If you bet on the bay, odds are you’ve probably picked a few Kentucky Derby winners through the years.
Bay horses have been the most successful in the Derby (bay is also the most common horse color), earning the trophy for the winning connections 57 times (a 38% strike rate).
Among the bay contenders on May 3 are Admire Daytona, Burnham Square, Citizen Bull, East Avenue, Luxor Cafe, Owen Almighty, Publisher, Sovereignty, and Render Judgment.
Mystik Dan - a bay - won the 2024 Derby, a year after Mage - a chestnut - won.
Chestnuts checked in as runner-up with 50 winners. Horses listed as brown have won 17 times to complete the color trifecta, while dark bay/brown runners have 11 wins, gray/roan check in with eight, black with four, and dark bays with three.
The last bay to win the Derby – Mystik Dan, 2023
The last chestnut to win the Derby – Mage, 2023
The last dark bay/brown to win the Derby – Always Dreaming, 2017
The last gray/roan to win the Derby – Giacomo, 2005
The last black to win the Derby – Flying Ebony 1925
In 1962, The Jockey Club merged the dark bay and brown color classifications to dark bay/brown.
In 1993, gray and roan were merged to gray/roan.
There’s an old saying in racing about betting gray horses on rainy days. The long-range weather forecast for Churchill Downs, home of the Derby on May 3, indicates rain on May 1 and 2, but sunny skies for Derby Day.
Since 1930, 112 gray horses have started, producing the aforementioned eight winners for an 8.5% strike rate. Both 1968 and 1981 had the most gray starters – five in each year. Last year, West Saratoga (12th) was the only gray to run in the Derby.
On Derby Day, three grays are currently in the field: Chunk of Gold, Final Gambit, and Sandman.
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.
