2024 Road to the Kentucky Derby

The 2024 Road to the Kentucky Derby is a series of races through which horses qualified for the 2024 Kentucky Derby, which was held on May 4. The field for the Derby was 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 the European road consisting of seven races in England, Ireland and France. The top five 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.

For 2024, there are several changes in the Road to the Kentucky Derby. In the 2023 Road to the Kentucky Derby, there were of 37 races, with 22 races for the Kentucky Derby Prep Season and 15 races for the Kentucky Derby Championship Season. In 2024, the following changes were introduced:[a]

  • Second-place points in all qualifying races have been increased to create added separation from second and third-place finishers
  • Third- and fourth-place points in races that award 100 points to winner have been decreased from 100-40-30-20-10 to 100-50-25-15-10
  • The Grade III Street Sense Stakes, held on October 29 at Churchill Downs was added to the Early Prep Season
  • The Grade III Sham Stakes was included in the original list of events, but Santa Anita Park did not schedule the event in 2024
  • Santa Anita Park decreased the distance of the Robert B. Lewis Stakes from 1+1⁄16 miles to one mile
  • The El Camino Real Derby was removed from the Early Prep Season
  • For the Sunland Park Derby at Sunland Park, the qualification points were decreased from 50-20-15-10-5 to 20-10-6-4-2 and the distance of the event was decreased from 1+1⁄8 to 1+1⁄16 miles
  1. ^ "2023/24 Kentucky Derby Prep Races" (PDF). Churchill Downs Inc. October 8, 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.


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