Kentucky Derby 2024 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yes

A handsome bay colt, Fireceness was bred and owned by American entrepreneur Mike Repole, who co-founded Energy Brands, the original makers of Vitaminwater. Hall-of-Famer Todd Pletcher trained Fierceness. Repole and Pletcher endured disappointment the previous year when their horse Forte, the favorite in the 149th Kentucky Derby, was scratched for a bruised hoof. Hoping for redemption this year, they garnered for Fierceness veteran jockey Johnny Velazquez, who had ridden in 25 Kentucky Derbies and won four of them, including Authentic in 2020.

Fierceness drew post position #17. In the history of the Kentucky Derby, no horse had ever won from the 17th post, yet bettors did not let superstition deter them. A scratch shifted Fierceness to post #16, though he retained program #17 on his saddle, and Stronghold moved to his place. (Program numbers are independent of post positions, although in North America they often coincide).

Although Fierceness remained the favorite, he had a mixed record. He won the Breeders Cup Juvenile and won the Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old colt of 2023, yet in his 2024 season he a few puzzling off-races along the way on to becoming the top-earner of qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, including a victory in the Florida Derby. Fierceness was known to not stay in his lane but drift leftward and sometimes to break badly out of the gate, and NBC commentators speculated that with such a large field of horses, he would need to "behave" in order to win.

Answer: Sierra Leone

The deep brown Sierra Leone sold for $2.3 million at an auction in Saratoga Springs, NY and was the fifth-most-expensive horse ever to race in the Kentucky Derby. His trainer was upstate New York native Chad Brown, who was seeking his first Derby win. Compare that to West Saratoga, ridden by Jesús Castañón and trained by Larry Demeritt, which sold for a bargain-basement $11,000. You could get 209 West Saratogas for the price of one Sierra Leone.

Having said that, only one horse out of 23 purchased for over $1 million as a yearling had won the Kentucky Derby up to 2024, the 150th running, namely Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 winner with a $4 million price tag. (The average place for these high-priced horses was 10th or 11th). And West Saratoga had already won about half a million dollars before he entered the starting gate of Kentucky Derby 2024.

Sierra Leone lost to Dornoch in the Grade II Remsen Stakes; they opposed each other again in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. He got his revenge by defeating Dornoch and several future Kentucky Derby opponents -- Resilience, Honor Marie, Catching Freedom, and Track Phantom -- in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Sierra Leone was a "closer" who liked to come from behind, and it was predicted he do the same at the Derby. One of the owners of Sierra Leone started Purses with a Purpose, an organization that raises money (donated by owners from their winning purses) for the Backside Learning Center which provides educational and human services for the backstretch workers on whom the racing industry depends.

Answer: Forever Young

Forever Young had to make a long journey to get to the Kentucky Derby. He left Japan for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then on to Dubai to win the UAE Derby, one of the few foreign races that are part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby. From there he was shipped to Belgium and then to Chicago, where he had to remain in quarantine. The final leg of his journey was overland to Louisville. He traveled poorly and consequently trainer Yoshito Yahagi exercised him much more lightly than is conventional for horses at Churchill Downs preparing for the Run for the Roses. Nevertheless, because he was undefeated in 5 career starts, his final odds were 7-1. The other Japanese horse, T O Password, fared much better on his journey, but he inspired less confidence among bettors (47-1) because he had only raced twice (though he won both times).

Beginning in the late 2010s, Japan started to see a boom a horse racing. Back in 1990, owner Arthur Hancock could not find a North American buyer for Sunday Silence, the winner of the 1989 Kentucky Derby, so he sold the stallion to Japanese breeder Zenya Yoshida. The racing interests in Japan used Silence Sunday's stud line to build an internationally competitive horse racing industry. No Japanese horse, however, had won the Kentucky Derby by the 150th running.

Answer: Track Phantom

Steven Asmussen had racked up an impressive number of wins during his career, including the Preakness Stakes (2007, 2009) and the Belmont Stakes (2016), but never the Kentucky Derby. Of all the trainers with horses in the 2024 Kentucky Derby, Asmussen had entered the most (25 horses) in his career without seeing a single win in the Run for the Roses, despite having won more horse races overall than any other trainer in North America.

