The Kentucky Derby is one of the oldest races group one races in the US and forms part of the famous American Triple crown.
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First run in 1875, in front of a crowd estimated to be in excess of 100,000, the race is staged every year at Kentucky’s Churchill Downs course on the first weekend in May.
The ‘Race for the Rose’, so called as the winning horse is draped with a blanket of 554 red roses shortly after crossing the line, owes its inception to Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark Junior. In 1872 Clark attended some of the major races in Europe, which inspired him to organise a race to rival them. First he had to build facilities good enough to host such an event and organised the Louisville Jockey Club with the aim of raising money to do precisely that. Churchill Downs, named after John and Henry Churchill who had provided the land for the racetrack, was erected in time to open it’s doors in 1875 and they’ve never really looked back.
Originally raced over the same distance as the English Derby, one mile five furlongs, the distance was reduced to a mile and a quarter in 1896. The first ever Kentucky classic was won by a colt named Aristides trained by legendary handler Ansel Williamson. Amazingly that would be the former slave’s only victory in this prestigious event
It continues to attract crowds of over 100,000 and is described in the US as ‘the most exciting two minutes in sport.’