Which 2024 Kentucky Derby Horses Are The Most Searched Online?

Horse racing fans are gearing up for 2024 Kentucky Derby horses strutting their stuff at Churchill Downs on Saturday May 4, with the first leg of the Triple Crown hitting a milestone this year with its 150th renewal.

At this stage it’s a tight betting heat with the Chad Brown-trained Sierra Leone and the Todd Pletcher runner Fierceness topping the market, plus this year’s race will have the added spice of top Japanese runner Forever Young trying to become the first horse from the Far East to win the Run For The Roses. 

So, as the excitement builds, we thought we’d take a look at which 2024 Kentucky Derby horses the betting public are latching onto the most when it comes to search volume stats and typing their names into Google.

2024 Kentucky Derby Horses, Points, Trainers, Betting & Last Race 

See below the top 20 Kentucky Derby runners in terms of points gained ahead of their journey to the big Churchill Downs race in early May.

The Chad Brown barn are still looking for their first Run For The Roses win but the best Kentucky Derby racebooks seem to think that they’ve got a leading chance in 2024 with his Sierra Leone one of those topping the betting.

This well-bred Gun Runner colt has amassed the most Kentucky Derby points on his route to Churchill Downs (155) and was last seen winning impressively in the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland (watch below).

If the betting is to be believed Sierra Leone will face his biggest threat from the Todd Pletcher runner Fierceness, who won the Florida Derby with ease last time out.

That Gulfstream Park race has also been an excellent Kentucky Derby prep race for finding the winner in recent years with six winners since 2006 having contested the Florida Derby.

Kentucky Derby Runners 2024

Note: Odds are subject to change 

Which 2024 Kentucky Derby Horses Are The Most Searched Online?

With the Kentucky Derby limited to horses aged just 3 years-old, this means these runners are just finding their feet in terms of building up a following and with that a ‘search’ presence too.

Therefore, we thought we’d delve deeper into which of the main 2024 Kentucky Derby horses are starting to gather pace in the busy world of the search engines and you might be a bit shocked that the first two in the betting – Sierra Leone and Fierceness – DON’T come out top.

Note: All searches done had the added prefix ‘horse’ after their name to target the search eg. ‘Sierra Leone Horse’. While the search volume is based on the average number of monthly searches over the last 12 months of data.  

What Is ‘Search Volume’? 

In short, it’s the number of times people type in something to the search engines over a period of time. With the more popular searches getting a higher ‘search volume’

This can be monitored using software like Ahrefs, that records this sort of data and regularly updates it.

The SV ‘Search Volume’ used for our 2024 Kentucky Derby list is an estimation of the average monthly number of searches for a keyword over the latest known 12 months of data.

Dornoch The Most Searched For 2024 Kentucky Derby Horse (at the moment)

Horse racing and betting go hand-in-hand – right? And with that you’d probably have bet your bottom dollar on either Sierra Leone or Fierceness coming out top of the ‘Online Search Stakes’.

However, we were also surprised to see neither of these two 2024 Kentucky Derby fancies propping up the list – instead it’s the Danny Gargan-trained DORNOCH that US people have been searching the most.

He was last seen running fourth to Sierra Leone in the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 – beaten 6½ lengths.

Maybe Dornoch’s higher search volume is because this Good Magic colt stayed on well that day to suggest he’ll be a finisher in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 and can improve on that effort.

He was also an impressive winner of the Fountain Of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream back in March, which also probably has something to do with his higher search interest.

Oh, and he’s has also beaten Sierra Leone in his career (the only horse to do so), when battling to a nose win over the Chad Brown colt in the Remsen Stakes back in December.

Dornoch will be hoping to grab some of the increased 2024 Kentucky Derby purse, which now stands at $5m and $3.1m to the winner.

WATCH: Dornoch Finishing Fourth in the 2024 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes

2023 Kentucky Derby Winner Mage Now Has 12k Search Volume

The good news for this year’s Kentucky Derby horses is that their status and fame will rise substantially as soon as they cross the Churchill Downs winning post in front and are draped with the 2024 Run For The Roses blanket.

This is backed up with previous Kentucky Derby winner Mage (2023), who is now retired to stud, still commanding a 12,000 monthly search volume. While there are now also many ‘spin off’ search terms for the horse – including ‘Who Owns Mage’, Mage Horse Pedigree’ and Mage Kentucky Derby Horse’ that are all getting plenty of searches still too.

Plus, last year’s late scratching from the race – Forte – who was the big favorite at the time, also saw his SV shoot up and still gets in the region of 9k hits per month.

Top 8 Kentucky Derby Searched Horses In More Detail 

DORNOCH (SV: 500)

Last seen running fourth to one of the big 2024 Kentucky Derby fancies Sierra Leone in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, so has around 6-lengths to find on that form with the Chad Brown horse. Prior to that run, was a nice winner of the Fountain Of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream. That win is the likely reason his search volume is coming out as high as it is.

FIERCENESS (SV: 450)

Owned by Mike Repole and was super-impressive in winning the Florida Derby last time out at by 13 ½ lengths, with another possible Kentucky Derby runner – Catalytic back in the silver medal spot. Trained by the powerful Todd Pletcher barn that have won the Run For The Roses twice in the past.

Fierceness is also owned by Repole Stables, who had the hot favorite Forte pulled out of the race 12 months ago. He’s also one of the leading 2024 Kentucky Derby favorites for the May 4 race.

SIERRA LEONE (SV: 150)

Shot to the head of the Kentucky Derby market after a storming late run saw him win the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in early April. His only career defeat from his opening four starts came with a close second in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct back in December – with Dornoch the winner that day and, therefore, the only horse to have beaten Sierra Leone to date. Trained by the Chad Brown team, who are looking to win the race for the first time and the Kentucky Derby odds suggest he’s going to be a popular pick.

HONOR MARIE (SV: 150)

Seen running a fine second in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds last time and prior to that was 5th in the Risen Star Stakes at the same track. Does, however, have solid form at Churchill Down with three runs at the track that read 1-2-1, with a win in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes the big course highlight. He’s also one of just a few Kentucky Derby runners that have raced at Churchill Downs before.

FOREVER YOUNG (JPN) (SV: 150)

Raider from Japan and one with a big chance based on his UAE Derby win last time out at Meydan, Dubai – which qualified him for this US Triple Crown race. Also took the Saudi Derby back in February, so will be trying to win a third ‘Derby’ on the bounce in Kentucky on May 4. Forever Young will also be looking to create some big Churchill Down history in what will be the 150th running of the race as the first Japanese horse to win the Run For The Roses.

CATCHING FREEDOM (SV: 100)

Will head to the Kentucky Derby as the winner of this season’s Louisiana Derby, where he had Honor Maire back in second. Was also third in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds back in February and is a proven winner at Churchill Downs, when winning a Maiden Special Weight at the track last year. Hoping to become the second Kentucky Derby winner for trainer Brad Cox, who won the prize in 2021 with Mandaloun.

JUST A TOUCH (SV: 100)

Another from the Brad Cox barn and another with a leading chance after recent seconds in the Gotham Stakes and Toyota Blue Grass Stakes this season. Should be open to more improvement too with only three career runs to his name and is well-bred out of the US Triple Crown winner Justify so will be hoping to follow in his hoofprints.

DOMESTIC PRODUCT (SV: 100)

Took the Tampa Bay Derby last time out and before that ran a fine second in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Has some ground to make up with some of the other Kentucky Derby runners though based on his 7th in the Remsen Stakes in December – a race Dornoch and Sierra Leone finished first and second in.