2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby

The 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby was a series of races through which horses qualified for the 2021 Kentucky Derby, which was held on May 1. The field for the Derby is limited to 20 horses, with up to four 'also eligibles' in case of a late withdrawal from the field. There were three separate paths for horses to take to qualify for the Derby: the main Road consisting of races in North America (plus one in Dubai), the Japan Road consisting of four races in Japan, and seven European races in England, Ireland and France. The top four finishers in the specified races received points, with higher points awarded in the major prep races in March and April. Earnings in non-restricted stakes races acted as a tie breaker.

The 2020 Road to the Kentucky Derby suffered major disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the postponement of the 2020 Derby itself to September. For 2021, the main Road to the Kentucky Derby will instead resemble the 2019 Road to the Kentucky Derby, consisting of 36 races, 20 races for the Kentucky Derby Prep Season and 16 races for the Kentucky Derby Championship Season except for the following changes:^[a]

• The John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, which was added to the Road in 2020, was retained as part of the Prep season for 2021
• The Jeff Ruby Steaks, which in 2019 and 2020 was a "Wild Card" event, was moved to the Championship Second leg of series with an increase of qualification points – with 1st 100 points, 2nd 40 points, 3rd 20 points and 4th 10 points

For the 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby, horses which ran in qualifying events with the medication furosemide (Lasix) did not receive any qualification points.^[2]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).