Get those mint juleps ready as the Kentucky Derby is set to run on Saturday, May 6 at Churchill Downs.
With up to 20 horses in the field and tens of thousands bred every year, the odds of a thoroughbred turning into a Kentucky Derby winner is quite remote since it takes so much just to get the horse to the starting gate.
With about 20,000 thoroughbred horses born in the U.S. each year, 369 of them were nominated for Triple Crown races in the early period this year, up from 312 in 2022. The record for Triple Crown nominees was 460, a record set in 2007 and matched again 2008.
With a max of 20 horses making it to the starting gate at Churchill Downs, the business of owning a thoroughbred in this Triple Crown race isn't a simple proposition. It's very costly, starting from the stud fees paid to breed these magnificent animals. The best horses get $100,000 per live foal that they produce. That's right -- $100,000 for a single baby horse.
Sometimes, it's even more. Galileo, an Irish horse with a strong record of siring future winners in Europe, got stud fees of $700,000 back in 2000. One of Galileo's progeny, Frankel, received stud fees of $225,000 on his own.
These top horses can also be had at auction, where they commonly fetch in the $100,000 to $300,000 range. Some cost way more, as particularly well bred thoroughbreds have sold for seven figures. The record is 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus at $4 million as a yearling.
Someone with a real keen interest can go into the thoroughbred breeding business as well, but that is equally pricey. A suitable mare, a female horse, can cost $500,000 or more, and then there's still the stud fee. More likely though, the breeder is the one auctioning off these horses.
Owning a horse is just the beginning. It requires housing, equipment, feeding, training, and medical expenses in addition to any other ancillary costs, like a trainer and a jockey. This all adds up to roughly $4,000 to $5,000 per month per horse.
If it all goes well and the thoroughbred shows promise on the track, the costs will likely go up. The owners will then need to add on transportation fees, entry fees to races, and other costs, which can often add up to $150,000 a month.
Getting nominated for the Triple Crown costs just $600 in the early period in January, but then escalates to $6,000 for late entries up to the end of March, and then $200,000 for a last-minute entry. It then costs an additional $25,000 to actually claim your spot in the Kentucky Derby.
Rich Strike, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2022, took home the $1.86 million prize for first place, 10 percent of which went to the jockey, Sonny Leon. Second got $600,000, minus 5 percent to the jockey, and third took in $300,000, also giving 5 percent to its jockey.
The costs are quite high to get into the thoroughbred business and the odds of producing a Kentucky Derby winner are longer than the odds of the horses on any track. But the pot at the end of the rainbow can be enormous, making the cost of winning the Kentucky Derby a prize worth chasing for any horse owner.
But you don't have to own a horse to bet on the races. Sign up for the best online betting sites in the country to try your hand at sports betting today.
