Money will be all throughout Churchill Downs on Saturday for the 2024 Kentucky Derby.
Many of the roughly 150,000 in attendance at the famed racetrack will flood to betting windows to place wagers. Customers throughout the track will be sipping on $22 mint juleps while wearing pricey dresses, suits and, of course, hats. From the infield, where tickets this year cost $130, to the most opulent, luxurious perches looking over the track, merely getting inside the gates of Churchill Downs is a sizable expense.
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For the horses — or, more accurately, those who own, train and ride the horses — there’s a significant payday at stake, with the winner of the Derby set to earn a $3.1 million purse.
While there are millions to be made, it costs quite a bit for a horse to get there.
Horse racing is an incredibly expense endeavor, with owners cutting enormous checks in order to just acquire a horse, all with the hope that one day, perhaps, it might find its way to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
Here’s a look at how much each 2024 Kentucky Derby horse cost and which one is the most expensive of the group:
What is the most expensive horse at the 2024 Kentucky Derby?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the costliest horse in the 2024 Kentucky Derby is one of the race’s favorites.
At 6-1 odds as of Saturday afternoon, Sierra Leone was purchased for $2.3 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. With that price tag, Sierra Leone is the fifth-most-expensive horse in Derby history.
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How much did the horses in the 2024 Kentucky Derby cost?
With Sierra Leone topping the list at more than three times the cost of the next-closest competitor, here’s a look at the price tag for each of the horses in the 2024 Kentucky Derby field:
- Sierra Leone: $2.3 million
- Forever Young: $720,603
- Catching Freedom: $575,000
- Just Steel: $500,000
- Track Phantom: $500,000
- Dornoch: $325,000
- Just a Touch: $300,000
- Epic Ride: $160,000
- Grand Mo the First: $135,000
- Catalytic: $125,000
- Society Man: $85,000
- Honor Marie: $40,000
- West Saratoga: $11,000
- Mystik Dan: Homebred
- Endlessly: Homebred
- Domestic Product: Homebred
- Fierceness: Homebred
- Stronghold: Homebred
- T O Password: Not listed
- Resilience: Not listed