Path to Louisville: The 2014 Kentucky Derby
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Only a few weeks after the last major Grade 1 race restricted to 3-year-olds was run at Saratoga Race Course, the 2014 Kentucky Derby contenders stepped into the spotlight when the first 2014 Kentucky Derby prep race was run on Sept. 7, 2013 at Churchill Downs.
Thirty-four races are included in this season’s prep schedule with the first points race starting at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. and ending at Keeneland in the Lexington Stakes on April 19 in Kentucky. The top 20 horses in the standings will run two weeks later in the Kentucky Derby on May 3.
The Kentucky Derby trail is made up of two parts to the series, the “Prep Season” which awards 10 points to the winner of each race, four to the second-place finisher, two to the third-place finisher and one point to the four place finisher.
There are two legs of the “Championship Series” with the first races giving out 50 points to the race winner, 20 to the second-place finisher, 10 to the third-place finisher and five to the fourth-place finisher. The final seven races of the Championship Series award 100 points to the first-place finisher, 40 to second, 20 to third and 10 to the fourth-place finisher.
The Lexington Stakes serves as a wild card race, with its points system of 10-4-2-1 being the same as the earlier “Prep Season” races. If there is a tie in the points, the tie is broken by the 3-year-old who has the most earnings in unrestricted stakes races.
The 2013 Kentucky Derby was the first edition of the race to run with the new qualification system. Before 2013, for the past 27 years entrants qualified for the Kentucky Derby by using graded stakes earnings. In 2013, the series had 36 races, including two wild card races, but this year, there are 34 races with only one wildcard race.