In a nonsensical way, the Marx Brothers knew a good horse when they saw one.
Here’s a little repartee between Groucho (Dr. Hackenbush) and Chico (Tony) from the 1937 movie “A Day at the Races.”
Tony: Hey, boss! C'mere! Sun-Up is the worst horse on the track!
Dr. Hackenbush: I notice he wins all the time.
Tony: Aw, just because he comes in first.
Dr. Hackenbush: Well, I don't want 'em any better than first.
Where are we going with this? Alphabet betting in the Kentucky Derby, that’s where.
Sun-Up begins with the letter S. While four horses whose name begins with S won the Derby before the movie was released, 15 other S horses have gone on to victory in the Run for the Roses.
In 150 editions of the Derby, S is the winningest first letter of the victor’s name (19, most recently Super Saver in 2010).
In Saturday’s 151st Derby, two horses have names that begin with S – Sovereignty (5-1) and Sandman (6-1).
So, this form of wagering could be profitable if you like some of the other S horses that have won the race, such as Secretariat in 1973.
Other S winners include Sir Barton (1919), Seattle Slew (1977) -- eventual Triple Crown winners -- Spectacular Bid (1979), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), and Smarty Jones (2004).
This year, Sovereignty and Sandman seek to keep the leading letter tally alive.
Letters B and C are tied for second with 13 winners apiece – Big Brown in 2008 and Country House (via disqualification of Maximum Security) in 2019 being the most recent, respectively.
Burnham Square (12-1) is the B horse in Saturday’s Derby, and Citizen Bull (20-1), Coal Battle (30-1), and Chunk of Gold (30-1) are the C horses in the race.
(Give C a strong look since Count Fleet (1943) and Citation (1948) -- also eventual Triple Crown winners – Carry Back (1961), Charismatic (1999), and California Chrome (2014) are among this prestigious group.
A and M are tied for third with 12 winners. The most recent winner on the M side was Mystik Dan in 2024; on the A side, the most recent was Authentic in 2024.
Other A winners include Affirmed (1978), American Pharoah (2015), and Assault (1946), yet three more eventual Triple Crown winners.
A will be represented by American Promise (30-1) and Admire Daytona (30-1). There are no M horses in the field.
If you’re looking for the J factor since Journalism is the 3-1 favorite, the letter has five Derby winners – Justify in 2018 being the most recent.
There have been 2,015 Derby starters with names beginning with every letter except X. In addition, there have been no Derby winners starting with the letters Q and Y.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
