The 2025 Kentucky Derby featured a field of 20 horses; here is the full list of official starters with their commonly reported names:

  • Citizen Bull
  • Neoequos
  • Final Gambit
  • Baeza (also noted as a late addition after a scratch)
  • American Promise
  • Admire Daytona
  • Luxor CafĂ© (often listed as “Luxor Cafe”)
  • Journalism (one of the main favorites)
  • Burnham Square
  • Grande (scratched shortly before the race in some reports)
  • Flying Mohawk
  • East Avenue
  • Publisher
  • Tiztastic
  • Render Judgment
  • Coal Battle
  • Sandman
  • Sovereignty
  • Chunk of Gold
  • Owen Almighty

Below is a quick structured view of the same field, using the most widely shared post-position layout before late scratches (some sites adjust order slightly after changes):

[3] [3] [3] [10][3] [5][3] [5][3] [5][3] [5][3] [7][3] [10][5] [7][3] [7][3] [7][3] [3][7] [7][3] [3][7] [7][3] [3][7] [7][3] [3][7]
Post Horse
1Citizen Bull
2Neoequos
3Final Gambit
4Baeza*
5American Promise
6Admire Daytona
7Luxor Cafe
8Journalism
9Burnham Square
10Grande (later scratched in some reports)
11Flying Mohawk
12East Avenue
13Publisher
14Tiztastic
15Render Judgment
16Coal Battle
17Sandman
18Sovereignty
19Chunk of Gold
20Owen Almighty

Quick Scoop

  • Favorites discussed most often going into the race included Journalism , Sovereignty , Sandman , and Citizen Bull as major win contenders.
  • Several long shots—like Admire Daytona, Luxor CafĂ©, Final Gambit, and Chunk of Gold—were viewed as “bombs” that could spice up exotic bets.
  • Grande and Rodriguez showed up in earlier sheets and previews, but scratches and changes led to Baeza entering and Grande being listed as scratched in some late updates.

If you want, I can next break down which horses were considered speed, closers, or mid-pack stalkers going into the 2025 Derby.