Kentucky Derby top four finishers Kentucky Derby top four finishers This is a listing of first-place, second-place, third-place and fourth-place finishers, and the number of starters in the Kentucky Derby, a Grade I American Thoroughbred race run at miles on dirt for three-year-olds. It is the first leg of the American Triple Crown, run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. A † designates a Triple Crown Winner. Note: D. Wayne Lukas swept the 1995 Triple Crown with two different horses. In 1968, Dancer's Image finished first, but was disqualified after a post-race urine sample revealed traces of a banned drug in the horse. The drug
American Pharoah people around the horse. In the runup to the Belmont, Baffert chose to work the horse at Churchill Downs, and transport him late to Belmont Park without a timed workout at the New York track. While several prominent trainers questioned his decision, Baffert said it was more important to keep American Pharoah "happy" on a track he liked, having used a similar strategy with his 2001 Belmont Stakes winner, Point Given. Rival trainers Kiaran McLaughlin and D. Wayne Lukas backed Baffert's strategy; the former said, "I don't think it matters for American Pharoah. He could probably run down a street