The Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard appears odd this week for a reason – the San Felipe Stakes (G2).
With just five starters in the field for the Derby prep on March 1, a new rule kicked in stating: “In the event a championship-series race is run with a five-horse field, only 75 percent of the points will be proportionally awarded. In the event a championship-series race is run with a four-horse field or less, only 50 percent of the points will be proportionally awarded.”
Which is why San Felipe winner Journalism earned 37.5 points rather than 50, giving him a total of 47.5 points to rank fifth on the leaderboard. The Michael McCarthy-trained colt earned 10 points with his win in the Los Alamitos Futurity in December.
The San Felipe, one of seven preps on the 50-25-15-10-5 points level, ended up being worth 75% of the total points after Berlin Wall was scratched to drop the field to five.
Runner-up Barnes picked up 18.75 points (No. 21 on the leaderboard), third place was worth 11.25 for Rodriguez (21.25 overall for No. 15 on the leaderboard), fourth was worth 7.5 points for Mellencamp (8.5 overall for No. 40), and Smooth Cruisein received 3.75 points (No. 57).
Winner of the Rebel Stakes (G2) as well as two other point-qualifying preps, Coal Battle is No. 1 on the Derby leaderboard with 70 points. His next start will likely come in the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park on March 29, a race with qualifying points of 100-50-25-15-10 to the top five finishers.
Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) winner Citizen Bull is second with 60 points, followed by Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner Sovereignty with 50 points, Gotham Stakes (G3) winner Flood Zone with 50 and Journalism with 47.5.
The Derby has been limited to 20 starters since 1975. Here’s how to get into the gate at Churchill Downs:
The top 18 point-earners on the Road to the 2025 Kentucky Derby leaderboard make the field. Invitations are also issued to the leading point-earner in the Euro/Mideast road to the Derby and the Japan road to the Derby.
Fewer points were awarded in the Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3), a Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep won by Maysam for trainer Bob Baffert.
Four fillies started, cutting the points awarded by 50% to 25 for Maysam, 12.5 for Supa Speed, and 7.5 for Howin.
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.
