Kentucky Derby prize money currently sits at a guaranteed $5 million purse, and the winning connections take home about $3.1 million of it. That number has held steady for three straight runnings, according to CBS Sports’ 2026 payout breakdown, after Churchill Downs raised the purse from $3 million to $5 million for the 150th Derby in 2024.
- How Kentucky Derby prize money is split by finishing position
- Who actually gets paid: owners, trainers and jockeys
- The Kentucky Derby prize money a jockey keeps is smaller than it looks
- What it costs to get a horse into the race
- How the purse grew from $2,850 to $5 million
- Surprising context about Kentucky Derby prize money
- Frequently Asked Questions
The rest is split down a short ladder. Second place earns $1 million, third gets $500,000, fourth takes $250,000 and fifth collects $150,000, per CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated’s 2026 payout reporting. Finish sixth in the most famous race in America and your share of the official purse is zero.
Here’s the part most people miss: the horse’s owners don’t keep all $3.1 million. The trainer and jockey each take a customary cut, the state takes its share at tax time, and the owners paid real money just to get to the starting gate. Below is how the whole system actually works.
How Kentucky Derby prize money is split by finishing position
The Derby purse pays down to fifth. That’s a narrower payout than many big races, and it’s why the gap between fourth and fifth place feels so brutal — $100,000 separates them, and $150,000 separates fifth from nothing at all.
These are the current figures reported by CBS Sports for the 2026 running, the 152nd Kentucky Derby:
| Finish | Share of the $5M purse |
| 1st | $3,100,000 |
| 2nd | $1,000,000 |
| 3rd | $500,000 |
| 4th | $250,000 |
| 5th | $150,000 |
| 6th and back | $0 |
Add those up and you get exactly $5 million. The winner’s share is roughly 62% of the total — a steeper winner-take-most curve than you’d see in most professional sports.
Who actually gets paid: owners, trainers and jockeys
The customary split in American thoroughbred racing gives the trainer 10% of the horse’s earnings and the jockey 10% of a winning purse. Applied to the 2026 Derby, that math is clean and public.
CBS Sports reported that winning owners Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable were in line for about $2.48 million from Golden Tempo’s victory, with trainer Cherie DeVaux taking roughly $310,000 and jockey Jose Ortiz taking the other $310,000, all before taxes.
Owners then split their share among themselves according to whatever partnership agreement they signed. Big Derby horses are frequently owned by two or more stables, so that $2.48 million can be divided several ways before anyone banks a dollar.
The Kentucky Derby prize money a jockey keeps is smaller than it looks
A jockey’s 10% is a gross figure, not a paycheck. Riders traditionally pay their agent a cut and their valet a cut out of every purse they earn.
FanDuel Research put standard rates at 25% to the agent and 5% to the valet, which would leave the 2026 winning jockey with roughly $217,000 of that $310,000 before taxes. Still an enormous day — just not the headline number.
Riders who finish outside the money get almost nothing from the race itself. FanDuel Research notes that jockeys finishing beyond the paid positions receive only a minimum mount fee, reported at $500. Twenty riders leave the gate; most of them ride the biggest race of their year for that fee.
What it costs to get a horse into the race
Kentucky Derby prize money is only half the ledger. Owners pay to compete, and the fees are steep. Per the official 2026 Triple Crown nomination form, the base Triple Crown nomination fee starts at $600 for early nominations.
Then come the race-day fees. Entering the Derby costs $25,000, and starting costs another $25,000 — $50,000 out of pocket for a horse that may finish 14th and earn nothing back.
Miss the nomination deadlines entirely and it gets much more expensive. The official form lists a supplemental nomination at $200,000 to make a horse eligible for all three Triple Crown races. None of that counts the cost of buying, boarding, training and shipping a Derby-caliber three-year-old, which routinely runs into six figures a year.
How the purse grew from $2,850 to $5 million
The scale of modern Kentucky Derby prize money is recent. When Aristides won the first Derby on May 17, 1875, the winner’s share was $2,850, and runner-up Volcano collected $200.
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The purse reached a guaranteed $1 million in 1996 and stayed there through 2004. It doubled to $2 million for 2005 through 2018, rose to $3 million from 2019 through 2023, then jumped to $5 million for the 150th running in 2024 — the largest single increase in the race’s history.
Churchill Downs Incorporated credited that $2 million bump to its 2018 investment in historical horse racing machines in Kentucky, which funnel revenue into track purses. In other words, slot-style gaming terminals are a big reason the Derby purse looks the way it does today.
Surprising context about Kentucky Derby prize money
The Derby is the most watched American horse race, but it is not the richest. The Breeders’ Cup Classic carries a $7 million purse, and the Breeders’ Cup as a two-day event offers more than $26 million across its races.
It isn’t even close within its own series in reverse, though — the Derby pays far more than its Triple Crown siblings. Both the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes carried $2 million purses in 2026, with each winner earning $1.2 million, less than half the Derby’s top share.
One more wrinkle worth knowing: the purse and the betting payout are completely separate pools. In 2026, Golden Tempo won at 23-1 and returned $48.24 on a $2 win bet, per Yahoo Sports. That money came from bettors wagering against each other, not from the $5 million purse.
And the 2026 running made history beyond the money. Cherie DeVaux became the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby in the race’s 152-year run, which means her $310,000 trainer’s share was a first of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the Kentucky Derby winner get?
The winning connections receive about $3.1 million from the guaranteed $5 million purse, per CBS Sports. The owners keep roughly $2.48 million after the customary 10% shares to the trainer and jockey.
Does everyone in the Kentucky Derby get paid?
No. Kentucky Derby prize money pays only the top five finishers — $3.1 million, $1 million, $500,000, $250,000 and $150,000. Horses finishing sixth or worse earn nothing from the purse, and their riders receive only a minimum mount fee.
Is Kentucky Derby prize money taxable?
Racing purses are income, and the figures reported for owners, trainers and jockeys are pre-tax amounts. How any specific payout is reported and taxed depends on the individual’s situation — the IRS at irs.gov is the authoritative source.
Why did the Kentucky Derby purse jump to $5 million?
Churchill Downs raised it from $3 million to $5 million for the 150th running in 2024 and attributed the increase to its 2018 investment in historical horse racing, which boosts purse funding. It has stayed at $5 million since.
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