derby and was the Kentucky Derby favorite before infamously finishing in second place at Churchill Downs to Rich Strike in a historic upset.
Final Gambit wins the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park
Final Gambit — ridden by Luan Machado and trained by Brad Cox — won the Grade 3, $776,364 Jeff Ruby Steaks with a big stretch effort to capture the key Derby prep race on the 1 1/8-mile synthetic surface in Florence.
Final Gambit captured the Jeff Ruby Steaks by 3 1/2 lengths. Flying Mohawk was second, with Maximum Promise third and Poster in fourth.
If they want it, the connections for Final Gambit and Flying Mohawk now have spots secured in the Derby field.
Final Gambit’s win at Turfway Park gives him 100 qualifying points, which puts him second on the Derby qualifying leaderboard. Flying Mohawk’s second-place run gives him 50 qualifying points for the Derby, which is normally enough to make the starting gate.
Neither horse has raced on dirt before.
Maximum Promise and Poster still have work to do to lock up their spots in the Kentucky Derby. Maximum Promise has 33 qualifying points and is 16th on the leaderboard. Poster has 31 qualifying points and is 18th.
What kind of recent success has the Jeff Ruby Steaks signaled in terms of the Kentucky Derby?
Last year’s winner of the Jeff Ruby Steaks — Endlessly — ran ninth in the Derby. The 2023 Jeff Ruby winner — Two Phil’s — finished in second in the Derby.
And in 2022, the Jeff Ruby winner — Tiz the Bomb — ran ninth in the Derby. But, the 2022 Jeff Ruby Steaks produced long shot Kentucky Derby champion Rich Strike (third in the Jeff Ruby) and seventh-place finisher Tawny Port (second in the Jeff Ruby).
Qualifying leaderboard for 2025 Kentucky Derby horses
Plenty can and will change on the qualifying leaderboard for the 2025 Kentucky Derby. Stateside, six qualifying points races that are part of the American Road to the Derby are still to be run.
This includes the five aforementioned 100-point Derby qualifiers as well as the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes, which is the final Derby qualifying race and will be run on April 12 at Keeneland. The Lexington Stakes will award Derby qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.
With six races still to go, here’s what the top 20 of the qualifying leaderboard for the American Road to the Derby looks like, with horse names, qualifying points, jockeys and trainers listed.
▪ 1: Tiztastic: 119 points, ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by Steve Asmussen.
▪ 2: Final Gambit: 100 points, ridden by Luan Machado and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 3: Chunk of Gold: 75 points, ridden by Jareth Loveberry and trained by Ethan West.
▪ 4: Coal Battle: 70 points, ridden by Juan Vargas and trained by Lonnie Briley.
▪ 5: Owen Almighty: 65 points, ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. and trained by Brian Lynch.
▪ 6: Citizen Bull: 60 points, ridden by Martin Garcia and trained by Bob Baffert.
▪ 7: Sovereignty: 60 points, ridden by Junior Alvarado and trained by Bill Mott.
▪ 8: American Promise: 55 points, ridden by Nik Juarez and trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
▪ 9: Flood Zone: 50 points, ridden by Reylu Gutierrez and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 10: Flying Mohawk: 50 points, ridden by Joseph D. Ramos and trained by D. Whitworth Beckman.
▪ 11: Journalism: 47.5 points, ridden by Umberto Rispoli and trained by Michael McCarthy.
▪ 12: Getaway Car: 46 points, ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. and trained by Bob Baffert.
▪ 13: Built: 45 points, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Wayne Catalano.
▪ 14: Chancer McPatrick: 35 points, ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Chad Brown.
▪ 15: John Hancock: 35 points, ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 16: Maximum Promise: 33 points, ridden by Frankie Dettori and trained by Kenny McPeek.
▪ 17: Madaket Road: 31 points, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione and trained by Bob Baffert.
▪ 18: Poster: 31 points, ridden by John Velazquez and trained by Eoin Harty.
▪ 19: Burnham Square: 30 points, ridden by Edgard Zayas and trained by Ian Wilkes.
▪ 20: Sandman: 29 points, ridden by Cristian Torres and trained by Mark Casse.
This story was originally published March 23, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
