Place your bets: The Tonight Show puppies have determined who will win the 2025 Kentucky Derby… and the next nine finishers.
Jimmy Fallon trotted out ten puppies Thursday night for the latest installment of the show’s Puppy Predictor series—a recurring segment that has attempted to have puppy races determine who will win sporting events like the Kentucky Derby, the Final Four, and the Super Bowl.
This year, the segment came with some Ford branding—part of a weeklong campaign Fallon is running for the company. (In addition to The Tonight Show’s longstanding relationship with Ford, the automaker is also the exclusive automotive partner of the derby through 2029.)
Fallon and Ford have been hyping the Ford Stable Contest, which will award three free Ford vehicles to anyone who can predict the order of the Derby’s top ten finishers — which meant that this year, The Tonight Show was attempting to predict not just the Kentucky Derby winner, but the exact order of the top ten finishers.
After releasing the dogs from their stables, last night’s clear winner was Sandman (the puppy), locking in the horse of the same name as The Tonight Show’s official favorite. In reality, Sandman (the horse) is viewed as a contender for first place, if not quite the favorite.
But just how accurate are Fallon’s puppies? Given the segment’s less-than-scientific approach, it’s likely no surprise that the reults are more ‘miss’ than ‘hit.’ Over ten years time, the ‘Puppy Predictors’ Super Bowl picks have only been right three times. And as it turns out, the canines are even less accurate when it comes to horse races.
Prior to Thursday night’s running, Fallon had staged eight Kentucky Derby Puppy Predictor segments over the years. Only once did the puppies correctly call a winner. That was in 2015—the first year Fallon attempted it—when the dogs determined American Pharaoh would take top position. (In 2019, Fallon swapped out his ‘Puppy Predictors’ for ‘Piggy Predictors’, bringing out fifteen piglets for a change.)
While puppies (and piglets) may not be the best basis for a bet, anything can happen. Here are The Tonight Show’s official standings, as per the puppies.
The 151st Kentucky Derby runs Saturday, May 3. Coverage starts at 12pm ET on USA Network, before switching to NBC at 2:30pm ET.
