The Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve is an event for the stars – both equine and human. Making it to the race is a dream of horse owners from all walks of life. This year, Kentucky Derby contender Dornoch is owned in part by former Major League Baseball World Series champion Jayson Werth. He’s just the latest in an impressive list of celebrities who’ve been in the Louisville, Ky., spotlight on the first Saturday in May.

You might be surprised to learn just how dynamic the list is of other famous horse owners who have made the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby.

Jayson Werth: What’s remarkable about the retired All-Star outfielder is that he only got into horse racing a few years ago when investing in several horses with his friends. He’s a minority owner under his stable name Two Eight Racing (he wore #28 as a player). Over the winter, it appeared that Werth’s horse Dornoch would not only be headed to the 2024 Kentucky Derby but that he’d be the favorite after winning the Remsen Stakes and Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes. But after finishing fourth in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in early April, Dornoch is no longer seen as one of the Derby favorites. It’s likely Werth prefers it that way. He’s overcome the odds to win at the highest level in baseball. It remains to be seen whether Dornoch can get him on the trophy podium once again, but this time on the infield at Churchill Downs.

Ian Rapoport: Mr. “Rap Sheet” himself became a fan of racing several years ago and in 2023 became a horse owner for the first time. Sure enough, the horse made it to the Kentucky Derby. Rapoport became a minority owner in Jace’s Road with West Point Thoroughbreds as part of America’s Best Racing’s A Stake in Stardom program. Although the horse finished 17^th, he took Rapoport on a ride unlike any other.

Lindsay Czarniak: The former ESPN Sports Center anchor and FOX Sports reporter joined Rapoport in ABR’s A Stake in Stardom influencer program as a co-owner in Jace’s Road and a West Point Thoroughbreds filly named Parnac. Parnac won the Flower Bowl Stakes at Saratoga last summer. Czarniak has since become a regular at the races and at major racing events like the Eclipse Awards.

Joy Taylor: Host of “Speak” on FOX Sports 1 – and former co-host to Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” – Taylor also became a Kentucky Derby horse owner in 2023. Not only did she experience the thrill of Jace’s Road competing in the Derby, she also experienced the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park last year. 

Jack Klugman: Best known for his role as Oscar Madison in “The Odd Couple”, Klugman became a big part of Kentucky Derby history when his horse Jaklin Klugman made the starting gate for America’s premier horse race. Klugman finished third behind famed filly Genuine Risk in the 1980 Derby. It stands as one of the best results for any mainstream celebrity-owned horse in Derby history.

Steven Spielberg: A three-time Academy Award winner, Spielberg came close himself to taking home a Kentucky Derby trophy. In 2003, Spielberg’s “Biscuit Stables” (a nod to the horse and movie “Seabiscuit”) purchased a minority interest in a horse named Atswhatimtalknbout. He made an eye-catching late run to finish fourth in a field of 16 horses.

MC Hammer (Wikimedia Commons)

MC Hammer: As much of a TV and film icon Jack Klugman was in the 1970s and as famous as Steven Spielberg became in the 1980s, neither could rival the pop-cultural breakthrough that was MC Hammer in the early 1990s. At the height of his fame, the rapper owned a horse appropriately named Dance Floor. Although he was overlooked in the betting at odds of 33.30-to-1 in the 1992 Kentucky Derby, Dance Floor led for a good portion of the race and ultimately finished third.

George Steinbrenner: Around the same time Dance Floor ran in the Derby, up in New York, George Steinbrenner was putting the finishing touches on what would become a baseball dynasty. By 2005, Steinbrenner’s Yankees had won four World Series (they’d win a fifth in 2009) and the feared executive also had the favorite in that year’s Kentucky Derby. His horse Bellamy Road went off as the betting favorite but came up short and finished seventh.

Joe Torre: You can’t mention the Yankees dynasty without thinking about the manager of those teams. Joe Torre had his four World Series rings locked up by the time he too lived out a dream of owning a horse in the Kentucky Derby. The opportunity came in 2010 with a horse named Homeboykris, who finished 16^th in the race.

Bode Miller: The six-time Olympic Games medal-winning skier and a two-time World Cup overall champion added the title of “horse owner” to his résumé over a decade ago. He bought an interest in a horse named Fast and Accurate in 2017 and the horse went on to compete in the Kentucky Derby. Although Fast and Accurate finished a distant 17^th in the race, Miller previously experienced a Derby high when in 2012 Bodemeister (who was named after Miller) finished second in the race.

Burt Bacharach: An icon of the music industry, the late songwriter was heavily into horse ownership. Burt Bacharach raced or bred at least 15 stakes winners, including six graded stakes winners. In 1994, Bacharach landed a spot in the Kentucky Derby with Soul of the Matter, a horse he owned and bred under his own Blue Seas Music breeding operation. The horse finished a respectable fifth, outrunning his 16.90-to-1 odds.