Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Stephen Douglas

Every Horse Competing in the 2026 Kentucky Derby: What to Know

Kentucky Derby weekend has arrived as the sports calendar makes its most famous annual stop for the first leg of horse racing's triple crown at Churchill Downs for the 152nd run for the roses and greatest two minutes in sports. Those are just about all the keywords associated with the Kentucky Derby, so let's get to it.

Last year Sovereignty beat favorite Journalism in sloppy conditions. Sovereignty was sired by Into Mischief who also sired Authentic, the '20 Kentucky Derby champion and the '21 champ Authentic in addition to being the grandsire of Mystik Dan who won in '24. Into Mischief has sired multiple horses in this year's race in Intrepido, Commandment, Potente and favorite Renegade.

MORE: How Much Are Tickets to the 2026 Kentucky Derby?

Last year's winning jockey, Junior Alvarado, is back riding Chief Wallabee, who is trained by Bill Mott, who trained Sovereignty.

Here are the rest of the horses and jockeys you'll see on Saturday:

Kentucky Derby Horses 2026

POST HORSE JOCKEY
1 Renegade Irad Ortiz Jr.
2 Albus Manny Franco
3 Intrepido Hector Berrios
4 Litmus Test Martin Garica
5 Right to Party Chris Elliott
6 Commandment Luis Saez
7 Danon Bourbon Atsuya Nishimura
8 So Happy Mike Smith
9 The Puma Javier Castellano
10 Wonder Dean Ryusei Sakai
11 Incredibolt Jaime Torres
12 Chief Wallabee Junior Alvarado
13 Silent Tactic (SCRATCHED) Christian Torres
14 Potente Juan Hernandez
15 Emerging Market Flavien Prat
16 Pavlovian Edwin Maldonado
17 Six Speed Brian Hernandez Jr.
18 Further Ado John Velasquez
19 Golden Tempo Jose Ortiz
20 Fulleffort (SCRATCHED) Tyler Gaffalione
21 Great White Alex Achard
22 Ocelli Jon Ramos

Kentucky Derby Favorites and Odds

With two horses already scratched the odds are moving with the race approaching.

As of Thursday morning there are just three horses beyond the favorite with odds in the single digits. Those horses include Commandment and Further Ado who are both 6-1 and Chief Wallabee at 8-1.

There are plenty of big numbers in the big field with Ocelli, Great White, Six Speed and Intrepido all sitting at 50-1 as the longest long shots in the field.

Who is the Favorite to Win the 2026 Kentucky Derby?

Renegade opened at 4-1 as the favorite, having won both his starts this year. While the 3-year old has the pedigree of Into Mischief and the training of Todd Pletcher, he drew the rail position. No horse has won from the rail since Ferdinand in 1986.

The Kentucky Derby will run at 6:57 p.m. ET on Saturday.


More from Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Every Horse Competing in the 2026 Kentucky Derby: What to Know.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.