Twenty Horse Racing Questions for National Trivia Day

Pop Culture
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is home to much horse racing and history.
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is home to much horse racing and history. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Jan. 4 is National Trivia Day, and we’re celebrating with some questions and answers about horse racing. The questions are first, and the answers are after the break. How many can you get right?

1. Justify is the most recent of the 13 horses to win the Triple Crown; who was the first?

Justify en route to winning the Belmont Stakes.
Justify en route to winning the Belmont Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

2. Which real-life jockey played George “The Iceman” Woolf in the movie “Seabiscuit”?

3. Mine That Bird became famous for being the biggest longshot to win the Kentucky Derby. What were his odds?

4. Which horses comprise the only father-son pair to win the Triple Crown?

5. What’s the name of a race for horses who have never won before?

6. What was the very first race in the United States to offer a purse of $1 million?

7. How many Breeders’ Cup races are there over the two-day festival?

8. What was the name of the only horse to ever beat Man o’ War?

9. What’s the oldest racetrack still running in the U.S.?

10. What jockey holds the record for the most Breeders’ Cup wins?

11. How old are the horses who run in the Kentucky Derby?

12. What races make up the American Triple Crown, and what states are they in?

13. Horse races are often measured in furlongs. How long is a furlong?

14. What is the maximum number of horses allowed to run in the Kentucky Derby?

Horses turn for home in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
Horses turn for home in the 2017 Kentucky Derby. (Eclipse Sportswire)

15. What race has the largest purse (AKA prize money) in the U.S.?

16. What’s the term for a bet in which the first two places in a race must be predicted in the correct order?

17. What is the longest continuously run sporting event in the United States?

18. Where is the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame located?

19. Who trained the only two Triple Crown winners of the 21st century?

20. When is the Kentucky Derby held every year? 

Think you have the right answers? Check your work below the GIF!


1. Sir Barton in 1919

2. Gary Stevens

3. 50-to-1

4. Gallant Fox won the Triple Crown in 1930, and his son Omaha repeated the feat in 1935.

5. A maiden race

6. The first Arlington Million, which was won by John Henry in 1981

7. There are 14 Breeders’ Cup races over two days.

8. Upset, who beat Man o’ War in the 1919 edition of the Sanford Memorial at Saratoga Race Course

9. Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, which opened in 1863.

Mike Smith
Mike Smith (Eclipse Sportswire)

10. Mike Smith, who has won 26 Breeders’ Cup races

11. All horses who compete in the Kentucky Derby must be 3 years old.

12. The Kentucky Derby (Kentucky), the Preakness Stakes (Maryland), and the Belmont Stakes (New York).

13. A furlong is one-eighth of a mile.

14. Twenty horses are allowed to run in the Kentucky Derby, and they earn their spots in the race by competing successfully in designated prep races around the world.

15. The Pegasus World Cup, which has a $9 million purse.

16. An exacta

17. The Kentucky Derby, which has been run continuously since 1875.

18. Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

19. Bob Baffert

20. The first Saturday in May.

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