Track Phantom broke his maiden (won his first race) in November 2023 in his third contest at Churchill Downs. Before finishing fourth in the Louisiana Derby, Track Phantom never had finished out of the money (i.e. always 1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in his first six starts.

Keith Asmussen, age 38, rode Just Steel, the son of Triple Crown winner Justify. The younger Asmussen, like his father, was also looking for his first Kentucky Derby victory -- though in his first-ever Derby.

Answer: Frankie Dettori

Born in Milan, Italy, the charismatic Frankie Dettori MBE had won races in at least 24 different countries before coming to Churchill Downs. He won the Epsom Derby, the inspiration for the Kentucky Derby, on Authorized in 2007 and Golden Horn in 2015. In all he won 16 different Grade I stakes races, more than any other jockey in he world. Although he had announced that he would retire from racing in 2023, he started racing in North America instead. At age 53, he hoped to become the second-oldest jockey to win the Derby, after 54-year-old Bill Shoemaker rode Ferdinand to victory in 1986.

Dettori sought to be only the second jockey in history to win both the Espom Derby and the Kentucky Derby. The first to do this was Stephen Cauthen, who won the Kentucky Derby (and the Triple Crown) in 1978 and the Epsom Derby in 1985 and 1987. Dettori's mount in the 2024 Kentucky Derby was underdog Society Man, trained by Louisville native Danny Gargan. Society Man won one first place, one second place and one third place in five career starts. Dettori's only other Kentucky Derby mount was in 2000 on China Visit, who finished sixth. NBC commentator Randy Moss called Dettori the "greatest jockey in the world".

To compare, the youngest jockey in 2024 Kentucky Derby was Kazushi Kimura on TO Password.

Answer: D. Wayne Lukas

Hall-of-Famer D. Wayne Lukas, age 88, hoped to become the oldest trainer to produce a Kentucky Derby winner in 2024 with the bay colt Just Steel. The oldest up to that point was Art Sherman, trainer of 2014 winner California Chrome when he was 77 years old. Though Bob Baffert had the most lifetime winners (6), Lukas was tied with trainer Herbert Thompson for second most (4).

Just Steel was also Lukas's fiftieth entrant in the Kentucky Derby, and his first starter in six years. Lukas was also hoping for a fifth Derby win. His four winners up to that point were Winning Colors (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995), Grindstone (1996), and Charismatic (1999). Interestingly, Lukas was the most experienced trainer in the 150th Derby -- training since the 1960s, the decade Todd Pletcher and Keith Asmussen were born -- and he trained the most experienced horse in the 150th Derby -- 11 career starts, more than any other entrant.

Answer: Brian Hernandez

The Kentucky Oaks is the fillies-only sister race to the Kentucky Derby, and both races held their 150th running in 2024. Jockey Brian Hernandez rode Thorpedo Anna (4-1) in a wire-to-wire rout by 4¾ lengths in the 150th Kentucky Oaks. He hoped to achieve Oaks/Derby Double by likewise winning with Mystik Dan in the 150th Derby. The last jockey to do so was the veteran Calvin Borel in 2009, who rode Rachel Alexandra in the Oaks and Mine that Bird in the Derby.

Trainers have also tried for the Oaks/Derby Double. The first do so was Herbert J. Thompson in 1933 and the second was Ben Jones in 1952. Mystic Dan's trainer Ken McPeek sought to become the third in 2024.

Answer: fast

It had rained the day before when the Kentucky Oaks, the fillies-only sister race to the Kentucky Derby, was held on a sloppy track. Rain was also predicted on Derby Day, but as NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer pointed out, sometimes there is a "bubble" around Churchill Downs that keeps out the bad weather. By Saturday afternoon, the temperature had reached 80°F and the track had dried out sufficiently to be declared "fast", which is the optimal condition for a dirt track.

The skies had darkened by post time, but the rain remained north of the south Louisville neighborhood where the Kentucky Derby is held.

