[2] Conditioned for racing by trainer Smiley Adams,[3] at age two Master Derby made twelve starts, finishing either first or second in all of them.
[6] Aimed for the Kentucky Derby, from his base in Louisiana his handlers shipped him to Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky, where jockey Darrel McHargue rode him to victory in the Calumet Purse and the Blue Grass Stakes.
Triple Crown races, Master Derby ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby to the heavily favored winner Foolish Pleasure, then won the Preakness Stakes before finishing third in the Belmont Stakes to winner Avatar.
The most notable of his progeny in racing was the Grade I winner Uptown Swell, who earned just under $1 million for owner Virginia Kraft Payson.
[11] In January 1999, due to the infirmities of old age, the twenty-seven-year-old Master Derby was humanely euthanized at Notjustanother Farm in Chino, California.