Country House unexpectedly won the 145th Kentucky Derby on Saturday after the pre-race favorite, Maximum Security, and original first-place finisher, was disqualified for interfering with other horses.
Coming into the Run for the Roses, Country House had only captured one win in six starts.
In all, 20 horses raced, but there was more on the line than the coveted gold trophy: A record $3 million was up for grabs this year. The Derby has awarded $2 million in total prize money since 2005 and $1 million from 1996 to 2004.
The total gets divided among the top five finishers. The winning horse's owner takes home 62%, or $1.86 million. The winning jockey, Flavien Prat, gets 10% of that, or $186,000.
That number will get shaved down even more, by about 30%, since he must pay his agent and and his valet, who gets the jockey's gear in place. Plus, he'll have to pay taxes on this income.
It's a bigger payout than last year, though: Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith collected $124,000 (before fees and taxes) for his 2018 win with Justify. Smith rode Cutting Humor on Saturday night and placed tenth.
The second and third place jockeys get 5% of their owner's take, meaning the second place jockey earned $30,000, while the third place jockey earned $15,000. That's before fees and taxes.
As for the 17 other jockeys, they won't make out nearly as well. Their ride is only worth "a couple hundred dollars apiece," jockey agent Ron Anderson told CNBC in 2010.
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