With only two qualifying races left, which horses are in Kentucky Derby field?
Only two qualifying races are left to determine which horses will make the starting gate for the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, to be held May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Both of those final Derby qualifiers will be taking place right here in Central Kentucky.
Saturday was a major day on the road to the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby. A trio of win-and-in Kentucky Derby prep races were run with the Santa Anita Derby and Wood Memorial as part of the American Road to the Derby and the UAE Derby as part of the Euro/Mideast Road to the Derby.
With all three of those races now in the books, the projected field for the 2025 edition of the Derby is nearly set.
Only Tuesday evening’s running of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Toyota Blue Grass and Saturday’s running of the Grade 3, $400,000 Stonestreet Lexington — both at Keeneland — are left to determine the 2025 Kentucky Derby field.
What went down in each of the Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial and UAE Derby on Saturday?
And which horses now find themselves in prime position to contest the Run for the Roses in a few weeks’ time?
Journalism will be Kentucky Derby favorite after winning Santa Anita Derby
There were no surprises in the Grade 1, $500,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday as even-money favorite Journalism rolled to victory at Santa Anita Park. Journalism covered the 1 1/8-mile race in a winning time of 1:49.56 on a fast track.
Trained by Michael McCarthy and ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Journalism has now cemented his spot as the likely morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Journalism has won four straight races, with the last three of those being graded stakes.
Sired by Curlin, Journalism is just the second favorite to win the Santa Anita Derby in the last seven editions of the race.
Because this year’s Santa Anita Derby only had a five-horse field, the Kentucky Derby qualifying points awarded were reduced. The Santa Anita Derby normally awards Derby qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the top five finishers. But, this year the race only gave out Derby qualifying points on a 75-37.5-18.75-11.25-7.5 scale.
Why is this important?
Because it means that second-place finisher Baeza — trained by John Shirreffs and ridden by Hector Berrios — might not make the Derby starting gate because he only has 37.5 qualifying points instead of the normal 50 given to the Santa Anita Derby runner-up.
Baeza is a half-brother to both 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage and 2024 Belmont takes winner Dornoch.
This was the smallest field in the Santa Anita Derby since 2006.
Citizen Bull, a Bob Baffert trainee who finished fourth in the five-horse field, is locked into the Derby with a total of 71.25 qualifying points.
Barnes, another Baffert horse in the race, finished last and won’t be featuring in the Run for the Roses.
Bob Baffert’s Rodriguez scores win in Wood Memorial
The 100th edition of the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City was won by Bob Baffert trainee Rodriguez, who took the early lead in the race and never let go of it over 1 1/8 miles on a fast main track.
Ridden to victory by legendary 59-year-old jockey Mike Smith, Rodriguez now has a spot secured in the 2025 Kentucky Derby.
Before his winning effort on Saturday at Aqueduct, Rodriguez placed in both the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes.
Smith will be eyeing some notable history aboard Rodriguez: The oldest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby is Bill Shoemaker, who was 54 when he won the 1986 Derby with Ferdinand.
Rodriguez now has two wins in five career starts. Rodriguez has also finished in the money in all five of his starts.
In addition to Rodriguez, second-place finisher Grande also booked his spot in the Kentucky Derby with a second-place effort.
Grande — sired by Curlin — is trained by Todd Pletcher and is ridden by Dylan Davis. Grande has two wins and Saturday’s second-place finish on his ledger from three career starts.
Grande is owned by Mike Repole, who has twice owned Derby favorites (Forte in 2023 and Uncle Mo in 2011) who were scratched before the race.
Last year, Repole owned Fierceness, the morning line favorite for the 2024 Kentucky Derby who ran 15th.
Admire Daytona wins UAE Derby in photo finish
A thrilling edition of the Grade 2, $1 million UAE Derby was won by Japan-bred Admire Daytona by a nose in a photo finish over Heart of Honor at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Trained by Yukihiro Kato and ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Admire Daytona rode the rail to win an exciting stretch duel with Heart of Honor to secure the automatic Kentucky Derby qualifying spot via the Euro/Mideast Road to the Derby.
Admire Daytona won the 1 3/16 mile contest in a winning time of 1:59.14 over a fast dirt track at Meydan.
“Honestly, I thought I’d won but it was very tight so you never get too happy, too early,” Lemaire said.
