Louisville, Kentucky – As a huge crowd cheered, American Pharoah came from behind to aim his final two challengers in the stretch. In the 2015 Kentucky Derby, the bay colt and jockey Victor Espinoza raced to the lead with a furlong to go and finished a length ahead of the field.
“There’s nothing like winning the Kentucky Derby,” recalled Espinoza, who has won three times. “To me it’s the most important thing in horse racing.”
This Saturday, America’s longest-running sports event will celebrate its 150th anniversary. It is two years older than the Westminster Dog Show. The Derby has weathered two world wars, the Depression, and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it was run in virtual quiet without the customary 150,000 spectators.
Derby Day is celebrated on the first Saturday in May. It features beautiful hats, supporters dressed in their Sunday best, mint juleps served in souvenir glasses, the audience chanting “My Old Kentucky Home,” and the winner receiving a hand-sewn garland of red roses. The Derby was the second-most-watched sporting event in 2023, trailing the Super Bowl.
The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds
“I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s on their bucket list to attend and the one horse race they watch every year,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time Derby champion with Fierceness as this year’s early favorite.
The fact that only 3-year-olds are eligible for the Derby adds to its uniqueness. It is also the only race in America with a field of 20 horses. Since 2013, horses must accumulate points in qualifying events to gain entry. Previously, the money won in graded stakes races determined the field.
“It’s very difficult to keep them on track to get to the Derby, get into the Derby, and then, hopefully, everything goes well and you get a good, clean trip,” said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native who will saddle Catching Freedom, Encino, and Just a Touch on Saturday.
Louisvillians take pride in their city’s 1875 history, preparing at-home versions of high-calorie treats such as Benedictine dip (grated cucumber, cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo), Derby pie (chocolate chips and almonds) and cocktails when they aren’t at the track.
Thirteen of the fifteen jockeys in the first Kentucky Derby were black, including Oliver Lewis, who led Aristides to victory in front of 10,000 applauding fans in 1875.
Black riders won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys, and there were none from 1920 to 2000. As Jim Crow laws were implemented, segregation extended throughout the country, including horse racing, where Black riders found it practically impossible to obtain a license.
In 2021, Kendrick Carmouche became the final Black jockey to compete in the event.
Black trainers also dominated the Kentucky Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first seventeen from 1875 to 1891. Larry Demeritte will saddle long shot West Saratoga on Saturday, becoming only the second since 1951 and the 17th overall.
The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds
Following the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT, by police during a botched narcotics raid at her Louisville home, protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police violence gathered at Churchill Downs in 2020 and 2021.
Women have had an intermittent presence in the Kentucky Derby. Only six riders have competed in the race, the last being Rosie Napravnik in 2014. Seven women have trained Derby runners, with Vicki Oliver last doing so in 2021.
“It’s an incredibly hard race just to get into, let alone win,” he remarked.
Cox was named the winner of the 2021 race nine months after Medina Spirit was disqualified for failing a drug test — only the second such DQ in race history — and Mandaloun was promoted to first.
“We’re all trying to win this race to experience the thrill of victory,” Cox said, “and we’ve yet to do that.”
Last year, 12 horses died at Churchill Downs in the weeks leading up to the Derby, damaging the race’s image. An independent investigation ruled out any faults and found no single cause. The track continued to train but relocated the remainder of its spring racing event to western Kentucky.
The trainer who won a record-tying six races for the third consecutive year will not be in Louisville. Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Bob Baffert after Medina Spirit failed a drug test, upsetting the 2021 results.
Baffert challenged his original two-year suspension in court but lost a year ago. Last August, the track announced extending the suspension until 2024. It said there were “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses.”
Churchill Downs Inc., the track’s publicly traded parent corporation with shareholders to satisfy, has spent $500 million on renovations and modernizations during the last decade. Its newest attraction is the $200 million paddock, where visitors willing to spend up to $12,000 may dine and watch the horses being saddled before the races.
The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds
In its 150th year, the Kentucky Derby purse has been increased to a record $5 million, with the winning owner receiving $3.1 million.
Despite modifications to the race and the track over the years and the incorporation of current events, the first Saturday in May remains.
“The one thing that hasn’t changed is that you have 20 of the best 3-year-olds from all over the world,” said trainer Doug O’Neill, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice.
Pletcher continued, “It seems like the one mainstay that we can really rely on.”
SOURCE – (AP)
