Lexington Stakes

​The Lexington Stakes, established in 1936, is a Grade 3 race held annually at Keeneland Racecourse in Kentucky. Covering 1 1/16 miles on dirt, it offers qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, with the 2024 edition featuring a $400,000 purse. Notable past winners include Swale and Charismatic, who both went on to win the Kentucky Derby.

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Bet the Lexington Stakes

Bet the Lexington Stakes

Location: Keeneland Race Course - Lexington, KY

Inaugural Race: 1936

TV Coverage: Stream live on TwinSpires.com!

Current Distance: 1 & 1/16th M (8.5 furlongs)

Track Type: Left-Handed, Dirt

Age Qualification: 3YOs

Purse: $400,000

Race Date: Saturday, April 12th

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2025 Lexington Grass Stakes Morning Line Odds

Official race entries and morning line odds will be listed below once they are released.

2024 Lexington Stakes Results

POST
HORSE
JOCKEY / TRAINER
WIN / PLACE / SHOW
8
Encino
Florent Geroux / Brad H. Cox
$8.62 / $3.94 / $3.42
2
The Wine Steward
Luis Saez / Michael J. Maker
$3.32 / $2.88
3
Dilger (IRE)
Tyler Gaffalione / Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
$9.42
1
Secret Chat
Joel Rosario / Roderick R. Rodriguez
4
Footprint
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. / Kenneth G. McPeek
9
Liberal Arts
Irad Ortiz, Jr. / Robert Medina
5
Hades
Jose L. Ortiz / Joseph F. Orseno
10
Lucky Jeremy
Gerardo Corrales / William E. Morey
6
How's Ur Attitude
Adam Beschizza / John Ennis

Exotic Payouts:

  • $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 & All-Time Winners

Year
Winner
Jockey / Trainer
Distance / TIme
2024
Encino
Florent Geroux / Brad H. Cox
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:43.93
2023
First Mission
Luis Saez / Brad H. Cox
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:43.74
2022
Tawny Port
Florent Geroux / Brad H. Cox
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:45.24
2021
King Fury
Brian Hernandez Jr. / Kenneth G. McPeek
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:43.50
2020
Race not held
2019
Owendale
Florent Geroux / Brad H. Cox
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:44.14
2018
My Boy Jack
Kent J. Desormeaux / J. Keith Desormeaux
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:44.22
2017
Senior Investment
Channing Hill / Kenneth G. McPeek
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:45.05
2016
Collected
Javier Castellano / Bob Baffert
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:43.33
2015
Divining Rod
Julien R. Leparoux / Arnaud Delacour
​1 1⁄16 miles / 1:43.29

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