LEXINGTON, Ky. — Just over two months remain until one of the biggest events in horse racing history.

The 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby — which now carries a $5 million purse — will leave the starting gate on May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, which means less than three months remain until the much-anticipated event.

And the qualification process to make the Derby’s 20-horse starting gate is well underway.

A total of 30 Kentucky Derby qualifying races have already been run, with 22 as part of the American road to the Derby, five as part of the European road and three as part of the Japanese road.

The American leaderboard is headlined by the Brad Cox-trained Timberlake (66 qualifying points), along with Chad Brown’s Sierra Leone and Steve Asmussen’s Track Phantom, each with 55 points.

The European leaderboard is led by Notable Speech and its 20 points after the Charlie Appleby trainee won last weekend’s Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at England’s Kempton Park. Four other horses have 10 points each: Rosallion (Ireland), Ancient Wisdom (France), Deepone (Great Britain) and Ghostwriter (Ireland).

The Japanese leaderboard is paced by Ramjet’s (Japan) 30 points.

Of course, storylines have emerged alongside these qualifying races, with one of the biggest being that trainer Bob Baffert is still banned from fielding a horse in this year’s Kentucky Derby.

Between the continuing Baffert saga, the horses that have already impressed on the Derby trail and a big slate of prep races set for this weekend, here’s what you need to know as the Kentucky Derby creeps ever closer.

Baffert won’t have a presence at the 2024 Kentucky Derby

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