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Kentucky Derby Trivia Questions and Answers for 2015

by - 4/23/2015

As has become a tradition, I have assembled some really tough Kentucky Derby Trivia questions and answers for you. If you get five of the eight correct then you really are a champion in your own right:

1. Over the years there have been 10 different Kentucky Derby winners who were sired by Kentucky Derby winners. This year there are as many as three potential entrants that could continue this trend - International Star (Fusaichi Pegasus), Dortmund (Big Brown), and Ocho Ocho Ocho (Street Sense). Which horse was the most recent to match their dad and wear the roses?

a) I'll Have Another

b) Barbaro

c) Charismatic

d) Grindstone

2. Mr. Z, Stanford, and Danzig Moon are all potential Derby entrants that are sons of Malibu Moon. That horse was far from a superstar on the track, but he has emerged as a star in the breeding shed. He is a son of Belmont winner A.P. Indy, a grandson of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, and a great-grandson of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, so his breeding success comes as no surprise. His offspring could win their second Kentucky Derby this year. Which was his first?

a) I'll Have Another

b) Orb

c) Super Saver

d) Mine That Bird

3. The top three finishers from the Blue Grass Stakes - Carpe Diem, Danzig Moon and Ocho Ocho Ocho - are all headed to the Kentucky Derby. That's significant this year because that race was run on dirt this year after several years of being on a synthetic surface - and therefore being all but irrelevant to the Derby. When was the last time a horse won both the Blue Grass and the Derby?

a) 2001

b) 1991

c) 1981

d) 1971

4. Todd Pletcher will have at least two horses in the Derby this year and, as I write this, as many as five. He has famously struggled to win the Derby despite having had many attempts. His only winner was with Super Saver in 2010. How many of his horses have entered the starting gate for the Derby and not wound up winning the race?

a) 24

b) 29

c) 34

d) 39

5. American Pharoah is poised to be the Kentucky Derby favorite. From 1980 to 1999 no favorite won the race. Fusaichi Pegasus broke the slump in 2000, and California Chrome won as favorite last year. In between those two, how many other favorites won the Derby?

a) 1

b) 3

c) 5

d) 7

6. Mark Casse, who trains Danzig Moon, just won his seventh Sovereign Award as top trainer in Canada. One trainer in this field can match him with seven Eclipse Awards for outstanding trainer in the U.S. Who is it?

a) Bob Baffert

b) D. Wayne Lukas

c) Todd Pletcher

d) Kiaran McLaughlin

7. South African trainer Mike de Kock, who trains Dubai invader Mubtaahij, will be making just his seventh American start, though he has never finished out of the top three. He won with his first horse in North America, Horse Chestnut (who is the damsire of Derby entrant Ocho Ocho Ocho). Though he now is based in Dubai, how many times has de Kock been named South Africa's top trainer?

a) 2

b) 4

c) 6

d) 8

8. Carla Gaines, who trains Bolo, has a chance to become the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. Some have come close, though - Shelley Riley was second with Casual Lies in 1992, and Kathy Ritvo was third with Mucho Macho Man in 2011. Gaines won the Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2009 with Dancing in Silks, so she has big race experience. Gaines was not always a trainer. What was her first career?

a) Psychologist

b) Lawyer

c) Painter

d) Truck driver

Answers

1 - d. Grindstone, who won in 1996, was the son of 1990 winner Unbridled.

2 - b. Malibu Moon, who had just one win in two career starts as a two year old, is the least successful runner to sire a Derby winner since Alibhai, who sired 1954 winner Determined, but was unraced himself.

3 - b. Strike The Gold also finished second in the Belmont, taking after his father, Alydar, who was second in all three Triple Crown races behind Triple Crown winner Affirmed in 1978.

4 - d. Despite having amassed the most earnings of an trainer in history he just can't break through in this race despite it being the biggest single focus of his stable each year.

5 - b. Smarty Jones was favored in 2004, Street Sense in 2007, and Big Brown in 2008.

6 - c. Pletcher has won the last two. Lukas has four Eclipse awards, and Baffert has three. McLaughlin has not won one.

7 - d. He has also won every major race in South africa at least once.

8 - a. She worked with delinquents in Alabama.

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