Only two post positions will separate Chunk of Gold from Sandman and Baeza on either side in the 2025 Kentucky Derby, but there has rarely been a wider gulf in the cost owners paid for two Derby horses.

Sandman and Baeza were both purchased for $1.2 million. Chunk of Gold was purchased for just $2,500 at the 2023 Fasig Tipton fall yearling sale.

Those three horses represent both ends of the spectrum in purchase price for the 2025 Derby field.

Sandman and Baeza are the only horses that cost more than $1 million, but four others cost at least $600,000. Chunk of Gold is the rare Derby horse purchased for just four figures, but three others in the field went for less than $100,000. There are also five homebreds in the field, meaning they were also bred by their current owners.

Sandman is the most expensive horse in the 2025 Kentucky Derby field. He was purchased for $1.2 million as a 2-year-old. Coady Media

While purchase price can be a telling indicator of the quality of the horse, it is not a guarantee when forecasting the Derby.

Last year’s winner, Mystik Dan, was a homebred. The 2023 winner, Mage, was purchased for $290,000 at a 2-year-old sale. The 2022 winner, Rich Strike, was purchased for $30,000 in a claiming race.

Since 1960, 33 Derby winners have been purchased at a public auction. Only one of those horses (Fusaichi Pegasus, $4 million) was purchased for more than $575,000. Fusaichi Pegasus holds the distinction of most expensive Derby horse purchased at a public auction since 1982, but of the other 23 Derby starters purchased for at least $1 million in that span only three have even finished in the money.

Adjusting for inflation, Chunk of Gold would be the cheapest horse purchased at a public auction since 1960 to win the Derby if he somehow pulls off the upset at 30-1 morning-line odds. His $2,500 purchase price would not even live up to his name since 1 ounce of gold was worth just more than $3,300 as of Wednesday morning.

“I was going to go up to $20,000,” former Chunk of Gold owner Chris Melton told BloodHorse. “When I got him for $2,500 I thought, uh oh, I’ve missed something. He was a little immature, but you could tell he was going to grow up and be a good-looking horse, and he has.”

The price of Chunk of Gold is at least a little higher than that for current owner Terry Stephens, who purchased Melton’s share privately after Chunk of Gold broke his maiden with a win at Turfway Park in December, but it is still nothing close to most of the horses in the field.

Morning-line favorite Journalism was purchased for $825,000 as a yearling. Only Neoequos ($22,000), Flying Mohawk ($72,000) and Coal Battle ($70,000) were also purchased for less than $300,000.

This story was originally published May 3, 2025 at 6:00 AM.