Answer: Grand Mo the First

Ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, Grand Mo the First was able to join the field of 20 horses when the owners of Deterministic decided they would not run him after he did not perform as expected at the Wood Memorial. Grand Mo the First was generally considered overmatched in the 2024 Kentucky Derby based on accomplishments and speed numbers and received final odds of 48-1.

Endlessly received long odds (47-1) because he had never raced on dirt before the 150th Derby, only on turf and synthetic surfaces. Domestic Product (28-1) was not a favorite because he was racing after an 8-week layover following the Tampa Bay Derby, and no horse with a layover longer than 7 weeks had won the Derby since 1922. Honor Marie, ridden by Derby newcomer Ben Curtis, ended up with 14-1 odds.

Unlike many prior races, there were no extremely long odds in the 150th Kentucky Derby, possibly because it had only been two years since Rich Strike took the cup with 80-1 odds. Race fans were perhaps more willing to bet on longshots as they hoped to find the next Rich Strike.

Answer: Dornoch

At Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York, Dornoch defeated Kentucky Derby opponent Sierra Leone at the Remsen Stakes over 9 furlongs (1-1/8 miles) of muddy but sealed track by a nose. Including that race, Dornoch had won three straight races in a row before coming in fourth at the Blue Grass Stakes in April. Nonetheless, his Derby morning-line odds were much higher than second-favorite Sierra Leone's, at 20-1.

In 2023, Mage joined Justify (2018) and Apollo (1882) as the only Kentucky Derby winners who were unraced as two-year-olds. Dornoch, however, was raced four times as a two-year-old. Dornoch drew post position #1 in the Derby, which some consider an advantage since the horses race to take the inside track to save distance, while others consider it a disadvantage because the horse could be crowded out by the stampede.

As full brothers, Dornoch and Mage had the same sire, Good Magic, and dam, Puca, who in turn was the daughter of Big Brown, winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby. By 2024, 31 pairs of siblings had started in the Kentucky Derby, but only four had produced a winner. The first full siblings to run in the Derby consecutively with at least one winner were the great filly Regret and her brother Thunderer in 1915 and 1916.

Answer: Just Steel and Just a Touch

The names were hopefully a clue, as breeders love to name horses by portions of the dam's and sire's names, particularly when the sire is as famous the 13th Triple Crown champion Justify.

If either Just Steel or Just a Touch were to win the Kentucky Derby, then Justify would become only the 13th Kentucky Derby winner to sire another Derby winner. The last to do so was Unbridled (1990), who sired Grindstone (1996). Justify would also become the only the fourth Triple Crown winner to sire a Kentucky Derby winner, the last to do so being Seattle Slew (1977), who begat Swale (1984). The first was Gallant Fox (1930) who sired not just a Derby winner but also a Triple Crown champion in Omaha (1935).

Just Steel came in second in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn, but at the Kentucky Derby he got longer final odds (20-1) than his brother Just a Touch (10-1), who came in second in the Blue Grass Stakes. As Justify did in 2018, Just a Touch entered the Derby in 2024 unraced as a two-year-old. Jockey Florant Geroux and trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native, were seeking their second Derby win Just a Touch, a beautiful black colt like his sire.

Brad Cox's other horse in the 150th Derby was Catching Freedom, winner of the Louisiana Derby. Cox would have had a third if Encino hadn't scratched.

Answer: Epic Ride

Kentucky-bred Encino, trained by Louisville native Brad Cox, had raced just once on dirt, winning the Grade III Lexington in April. The 20-1 shot unfortunately injured himself during a training session, and he had to be scratched. All the positions below #8 were shifted one, and alternate Epic Ride took position post #20 (though his saddle number remained #21).

Ridden by Adam Beschizza and trained by John Ennis, Epic Ride entered with 50-1 odds on the morning line. Some hoped that Epic Ride would become another Rich Strike, the winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby who also entered as an alternate and paid off, to the astonishment of the racing industry, at 80-1. Only Donerail (1913) has won with longer odds (91-1) in the history of Derby.

