Kentucky Derby

American

noun

Trademark.

a horse race for three-year-olds, run annually since 1875, on the first Saturday in May, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.: the first race in the Triple Crown.

Kentucky Derby British

noun

a race for three-year-old horses run annually since 1875 at Louisville, Kentucky

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Kentucky Derby Cultural

The most famous American horse race, held each spring at Churchill Downs racetrack in Kentucky.

Example Sentences

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Kentucky Derby

Consider the decision from the 6th Circuit, which incorporated Consumers’ Research into its reasoning, and which presides over Kentucky, home of the Kentucky Derby.

From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2026

The Kentucky Derby has come to Louisville on the first Saturday of May for nearly a century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026

Golden Tempo, the horse that made Cherie DeVaux the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, is not expected to win Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026

Sunk cost and an invitation to watch the Kentucky Derby at a friend’s apartment kept me going.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

The work paid off: Fitzsimmons had cultivated the talents of myriad champions, including Gallant Fox and Omaha, two of the first three horses to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes—the Triple Crown.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023