Is this the year that a Japanese horse wins the Kentucky Derby?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Two of the 20 horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby have connections to Japan.
- The lone Japan-born horse is Wonder Dean (JPN), who has won two of six career starts.
- Danon Bourbon qualified for the Kentucky Derby via the Japanese pathway.
Kate Hunter wants to disrupt the norms of the Kentucky Derby.
In fact, there’s nothing she’d rather do than help create a seismic change in a cherished American sports tradition.
Hunter, among other duties, serves as a Japanese representative for Churchill Downs. She works closely with the Japanese horses who take part in the Kentucky Derby. Of late, that’s an increasing number.
At least one Japanese horse has competed in each of the past five Derbys, with the headline accomplishment being Forever Young (JPN)’s third-place effort in 2024.
This year, Hunter is assisting with two Derby horses who have ties to Japan.
Wonder Dean (JPN) is the lone Japan-born horse in this year’s Run for the Roses. He has won two of six career starts, and qualified for the Derby by winning the Grade 2 UAE Derby, which is part of the Euro/Mideast qualifying pathway.
Danon Bourbon reached this year’s Kentucky Derby starting gate from the Japanese qualifying pathway, but he was foaled at Blue Heaven Farm in Versailles. Still, each of Danon Bourbon’s three career starts, all wins, have come in Japan. The horse’s connections are all Japanese.
“My goal in life is to be some American trainer’s worst nightmare. So, to bring over a Japanese horse that’s going to ruin Kentucky Derby day,” Hunter said Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs in Louisville. “So I apologize in advance for bringing over the Japanese.”
A win for either Wonder Dean or Danon Bourbon on Saturday in the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby — which goes 11/4 miles on the main track at Churchill — would be a monumental moment for horse racing.
Since 1967, a total of 57 horses have run in the Derby after previously racing outside North America. That number will increase to 59 this weekend. Among them, only Canonero II (Venezuela) in 1971 and Bold Forbes (Puerto Rico) in 1976 have won the Derby.
A triumph for Wonder Dean or Danon Bourbon would build on the success of Forever Young, who in November became the first Japanese-trained horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Hunter — who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and studied Japanese at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, — is doing everything in her power to make it happen.
“Even though I’m not a trainer... I would say (not) even really connected with these horses, I want to win the Kentucky Derby vicariously through these people,” Hunter said. “So any kind of information that I can gather over time and share, I’m absolutely going to do that.”
What chances do Wonder Dean, Danon Bourbon have to win 2026 Kentucky Derby?
Neither of this year’s Japanese runners is among the pre-race favorites.
Danon Bourbon — who has been assigned post No. 7 and has morning-line odds of 20-1 — has a first-time Derby trainer, Manabu Ikezoe, and jockey, Atsuya Nishimura.
Wonder Dean — who will leave from post No. 10 and has morning-line odds of 30-1 — has connections with past Derby experience. Trainer Daisuke Takayanagi and jockey Ryusei Sakai were both involved in the 2024 race.
Sakai was aboard Forever Young for his history-making finish, which came as part of a three-way photo finish alongside winner Mystik Dan and runner-up Sierra Leone.
Takayanagi trained T O Password to a credible fifth-place finish, also in 2024.
In her capacity as a Japanese racing liaison for the Kentucky Derby, Hunter has developed plenty of knowledge over the past nine years when it comes to prepping horses for Derby Day.
“When it comes to the unique experience of the Kentucky Derby and dealing with the amounts of people and managing that, I think that’s been the biggest thing that I’ve learned about just trying to manage their expectations of what racing is,” Hunter said. “Anywhere else in the world, even your Dubai World Cups, your Saudi Cups, your Breeders’ Cups, nothing is like the Kentucky Derby.”
That guidance is being put into practice this week, as Wonder Dean and Danon Bourbon both go through gate schooling and potentially paddock schooling.
This exercise, utilized to get the horses comfortable in the Churchill Downs environment, helped Admire Daytona (JPN) in last year’s race. Admire Daytona was the only Japan-born horse in the 2025 Kentucky Derby, and he broke well out of the starting gate before ultimately finishing in last place.
Hunter isn’t alone in helping guide Japanese horses toward potential Derby success.
Hunter said that when Takayanagi, Wonder Dean’s trainer, visited the United States in 2017, he spent time learning from accomplished trainers such as Tom Amoss, Ben Colebrook, Dale Romans and Ian Wilkes.
“We got to have a lot of different experiences, just kind of seeing how the American trainers train and do things a little bit differently, and that was right before (Takayanagi) started his own stable,” Hunter said. “So I think that being able to see how the Americans do their thing, and then being able to then apply it to where he finally gets the chance among Americans himself, is probably an advantage.
“I think he’s learned to listen and adapt,” Hunter added about Takayanagi. “Because the Japanese have a very strict way of how they typically do things. Being more flexible, I think, has really been an advantage for him.”
Wonder Dean’s last effort — a March win in the UAE Derby to secure his Kentucky Derby spot — was a marked improvement over his fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Saudi Derby in February.
Hunter said she’s noticed a maturity and an “adult mentality” in how Wonder Dean has developed in recent weeks.
What would a Kentucky Derby win mean for Japan?
For the Japanese racing industry, a win in the Kentucky Derby would be a game changer.
“Obviously a Japanese horse (has) never won that race,” Takuya Nakano, Wonder Dean’s assistant trainer, said through a translator. “Obviously, Forever Young was third, so if (Wonder Dean) won, it would be like changing history.”
“Of course, the success of Japanese horses over the past couple of years has given us more confidence in participating,” Satoshi Oshita, Danon Bourbon’s assistant trainer, said through Hunter, who translated for him.
A Japanese Derby winner would attract media attention from the world over. It also could have long-term breeding ramifications for the Japanese horse industry.
Hunter said Japan has relied heavily on Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks bloodlines for breeding, including past Derby champions like Sunday Silence (1989) and Charismatic (1999).
Both of those horses are part of Wonder Dean’s bloodlines.
“They’ve really played a heavy role in creating the modern Japanese thoroughbred,” Hunter said. “So I think winning the Kentucky Derby, for at least the Japanese industry people, would be a culmination of decades, maybe a half a century, of effort to create the best thoroughbred possible.”