Admire Daytona — who used a front-running effort to prevail in the UAE Derby — now has two wins from six career starts, and he’s the fourth consecutive Japanese horse to win the UAE Derby. This streak began with Crown Pride in 2022 and continued with Derma Sotogake in 2023 and Forever Young in 2024. Lemaire was also aboard Derma Sotogake for that 2023 victory.
In last year’s Kentucky Derby, Forever Young finished third as part of a historic photo finish with Mystik Dan claiming first place and Sierra Leone finishing in second.
With that result, Forever Young became the first Japanese horse to record a top-three Derby finish. Additionally, Forever Young became the first foreign-born horse to finish in the money in the Derby since Great Britain-bred Bold Arrangement ran second in 1986.
Fellow Japan-bred T O Password also ran fifth in last year’s Derby.
Admire Daytona’s inclusion in the Run for the Roses will continue a run of active Japanese participation in the race. Crown Pride ran 13th in the 2022 Derby, Mandarin Hero was 12th in the 2023 Derby and Derma Sotogake was sixth in the 2023 race, in addition to last year’s big efforts by Forever Young and T O Password.
Another important note?
Forever Young was also a winner of the UAE Derby last year on his way to Churchill Downs. Prior to his third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, UAE Derby runners who then raced in Louisville had never finished better than fifth in the Kentucky Derby.
This made Forever Young the first horse from the UAE Derby — a race that has existed since 2000 — to finish in the money beneath the Twin Spires.
The blueprint is there for Admire Daytona to have a big performance in the Kentucky Derby. And now, he will have the opportunity to do so with more history still to be made.
No horse bred outside of North America has won the Kentucky Derby since Great Britain’s Tomy Lee in 1959.
“For sure he can go (and win the Kentucky Derby), but it is such a difficult race to win. But we have to try,” Lemaire, Admire Daytona’s jockey, added. “It is one of the most iconic races in horse racing, and we have to go.”
Heart of Honor — the second-place runner in the UAE Derby — also appears to be pointed toward the Kentucky Derby.
The Japanese Road to the Derby qualifying pathway winner is Luxor Cafe, a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. A Kentucky-bred horse, Luxor Cafe won the Fukuryu Stakes in March to secure a berth to the Kentucky Derby via the Japanese qualification series.
Which horses are in position to race in the Kentucky Derby?
With two qualifying points races still to be run as part of the American Road to the Kentucky Derby, here’s what the top 17 of the American qualifying leaderboard looks like, with horse names, qualifying points, jockeys and trainers listed.
These horses are currently in position to make the Derby starting gate on May 3.
Three horses from the Japanese and Euro/Mideast qualifying pathways — Luxor Cafe, Admire Daytona and Heart of Honor — are expected to accept their invitations to the Kentucky Derby.
The final two qualifying races on the American Road to the Derby will be the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (April 8 at Keeneland) and the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes (April 12 at Keeneland).
▪ 1: Sandman: 129 points, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Mark Casse.
▪ 2: Journalism: 122.5 points, ridden by Umberto Rispoli and trained by Michael McCarthy.
▪ 3: Rodriguez: 121.25 points, ridden by Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert.
▪ 4: Tiztastic: 119 points, ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by Steve Asmussen.
▪ 5: Tappan Street: 110 points, ridden by Luis Saez and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 6: Sovereignty: 110 points, ridden by Manny Franco and trained by Bill Mott.
▪ 7: Final Gambit: 100 points, ridden by Luan Machado and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 8: Coal Battle: 95 points, ridden by Juan Vargas and trained by Lonnie Briley.
▪ 9: Chunk of Gold: 75 points, ridden by Jareth Loveberry and trained by Ethan West.
▪ 10: Citizen Bull: 71.25 points, ridden by Martin Garcia and trained by Bob Baffert.
▪ 11: Owen Almighty: 65 points, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Brian Lynch.
▪ 12: Publisher: 60 points, ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Steve Asmussen.
▪ 13: American Promise: 55 points, ridden by Nik Juarez and trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
▪ 14: Flood Zone: 50 points, ridden by Reylu Gutierrez and trained by Brad Cox.
▪ 15: Flying Mohawk: 50 points, ridden by Joseph Ramos and trained by D. Whitworth Beckman.
▪ 16: Grande: 50 points, ridden by Dylan Davis and trained by Todd Pletcher.
▪ 17: Madaket Road: 46 points, ridden by Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert.
This story was originally published April 6, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
