How Much Money Do Kentucky Derby Winners Make?

This year, race insider Bob Weir is putting the top three odds on the horses Essential Quality, Hot Rod Charlie, and Medina Spirit (via CBS Sports). Perhaps the most famous winner of The Kentucky Derby is the horse Secretariat, who was the Derby's victor in 1973. To this day, Secretariat remains the Derby record-holder, having completed the course in 1:59:40 (via Southern Living). He also completed the full Triple Crown, winning both the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, in addition to The Kentucky Derby.

Secretariat was raced by the jockey Ron Turcotte, who has also earned himself a place in horse racing history (via History).

"Ron knew the horse, he knew the tracks and, as he said, good jockeys have clocks in their head," Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery, once said (via America's Best Racing).

Secretariat got the film treatment with the aptly-titled 2010 Disney film "Secretariat" (via IMDb), telling the story of Secretariat's big wins, but also how his owner, Chenery and his trainer, Laurie Laurin.

Whether any of the horses competing in this year's Kentucky Derby will someday warrant their own cinematic rendering, only time will tell.