How Long Is The Kentucky Derby? Time, Length, Records For 2022 Horse Race

The Kentucky Derby isn’t only one of the biggest sporting events of the year; it’s also one of the shortest. The first leg of the Triple Crown doesn’t last much longer than a couple of minutes.

The 2022 Kentucky Derby has a post time of 6:57 p.m. ET Saturday at Churchill Downs. Even with a chance of rain and slow track conditions, the race should be over some time around 7 p.m. ET.

How long is the Kentucky Derby? It usually takes the winner a little more than two minutes to complete the 1.25 mile race -- an average winning pace of 37.5 mph.

Mandaloun needed 121 seconds to win the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Two years ago, Authentic won the Run for the Roses at a shade over two minutes. From 2017-2019, the Kentucky Derby winners finished the race in between 123 and 125 seconds.

The last two Triple Crown winners, Justify and American Pharoah, both ran the Kentucky Derby in over 2:03.

Only two horses have ever won the Kentucky Derby with a race-time of less than two minutes. Secretariat still holds the record by winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4. Nearly three decades later, Monarchos’ race-time of 1:59.97 was good enough to win the 2001 Kentucky Derby.

The slowest horse to ever win the 1.25 mile race ran the Kentucky Derby came 114 years ago. Stone Street had a 2:15.2 race-time for a first-place finish at Churchill Downs in 1908.

It’s been 74 years since a horse needed at least 125 seconds to win the Kentucky Derby. Many of those happened in years with a sloppy, rain-soaked track that bogs down the speed in the field.

Zandon is given the best chance to put together the fastest time Saturday. The horse opened as the 2022 Derby favorite with 3-1 odds. Epicenter is a close second with 7-2 odds.