A new 20-horse starting gate for the Derby was introduced in 2020, replacing a barrier that included a six-horse auxiliary gate.
A place in the Kentucky Derby starting gate is a coveted dream. It also is one of the hardest places in racing to get into, despite a larger gate, literally, than other prestigious American races.
The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters – and regularly hits that limit, despite a shrinking foal crop cited for small graded stakes fields in many jurisdictions. The majority of North America’s other graded stakes, including the Kentucky Oaks, are limited to 14 starters – possibly because when Clay Puett built the first electric starting gate, which became the standard design for most gates around the world, it came in sizes of either 12 or 14.
The starting gate was far in the future when Meriwether Lewis Clark traveled to Europe to study horse racing and had his interest piqued by the Epsom Derby. Clark returned with a plan to create a similar American event. The Louisville Jockey Club was formed, Churchill Downs was built, and a field of 15 3-year-olds lined up for a $1,000-added purse in the spring of 1875 with Aristides the victor.
After that beginning, the Derby remained a relatively humble event. From 1875 to 1919, the average field size was 7.6 starters, with the smallest fields, three horses, in 1892 and 1905. The race was largely dominated by local runners. At the time, many of the major U.S. racing operations were headquartered in New York, on a richer and more prestigious circuit; racing in Kentucky was an afterthought to many, especially with the logistical challenges of shipping horses.
However, the anti-gambling Hart-Agnew Law of 1908 shut down New York racing. Churchill president Colonel Matt Winn saw an opportunity to convince owners to ship in, and the Derbies of 1911 and 1912 were won by New York-owned horses. In 1913, New York racetracks began to re-open, but Winn still managed to convince Harry Payne Whitney to ship his filly Regret for the 1915 Derby. Regret led home a field of 16 in the $10,000 race to become the first filly to win the race in its 40-year history.
“This is the greatest race in America at the present time, and I don’t care if she never wins or never starts again,” Whitney famously said. “The glory of winning this event is big enough.”
The novelty of Regret’s win, plus Whitney’s exclamations, delighted Winn.
“For many years, the Derby was almost Kentucky’s exclusive own,” Winn wrote in his autobiography. “Regret put us over the top in our effort to gain national recognition, some coast-to-coast publicity.”
As more and more prominent connections bought into the race, the Derby’s average field size was 15.7 starters from 1920-39, and still a healthy 13.6 from 1940-59, a span that included World War II. Seven times from 1920-59, 20 or more horses started, with the biggest field being 22 horses in 1928.
Along the way, starting gates began to come into use, with Churchill first using one in 1930. The track’s first electronically operated 14-stall starting gate was introduced in 1941. Beginning in 1942, the track added a six-stall auxiliary gate that would come into use for the Kentucky Derby.
But nothing compared to the special measures the gate crew had to take in 1974 for the $125,000-added centennial edition of the Kentucky Derby. With racing riding a surge of popularity after Secretariat’s Triple Crown sweep the prior year, an outbreak of Derby fever led to 23 horses going postward. Two 14-horse starting gates were placed side by side, joined by an electric cord. Concern that one might not open at the crucial moment led to multiple tests of the opening button the week of the race – including twice during the post parade.
“It’s a lot of horses,” starter Toni Wagoner told The New York Times. “The most I ever handled was 17 at the Arkansas Derby last month. I really haven’t had time to react to the enormity of it yet. You have to hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. And I’ll probably feel the butterflies when I look down on the whole scene.”
Cannonade prevailed by 2 1/4 lengths, while a host of others found trouble behind him.
“There were too many horses out there,” Earlie Fires, 13th aboard Sharp Gary, told The New York Times.
Little Current, who finished a troubled fifth, went on to win Preakness and Belmont, adding credibility to the concern that the best horse might not win the Derby because of the field size. At a board meeting later that year, Churchill officials voted in a 20-horse limit, giving preference to horses with the top lifetime earnings. That money system would evolve over the next three-plus decades, to shift from using lifetime earnings, to restricted race earnings, then stakes earnings, and finally, graded stakes earnings. The restrictions did not come into play for several years, as the biggest Derby field for the rest of the 1970s was 15. However, in 1981, an overflow field passed the entry box. The main body of the field included two coupled entries with common ownership – Golden Derby and Proud Appeal, and Noble Nashua and Wayward Lass, the latter of whom had been cross-entered in the Kentucky Oaks. Among those excluded were Flying Nashua and Mythical Ruler, whose owners went to court seeking the right to race, as a Kentucky racing rule of the time stated that “in no case may two horses having common ties start in a race to the exclusion of another single entry.” The owners won in county court. Churchill Downs appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, arguing that to let extra horses in after entries closed would be unfair to the 20 owners whose horses had qualified, and also that the state regulation did not apply to stakes races, only overnight purse races. At the 11th hour, the appeals court upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Wayward Lass scratched to run in the Oaks, leaving 21 horses to go postward in the Derby. Flying Nashua was eighth behind Pleasant Colony, and Mythical Ruler was 17th.