Answer: Mystik Dan

In getting somewhat ahead of the pack, beneath the notice of the track announcer, Mystik Dan ran so close to the rail that jockey Hernandez damaged his boots. "I'll get another pair" he joked in the Winner's Circle. In the last few hundred yards of the 150th Kentucky Derby, Forever Young and Sierra Leone raced neck-and-neck on the far outside to catch Mystik Dan, who had started to tire near the end. Even though the two favorites exchanged a few bumps along the way, they caught up to the leader in a thrilling three-way photo finish! The stewards determined that Mystik Dan's nostril just barely crossed the finish line first, to defeat Sierra Leone officially by a nose. Likewise, million-dollar Sierra Leone beat Japanese-bred Forever Young by a nose. Catching Freedom was fourth by 1¾ lengths.

This was the tightest Derby finish since 1996, when Grindstone beat Cavonnier by a nose in 1996. Grindstone's jockey was Jerry Bailey, one of the sportscasters for NBC at the 150th Kentucky Derby. Mystik Dan became the 10th horse to win by this smallest of margins in the Derby's history. Twenty-four hours earlier, Hernandez rode Thorpedo Anna, trained by McPeek, to victory in the Kentucky Oaks, so together they achieved the elusive Oaks/Derby Double. The last time both trainer and jockey garnered a Double was in 1952, when Real Delight and Hill Gail respectively won the Oaks and Derby for trainer Ben Jones and jockey Eddie Arcaro.

In the Winner's Circle, McPeek would not commit to whether he would enter Mystik Dan in the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in the U.S. Triple Crown.

Because Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan wore the same bridle to win their races, McPeek at a later press conference remarked, "That's a pretty lucky bridle. I gotta get back there and make sure nobody swipes it."

Answer: slower

With a time of 2:03.34, Mystic Dan set no speed records, even though Churchill Downs had dried out from the rains of the previous day to produce a fast dirt track. He was, however, faster than Triple Crown champion Justify, who clocked at 2:04.20 in 2018. By the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby in 2024, the slowest time of the 21st century was set by Super Saver, ridden by Calvin Borel in 2010 over a sloppy track for a time of 2:04.45. It was not, however, the slowest in history. Since 1896, the Kentucky Derby has been run at 10 furlongs (1¼ miles or roughly 2 km), and the slowest time at that distance was 2:15-1/5, when Stone Street won the 1908 Derby in a ridiculously muddy track that bogged down his opponents.

When the Derby was a whopping the 12 furlongs (1½ miles), the length of the modern Belmont Stakes, Kingman set an indisputable slowness record of 2:52¼.

Answer: paddock

It was not only the 150th running of the Derby, but also the 150th year that Churchill Downs was in operation, originally opening as the Louisville Jockey Club in 1875, and the Downs spared little expense. The walking ring of the paddock was expanded from 1500 square feet to 12,000 square feet, increasing the capacity from 1100 people to 2400 people. Traditionally, the paddock was accessible only to owners, trainers, jockeys. and other connections to the horses. Churchill Downs added mutliple rows in which ticket-holders could stand and watch the horses get saddled.

The saddling stalls themselves were remodeled to have glass walls. Behind the glass walls is the SI Club (a partnership with 'Sports Illustrated' magazine), where the VIPs (for a price) can sit at café tables and watch the horses get saddled from an unusual angle. The glass is thick and is one-way, so the horses cannot see the people behind them. And if you are a V.V.I.P., you can now go down a path into a tunnel lined with barrels full of aging Kentucky bourbon into one of three speakeasies underneath Churchill Downs. These are kept under such tight security that NBC sportscasters could not gain admission to televise them on Derby Day, though a roving camera did let viewers glimpse the barrel tunnel. The iconic Twin Spires remained in view of the paddock, as one of the presidents of Churchill Downs had long ago promised the designer of the spires that they would never come down. Overall, the renovations cost over $200 million.

A newer tradition of the Kentucky Derby is that a celebrity makes the "Riders up!" call for jockeys to mount their steeds in the paddock. In 2024, for the 150th Kentucky Derby, domestic arts queen Martha Stewart flubbed her only line and said "Connecticut" for "Kentucky" (though she corrected herself). It was a curious and unexplained choice to select that particular celebrity to mark the 150th Kentucky Derby.