Churchill Downs announces 36 North American qualifying races for Kentucky Derby
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As Saturday’s Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs is the first race offering qualifying points to the 2027 Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs Inc. on Thursday released the remainder of the points-scoring races in North America that will help determine the bulk of the field for the world’s most famous horse race to be run May 1.
The schedule of 36 races that offer points is very much the same as it was this year, with the exception being the absence of the Jerome Stakes, typically the first race for 3-year-olds run on the New York Racing Association circuit that offers qualifying points. A NYRA spokesman confirmed that the Jerome, usually run in early January, will not be held in 2027.
Churchill Downs has replaced the Jerome with the Leonatus Stakes at Turfway Park. The Leonatus leads to Turfway’s more traditional points-scoring races, including the John Battaglia Memorial and Jeff Ruby Steaks.
CDI breaks its series down into two groups – the Kentucky Derby Prep Season and the Kentucky Derby Championship Series. The Prep Season races are the fall races for 2-year-olds like the Iroquois, American Pharoah, Breeders’ Futurity, Champagne, Street Sense, Kentucky Jockey Club, Los Alamitos Futurity, Remsen, Springboard Mile, and Gun Runner, all of which offer points to the top five finishers on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile also is part of that schedule though it offers points on a 30-15-9-6-3 basis.
The Prep Season races continue into the early part of 2027 with races such as the Leonatus and Smarty Jones offering points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale. The Withers, Lecomte, Holy Bull, Southwest, Robert Lewis, Sunland Park Derby, Sam F. Davis, and Battaglia offer points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.
The Championship Series typically starts in February with races such as the Gotham, Virginia Derby, Risen Star, Fountain of Youth, Rebel, San Felipe, and Tampa Bay Derby offering points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale. The series continues into March and April with races like the Florida Derby, Louisiana Derby, Jeff Ruby Steaks, Blue Grass, Arkansas Derby, Santa Anita Derby, and Wood Memorial offering points on a 100-50-20-15 basis.
The Lexington Stakes, run three weeks before the Kentucky Derby, offers points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.
The top 17 points earners are confirmed a spot in the Derby field in the event the race draws more than 20 entrants, which it has in 25 of the last 28 years.
CDI also hosts two international series that reserve two spots for those who earn the most points in Europe/Middle East, and one spot for the horse who earns the most points in the Japan series. The schedule for the Euro/Mideast Road is being finalized and will be released in the coming weeks. The Japan series includes the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushuri Stakes, the Fukuryu, the Cattleya, and Hyacinth.
There is a similar schedule of points-scoring races for North American fillies seeking to qualify for the Kentucky Oaks, a field that is limited to 14 3-year-old fillies.
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