Grande profile: 2025 Kentucky Derby odds, post position, history and more to know
Get caught up with Grande's past performances, jockey, trainer and full analysis heading into the Run for the Roses
For each of the last two Kentucky Derbies, Mike Repole has owned the morning-line favorite for the race and has come away with nothing. Two years ago Forte had to be scratched from the Run for the Roses on the morning of the race. Last year Fierceness was a clear favorite at a little more than 3-1 but faded badly to 15th. This year Repole is back in the Derby again, but this time he has, not the favorite, but rather an under-the-radar runner in the lightly raced but vastly improving Grande.
10 Grande (20-1)
- Trainer Todd Pletcher
- Jockey John Velazquez
- Last race Second in the Wood Memorial by 3½ lengths
- Career record 3 starts: 2 wins, 1 second
- Career earnings $228,200
- Best career Beyer Speed Figure 97 (2025 Wood Memorial)
- Sire Curlin
Below, we'll dig further into Grande as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3. We'll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered on Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.
Kentucky Derby profiles 1 Citizen Bull | 2 Neoequos | 3 Final Gambit | 5 American Promise | 6 Admire Daytona | 7 Luxor Cafe | 8 Journalism | 9 Burnham Square | 10 Grande | 11 Flying Mohawk | 12 East Avenue | 13 Publisher | 14 Tiztastic | 15 Render Judgment | 16 Coal Battle | 17 Sandman | 18 Sovereignty | 19 Chunk of Gold | 20 Owen Almighty | 21 Baeza
Kentucky Derby picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling | Jeff Hochman
Now that you know who's in the field, you'll want to know how to bet the Kentucky Derby on the top horse racing betting apps.
What to know about Grande
This lightly raced Todd Pletcher trainee has raced just three times, but he's fast and improving with each race. His second start was better than his first, and his last start was better than his second.
In his last race, a runner-up finish to Rodriguez in the Wood Memorial, Grande ran wide all the way around the track and couldn't catch the loose-on-the-lead frontrunner setting an easy early pace. Grande received a big 97 Beyer Speed figure for that effort. (Other speed figures that take ground loss into consideration have Grande running better than Rodriguez did that day.) Just four horses in the Derby field (Journalism, Rodriguez, Citizen Bull and Sandman) own a better career-high Beyer.
In a Kentucky Derby field loaded with speed horses and late-running closers, Grande's stalking running style is just right. He should get first run once the speed horses start to back up.
Also, sons and daughters of Curlin tend to improve with age and distance, which means Grande could run even better than he did in the Wood.
Even though Pletcher has two Kentucky Derby wins, his record in the race is famously poor (two wins, two seconds and four thirds from 65 starters), but he's doing something differently this year: He's giving Grande only one workout since his final Derby prep. That strategy may either backfire miserably or succeed brilliantly. At 20-1 at FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET, Grande is one of the best values in the race.
Post draw analysis
Grande was one of the big winners of the post draw, having been assigned post No. 10. He has deep closers on either side of him and should be able to get away from the gate without issue if he breaks cleanly. Jockey John Velazquez has been notorious for giving his mounts unnecessarily wide trips as he has gotten older, but Grande cannot afford to give up ground in this competitive field.
