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.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "How much each horse in the 2026 Kentucky Derby cost its owners to buy."