Fact Checking Kentucky Derby Quotes
The fabricated statements, attributed to the winning jockey, have circulated on social media in recent years.
Viral Facebook posts claim that the jockey who won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday turned down an invitation to the White House and called President Joe Biden “a horse’s ass.”
Rather than coming from Sonny Leon, the winning jockey, this is a recycled joke that has made the rounds following the Kentucky Derby the past few years. It circulated in 2018, about then-President Donald Trump, and was also used to mock Biden in 2021. In other versions, it was repurposed to be about an invitation to Mar-a-Lago rather than the White House.
There is no record of Leon uttering these words in an interview or through his social media accounts.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
It’s just a bunch of horse’s asses who spread these things as truth. Thank you.
It’s very clear that the winning horse was juicing and is actually owned by max zorin head of zorin industries
As evidenced by the horse pulling off an upset and acting out after the race (no grace Jones in sight to calm him)
It’s so obvious I’m surprised they didn’t name him “main strike”