The 2018 Kentucky Derby (officially, the 2018 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve) was the 144th running of the
Kentucky Derby, and took place on Saturday, May 5, 2018, in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. The field was open to 20 horses, with a purse of million.
The Derby is held annually in Louisville on the first Saturday in May, at the end of the two-week-long
Kentucky Derby Festival
The Kentucky Derby Festival is an annual festival held in Louisville, Kentucky, during the two weeks preceding the first Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby. The festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event, first ran from 1935 to ...
. It is a
Grade I stakes race for three-year-old
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
s at a distance of , and has been run at
Churchill Downs racetrack since its inception in 1875.
The race was broadcast by
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, with coverage by
NBCSN of undercard races beginning at 12:30pm
EDT and main network coverage of pre-race activities starting at 2:30pm EDT.
Post time was 6:52pm EDT. The race was won by
Justify, who was the post-time favorite, in a time of 2:04.20 over a sloppy track.
It is the first time since
1882
Events
January–March
* January 2
** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates.
** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in t ...
that the race was won by a horse that did not race at the age of two.
Qualification
The Kentucky Derby is only open to three-year-old
Thoroughbreds
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are con ...
,
thus all entrants in the 2018 race were part of the 2015 North American live foal crop of roughly 22,000. The field was limited to twenty horses who qualified based on points earned in the
2018 Road to the Kentucky Derby, a series of designated races that was first introduced in 2013. This point system replaced the previous
graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is the ...
earnings system.
The top points earner in the 2018 series was
Magnum Moon (150 points), winner of the
Rebel Stakes
The Rebel Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt run annually in March, at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The event currently off ...
and
Arkansas Derby
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt.
In 200 ...
.
Good Magic, the champion two-year-old from 2017, finished second in the series by winning both the
Breeders' Cup Juvenile
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup W ...
and the
Blue Grass Stakes
The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is ru ...
. The other major prep winners were Noble Indy (
Louisiana Derby
The Louisiana Derby is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Run in late March, the race is open to horses, age three, willing to race miles on the dirt. It currently o ...
),
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
(
UAE Derby
The UAE Derby is a Group 2 flat horse race in the United Arab Emirates for three-year-old thoroughbreds run over a distance of 1,900 metres (approximately 9.5 furlongs) on dirt at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. It takes place annually during the ...
),
Audible
Audible may refer to:
* Audible (service), an online audiobook store
* Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks
* ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player
* Audible finish or ru ...
(
Florida Derby
The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Sat ...
), Vino Rosso (
Wood Memorial
The Wood Memorial Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. It is run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt. The Wood Memoria ...
) and
Justify (
Santa Anita Derby
The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is currently run at a distance of miles on the dirt and carries a purse of $400,000. It is one ...
).
Churchill Downs also created separate qualification roads for horses based in Japan and Europe. None of the invitations for qualifiers on the Japan Road was accepted.
On the European Road, the connections of
Gronkowski accepted after the colt qualified first. However, the colt subsequently became ill and had to miss the race.
Field
The early favorite was Justify, who had made only three starts before the race but won each time with triple-digit
Beyer Speed Figure
The Beyer Speed Figure is a system for rating the performance of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America designed in the early 1970s by Andrew Beyer, the syndicated horse racing columnist for The Washington Post. First published in book form in 1 ...
s. In the Derby, he had to surmount what came to be known as "Curse of Apollo" – a reference to the fact that no horse had ever won the Derby without racing while at age two since
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...
in 1882. "Justify is a natural and he's still green, just learning how to run. He's so talented", said his trainer
Bob Baffert
Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakn ...
. "But there are a lot of nice horses out there this year."
Trainer
Todd Pletcher
Todd Pletcher (born June 26, 1967 in Dallas, Texas) is an American thoroughbred horse trainer. He won the Eclipse Award seven times as Trainer of the Year, four of these in consecutive years. His horses Super Saver (2010) and Always Dreaming (20 ...
, who won the
2017 Kentucky Derby
The 2017 Kentucky Derby (in full, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, due to sponsorship) was the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby, and took place on Saturday, May 6, 2017. The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held each year in Lou ...
with
Always Dreaming
Always Dreaming (foaled February 25, 2014) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Florida Derby. He had four wins from eleven starts, and earnings of $2,415,860.
Background
Always Dreaming is a dark ba ...
, had four of the leading contenders:
Magnum Moon, Audible,
Vino Rosso
Vino Rosso (foaled March 29, 2015) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic.
Racing career
Vino Rosso made his racing debut on November 11, 2017 with a win at Aqueduct Racetrack. He then won his second rac ...
, and Noble Indy. Magnum Moon was ranked number two on the
National Thoroughbred Racing Association
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) is a broad-based coalition of American horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with incr ...
top three-year-old poll of April 16 after his win in the Arkansas Derby. He had made only four starts prior to the Kentucky Derby, like Justified not having raced at age two. Audible was ranked number three, while Vino Rosso and Noble Indy were ranked seventh and eighth respectively.
