Fancy ladies in fancy hats are always a good thing, and mint juleps in the shade of the grandstands never did much harm, so lets have a big cheer for the field on
NATIONAL KENTUCKY DERBY DAY!
It’s the first Saturday in May, the 148th Run for The Roses, the most famous horse race on earth. A showcase for the world’s best 3 year-olds and running a mile and a quarter, the Kentucky Derby is called “The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sport.”
The Derby was first organized in 1875 by Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., a grandson of William Clark of The Lewis & Clark Expedition fame. It has been run in the same Churchill Downs racetrack ever since.
The Triple Crown races are for people who don’t follow the ponies, and horse racing is on fire until the Preakness Stakes 3 weeks later. If the Derby winner prevails there too, there is a chance for a Triple Crown winner when the Belmont Stakes is run exactly 5 weeks after the Derby, and then everyone pays attention to the Sport of Kings.
Every so often a magic horse comes along and thrills the world, and it all begins today in Louisville, Kentucky. The best of them all was Secretariat in 1973, who still owns the records for all 3 Triple Crown races.
•Suggested Activities: While she bets on one horse to Win, bet on another to Show.