Lexington Stakes

Road to the Kentucky Derby > Lexington Stakes

Lexington Stakes Race Facts

• Location: Keeneland Racecourse, Kentucky
• Inaugural Race: 1936
• Current Distance: 1 1/16 miles (8.5 furlongs)
• Track Type: Left-Handed, Dirt
• Age Qualifications: Three-year-olds
• Status: Grade 3
• 2024 Purse: $400,000
• 2024 Race Date: Saturday, April 13th

2024 Lexington Stakes Results

Exotic Payoffs:

• $1.00 Exacta (8-2) Paid: $10.59
• $0.50 Trifecta (8-2-3) Paid: $83.77
• $0.10 Superfecta (8-2-3-1) Paid: $101.66

Watch the 2024 Lexington Stakes

History of the Lexington Stakes

First held as a race for 2-year-olds in 1936, this didn’t become a significant 3-year-old race until 1973, when it was known as the Calumet Purse. It was renamed the Lexington Stakes in 1984.

The Lexington Stakes gives horses a last chance to get into the Kentucky Derby. Points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby table was previously allocated to the first four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis, but that has been upgraded to 20-8-4-2 in 2018. Currently, the first five runners can now earn 20-10-6-4-2 points respectively. It’s highly unlikely to be enough to earn the winner a Derby spot in itself, but the points can be enough to secure a start for a horse already on the fringe of qualifying.

Just two horses that ran in the Lexington Stakes have gone on to win the Derby; Swale, who finished second in the Lexington Stakes in 1984, and Charismatic, who won both races in 1999. Other winners of the race include the Classic winners Master Derby, Risen Star, and Touch Gold.

These days the race is used more often as a prep for the Preakness Stakes or Belmont Stakes than the Kentucky Derby; no Lexington Stakes runner has contested the Derby since 2011. Many of the horses won’t have contested earlier Derby prep races; punters may need to look at a wide variety of previous races when making their selections for this race.

Lexington Stakes Historical Results