More than 30,000 spectators watched Donerail pull off the most shocking upset in Kentucky Derby history on May 10, 1913, turning a race he was never supposed to win into a finish that still shadows the sport 113 years later. The colt, at 91/1 odds, came from post 5 to overtake Ten Point in the closing moments of the 39th running at Churchill Downs and win by half a length.
Donerail was not even Thomas P. Hayes' first choice for the race. Hayes bred, trained and owned the horse, but he was reluctant to pay the entry fee because he believed Donerail had no prospect of winning. Roscoe Goose persuaded him otherwise, and the decision set up a Derby that produced a $2 win payout of $184.90 after Donerail finished the 1 1/4 mile race in 2:04.80, a then-record time. Goose later described the final move in plain language: “When I clucked to Donerail, he started passing up horses like a passenger train going past a freight train.”
The conditions around the horse were hardly ordinary. Donerail was stabled at nearby Douglas Park because Churchill Downs was overcrowded, and on Derby day he had to travel three miles over dirt and cobblestone just to make it to the gate. The field itself had already been cut from 12 horses to 8 after four withdrawals, leaving fewer runners but no less uncertainty. Ten Point opened with a three-length lead, and for much of the race Donerail looked like one more long shot in a crowded history of long shots.
That is why the comparison to Rich Strike still matters. Rich Strike won the 2022 Kentucky Derby at 80/1 odds, the closest modern parallel to Donerail's upset and the only recent winner mentioned in the same breath as the 1913 shocker. But even that comparison stops short of changing the record book: Donerail's victory remains the standard for Derby surprises, the one that defined just how far outside expectation a horse can run and still take home the roses.