Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, staged yearly in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race currently covers one and one-quarter miles (2.012 km) at Churchill Downs; colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg), fillies 121 pounds (55 kg). The race, known as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for its approximate time length, is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the United States. It typically draws around 155,000 fans.
Traditions
In addition to the race itself, a number of traditions have played a large role in the Derby atmosphere. The Mint Julep, an iced drink consisting of bourbon, mint and a sugar syrup is the traditional beverage of the race. The historic drink is best served in an ice-frosted silver julep cup but most patrons of Churchill Down's sip theirs from a souvenir glass printed with all previous Derby winners. Over 80,000 mint juleps are typically served on Derby Day and the preceding day's event, The Kentucky Oaks stakes race, is often considered "the Derby for Fillies". Burgoo, although there is a multitude of recipe variations, it is generally a thick stew of beef, chicken, pork and vegetables.
Legal gambling on the race is done through parimutuel betting at the track. The infield, a spectator area inside the track, offers low general admission prices but little chance of seeing much of the race. Instead, revelers show up in the infield to party with abandon. Sobriety is not a common state in the infield on Derby Day and on some occasions even being fully clothed has been optional. By contrast, "Millionaire's Row" refers to the expensive box seats that attract the rich, the famous and the well-connected. Elegant women appear in fine outfits lavishly accessorized with large, elaborate hats. As the horses are paraded before the grandstands, Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" is played by the University of Louisville marching band while the crowd stands and sings along. Native Kentuckians often surrender to tears as this traditional theme plays.
The Derby is frequently referred to as "The Run for the Roses," because a lush blanket of red roses is awarded to the Kentucky Derby winner each year. The tradition is as a result of New York socialite E. Berry Wall presenting roses to ladies at a post-Derby party in 1883 that was attended by Churchill Downs president, Col. M. Lewis Clark. This gesture is believed to have eventually led Clark to the idea of making the rose the race's official flower. However, it was not until 1896 that any recorded account referred to roses being draped on the Derby winner. The Governor of Kentucky awards the garland and the trophy. Pop vocalist Dan Fogelberg composed a song by that title for the 1980 running of the race.
History
Kentucky has been a major center of horse breeding and racing since the late 1700s due to the Ordivician fields of the Bluegrass Region, which contains higher than average amounts of calcium and thus produced superior race horses. In 1872, Col. M. Lewis Clark, traveled to England, visiting the Epsom Derby, a famous race that had been running annually since 1780. From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where in 1863 a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club and had organized the Grand Prix de Paris, which eventually became the famous Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club for the purpose of raising money to build quality racing facilities just outside of the city. The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for Lewis Clark's relatives, John and Henry Churchill, who had provided the land for the racetrack. Officially, the racetrack was incorporated as Churchill Downs in 1937.
The Kentucky Derby was first run at 1½ miles, the same distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 1896 the distance was changed to its current 1¼ miles. On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby. Under African-American jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides who was trained by future Hall of Famer, Ansel Williamson, won the inaugural Derby. Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.
Although the first race meet proved a success, the track ran into financial difficulties and in 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with new capitalization and improved facilities. Despite this, the business floundered until 1902 when Col. Matt Winn of Louisville put together a syndicate of businessmen to acquire the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby became the preeminent thoroughbred horse race in America.
Between 1875 and 1902, African-American jockeys won 15 of the 28 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. On May 11, 1892, African-American jockey Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton, age 15, became the youngest rider to win the Derby. The 1904 race was won by Elwood, the first Derby starter and winner to be owned by a woman, Laska Durnell. In 1915, Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, and in 1917 the English bred colt "Omar Khayyam" became the first foreign-bred horse to win the race.
As part of gaining income, horse owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete a few weeks later in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The three races offered the largest purse and in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three races. However, the term Triple Crown didn't come into use until for another eleven years. In 1930, when Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races, sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase into American usage. Fueled by the media, public interest in the possibility of a "superhorse" that could win the Triple Crown began in the weeks leading up to the Derby. Two years after the term was coined, the race, which had been run in mid-May since inception, was changed to the first Saturday in May to allow for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races.
On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place. In 1954, the purse exceeded $100,000 for the first time. In 1968 Dancer's Image became the first - and to this day the only horse - to win the race and then be disqualified after traces of phenylbutazone was found in the horses urinalysis. The fastest time ever run in the Derby (at its present distance) is 1 minute 59 2/5 seconds, by Secretariat in 1973.
The 2004 Derby marked the first time that jockeys, as a result of a court order, were allowed to wear corporate advertising logos on their clothing.
In 2005, the purse distribution for the Derby was changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so.
On February 1, 2006, the Louisville-based fast-food company Yum! Brands, Inc. announced a corporate sponsorship deal to officially name the race "The Kentucky Derby, presented by Yum! Brands" [1].
See also
- Kentucky Derby Winners
- Kentucky Oaks (sister race)
References
Adapted from the article Kentucky Derby, from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.