The Derby’s purse continued to rise – from $500,000 in the early 1990s to $1 million from 1996 to 2004. But there were enticements greater than the purse of the race, as a Derby victory proved a valuable bargaining chip for a horse’s future stud career. Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Affirmed and fellow Derby winner Spectacular Bid were all syndicated for then-record sums – Secretariat’s then-record deal was struck prior to his 3-year-old campaign – and a euphoric bloodstock market in the 1980s continued to give breeders confidence and brought major international interests in to chase American stock. Fusaichi Pegasus was purchased for $4 million as a yearling, and the 2000 Derby winner earned back more than $1.9 million on the racetrack. But he was sold as a stallion to the international Coolmore group for a record deal that was believed to be between $60 million and $70 million.
The zest to run in the Derby, chasing that lottery ticket, thus continued to surge. From 1999 to 2011, there were nine times when more than 20 horses were entered in the Derby. Five of those times, there was at least one scratch, leaving excluded horses missing their only chance at the Kentucky Derby with no recourse. There had not been an also-eligible list for the Derby since 1983-84. It was scrapped due to difficulties with advance wagering on the race, a priority for Churchill, as the larger field and intense interest in the race leads to massive handle.
The issue began to come to a head with the scratches of several prominent candidates, including champion Uncle Mo from the 2011 Derby. The colt was entered in the Derby on Wednesday – excluding another horse – in the midst of speculation on the colt’s status due to an undiagnosed gastrointestinal issue that hindered him in the Wood Memorial. Uncle Mo was scratched on Friday.
“We weren’t trying to prevent someone else from entering,” trainer Todd Pletcher said in a press conference. “We needed every minute to try to figure this out and we ran out of time.”
Churchill Downs re-introduced an also-eligible list for the Derby – as well as the Kentucky Oaks – in 2012. As many as 24 horses may be entered in the Derby at the deadline – which this year is April 27, a week out from the race. The four also-eligibles can draw in by scratch time on Friday morning, when advance wagering begins.
Meanwhile, the system to determine that lineup of 20-plus was continuing to evolve. The graded stakes earnings system made no differentiation between types of races – allowing horses who had done their best work as 2-year-olds but had drastically tailed off, or those winning in sprint or turf races to qualify, especially with the introduction of new races such as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2007. Additionally, the advent of slots in some jurisdictions led to inflated purses for less-important, lower-grade races.
Prior to 2012-13 prep season, Churchill announced that it would institute a point system to rank the Derby hopefuls. Although some 2-year-old races are designated as point races, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile carries significant value, the point values increase throughout the season to reward horses with strong recent form in two-turn dirt races. The series culminates with the major traditional preps, the Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass, Florida Derby, Louisiana Derby, Santa Anita Derby, and Wood Memorial, offering 100 points to the winner and 50 points to the runner-up, essentially making them Win and You’re In events for the winner, with the second-place finisher also a likely qualifier. Churchill also has given that status to the Jeff Ruby Steaks on synthetic surface at Turfway Park, which it owns, as well as U.A.E. Derby, run on the Dubai World Cup undercard.
In actuality, if not practicality, as few as 18 of the spots in the starting gate may be determined by points. The Japan Road to the Derby, established in 2017, and European Road to the Derby, added in 2018, are separate series unto themselves, and the leading horse in each is extended an invitation to compete in the Kentucky Derby, which could add international intrigue and handle. While the European series has not made much impact, several Japanese horses in recent years have taken up the invitation.
The Derby’s average field size swelled from 16.2 from 1970-99 to 18.9 from 2000-23. Every year, at least a few horses have the excuse of a terrible trip in the crowded field, with chaos at the gate frequent. In 2020, a new 20-horse starting gate arrived, a custom design for Churchill from Australian company Steriline Racing. It eliminated the auxiliary gate and allowed horses in the extreme inside and outside posts more room to maneuver.
“I can get them off the rail a little bit,” head starter Scott Jordan told Daily Racing Form. “They’ll be coming out of like the three path. The 20 moves in that much farther, too. For those two horses, it’s a real advantage. We’re going to gain about 10 to 15 feet on each end.”
The 20-stall gate saw 15 and 19 starters, respectively, in its first two Derbies. In 2022, it was full for the first time as the also-eligible list came in to play. Rich Strike drew into the race the day before and started from the outside post. He stormed through the stretch for the second-biggest upset in Derby history. For trainer Eric Reed, who literally collapsed with joy, it was a moment worth more than the Derby’s purse – which rose to $2 million in 2005, $3 million in 2019, and will be a record $5 million on Saturday. It was a moment that illustrated why connections will clamor to fill all 20 slots in the Derby gate, no matter the odds.
“I fell down when they hit the wire,” Reed said. “This is why everybody does this.”
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