High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Derby Trial Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the end of April at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Held one week before the Kentucky Derby, it was first run in 1924 and every year since, with the exception of 1928. A Grade III stakes with a purse of $100,000, it`s open to three year olds willing to race one mile on the dirt, however its distance from 2007-2009 was 7.5 furlongs. The Derby Trial Stakes was an ungraded event from 2006-2008. status.