In the week leading up to the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, you will frequently hear the term “maiden” in connection with Arkansas Derby runner-up Publisher. The bay 3-year-old colt by 2025 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah is on target to start in the first jewel of the Triple Crown May 3 at Churchill Downs and is, in fact, a maiden.

In literature, a maiden typically refers to a young girl or an unmarried woman, but in horse racing parlance, the term “maiden” has a different meaning. Maiden simply refers to a horse that has not yet won a race, and maiden races are restricted to horses that have never won a race. Non-winners in horse racing mostly compete against other non-winners.

Arkansas Derby runner-up Publisher (Coady Media)

Publisher was a $600,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale and began his career for owners Gus King and the Estate of Brereton Jones with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen with a third-place finish a maiden race at Ellis Park Aug. 12, 2024. Publisher ran three more times in 2024, all in maiden races, and showed promise. He finished the year with one second and three thirds and was never beaten by more than three lengths.

Asmussen tried him in stakes competition on the Kentucky Derby trail at Oaklawn Park as a 3-year-old and he has improved in each race this season. He finished sixth in the $1 million Southwest Stakes, fourth in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes, and second in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby. So, yes, Publisher is still a maiden, but he has established a level of class that indicates he can hold his own against elite 3-year-olds, as he did in the Grade 1 (highest level) Arkansas Derby.

That brings us to the Kentucky Derby and the obvious question, has a maiden ever won the “run for the roses”? The answer is yes! It has happened more than once, in fact, but … it has not happened since 1933.

Buchanan in 1884, Sir Barton in 1919, and Brokers Tip in 1933 all earned the first win of their careers in the Kentucky Derby. Sir Barton, of course, was the first horse to sweep the U.S. Triple Crown.

Due to incomplete records, the Kentucky Derby does not have a complete list of maidens who competed in the Kentucky Derby before 1937, but they do have that information since 1937. Twelve maidens have competed in the Derby since then, including three since 2000. On the Mark’s eighth-place finish in 1950 was the best result from among the 12.

Can Publisher become the first maiden to win the Kentucky Derby in more than 90 years? Well, he will surely be a longshot, but he is a deep closer who should be doing his best running late. At the very least, Publisher has a very good chance to post the best finish by a maiden since 1937.