Kentucky Derby payout: Who won the Kentucky Derby 2021?

Who won the Kentucky Derby, and what was the Kentucky Derby payout this year? 

As Mike Tirico said on the NBC broadcast, the first Saturday in May finally means something again. For the first time since 2019, we got to see the Kentucky Derby run as scheduled.

Because of the global pandemic, last year’s Kentucky Derby was done virtually and for charity, and the actual running of the Kentucky Derby didn’t happen until September.

Yeah, it was a little weird.

But that all changed this year thanks to mass vaccinations returning the world to a little bit of normalcy. Seeing the derby hats and watching the mint juleps flow was truly a sight for sore eyes after a truly awful year. Horse racing by no means is at the top of anyone’s list of things we wanted to get back to after the pandemic ended, but the Derby feels like the unofficial start of summer and the world is ready to get back to the way things used to be — or as close as we can come to that since totally going back is impossible.

Bettors weren’t the only folks with money on the line at the Kentucky Derby. The horses were racing not just for a chance to start a potential Triple Crown journey but the team’s racing the horses had a monetary gain at stake as well.

Kentucky Derby 2021 payouts

In what was one of the closest races we’ve seen at the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first and won as a 15-1 underdog.

Here are the payouts for the Kentucky Derby bets you may or may not have placed:

Medina Spirit (Based on a $2 bet)

Win: $26.20
Place: $12
Show: $7.60

Mandalouin (Based on a $2 bet)

Win: N/A
Place: $23
Show: $13.40

Hot Rod Charlie (Based on a $2 bet)

Win: N/A
Place: N/A
Show: $5.20

And here’s what the payouts on the finishing combos were:

Exacta (Based on a $2 bet)

8-7, $503.60

Trifecta (Based on a $1 bet)

8-7-9, $1,696.90

Superfecta (Based on a $1 bet)

8-7-9-14, $9,456.40

Here are the payouts for this year’s Kentucky Derby winners who raced:

Winner: $1,860,000
2nd: $600,000
3rd: $300,000
4th: $150,000
5th: $90,000

It’s a pretty decent payout, even to finish in fifth place but that’s until you find out the context. The cost to race in the Kentucky Derby is $50,000 and no finisher outside of the Top 5 gets a payout. So unless a horse manages to be a top-five finisher in the race it’s essentially a sunk cost.