The two colts with the best form at age two, Good Magic and Bolt d'Oro, were ranked fourth and fifth respectively on the same poll.
They were the winter-book favorites for the Derby, but both suffered training setbacks that delayed their return to the racetrack. They both had one win from two starts at age three going into the Derby.
Adding an international element to the field was Mendelssohn, trained in Ireland by
Aidan O'Brien
Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland)[ Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...](_blank)
. Mendelssohn started his racing career on the turf and proved his ability to ship well by winning the
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at
Del Mar
Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Del Mar, California
* Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California
* Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California
* Del Mar Fai ...
in California in 2017. However, O'Brien felt that the colt would be equally suited to racing on the dirt given his pedigree: Mendelssohn is a half brother to multiple
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse.
An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...
-winner
Beholder. Mendelssohn earned his berth by winning the UAE Derby in an "astonishing" performance while setting a track record.
Entries for the Kentucky Derby were taken on May 1. Justify drew post position 7 and was installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite by oddsmaker Mike Battaglia.
Race Description
Because the Derby was held on a rainy day, the surface of the track was sealed to mitigate the effect of heavy rain on the footing. Nonetheless, the
track condition was sloppy. By post time, more than of rain had been recorded that day at nearby
Louisville International Airport
Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport , formerly known as simply Louisville International Airport, is a civil-military airport in Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The airport covers and has three runways. Its IATA airport cod ...
, breaking the Derby Day precipitation record of that had been set in
1918. Despite the rain, a crowd of 157,813 attended the event, the eighth largest in Derby history,
and the wettest of all time.
A record $149.2 million was bet on the Derby itself from all sources, while the full card earned an all-source handle of $225.7 million, up 8% from the previous year's record.
On the track, Justify's jockey
Mike Smith used the colt's early speed to gain vantage position near the rail moving into the first turn. He was positioned just a length after Promises Fulfilled and maintained this position down the backstretch. Following them closely were Flameaway, Bolt d'Oro and Good Magic. Although the opening fractions (22.24 for the first quarter, 45.77 for the half, 1:11.01 for the three-quarters) were fast, Smith said Justify felt "very comfortable".
In the final turn, Bolt d'Oro and later Good Magic were both put to a drive, while Promises Fulfilled began to drop back. Justify responded to urging to open up a lead of lengths as they turned into the stretch, widening to lengths at the finish line. Bolt d'Oro tired, eventually finishing in twelfth place, but Good Magic persevered to finish second. Audible closed from twelfth place to finish third, just a head behind Good Magic.
It was the fifth Derby win for Baffert and the second for Smith.
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
, who went off as the third choice in the betting, broke well from post position 14 but was hit hard shortly after the start by Magnum Moon, who veered over from post position 16. Losing ground and "banged around in traffic", Mendelssohn was eased and finished last. On the other hand, Instilled Regard, who broke from post position 15 and was also involved in the initial bumping incident, rallied from 17th place to finish fourth.
Results
Track: Sloppy (sealed)
Times: mile – 22.24; mile – 45.77; mile – 1:11.01; mile – 1:37.35; final – 2:04.20.
Splits for each quarter-mile: (22.24) (23.53) (25.24) (26.34) (26.85)
Source: Equibase chart
Payout
The table below gives Kentucky Derby payout schedule
* $2
Exacta
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...
: (7-6) $69.60
* $1
Trifecta
file:Trifecta.svg, Trifecta
A trifecta is a parimutuel betting, parimutuel bet placed on a horse race in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third, in the exact order. Known as a trifecta in the US and Austra ...
: (7-6-5) $141.40
* $1
Superfecta {{Wiktionary
The superfecta is a type of wager in USA and Canada parimutuel betting in which the bettor, in order to win, must pick the first four finishers of a race in the correct sequence. This is even more unlikely than a successful wager in th ...
: (7-6-5-15) $19,618.20
* $1 Super High Five: (7-6-5-15-10) $183,580.20
Subsequent Grade I wins
Several horses went on from the Derby to post Grade I wins. Most notably, Justify completed the
American Triple Crown
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three r ...
and was named
Horse of the Year.
* Justify –
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...
,
Belmont Stakes
* Good Magic –
Haskell Invitational
The Haskell Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of miles on the dirt held annually in July at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey. The event is a signature event at Monmouth ...
* Vino Rosso – 2019
Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes
The Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older over a distance of miles on the dirt held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California in May. The race currently offers a purse of $400,000 ...
,
Breeders' Cup Classic
The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-olds and older run at a distance of on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships in late October ...
* Instilled Regard – 2020 Manhattan Stakes
* Promises Fulfilled –
H. Allen Jerkens Stakes
* Combatant
– 2020
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for o ...
See also
*
References
External links
*
Post positions, silks, odds for 2018 Kentucky Derby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kentucky Derby, 2018
2018 in horse racing
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
May 2018 sports events in the United States