1931 Kentucky Derby

The 1931 Kentucky Derby was the 57th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 16, 1931.^[1] Horses Equipoise, Up, and Don Leon scratched before the race. Twenty Grand's winning time set a new Derby record (later broken).^[2] The winner was owned and bred by the Greentree Stable of Helen Hay Whitney. It marked the fourth time in the Derby's history that a woman owned the winning horse and the second time that a woman was both owner and breeder.^[3]

The 1931 Preakness Stakes was held one week earlier, on May 9,^[4] making this the most recent time that the Preakness was run before the Kentucky Derby.^[5] Until the 2020 Kentucky Derby and 2020 Preakness Stakes were rescheduled to follow the 2020 Belmont Stakes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 1931 was the most recent time that the Kentucky Derby was not the first leg of the Triple Crown.^[6]