History and the Making of the Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby was first founded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr, in 1870, but not until 1875 was the first race held. He named the racing grounds, Churchill Downs, after Lewis’ relatives, John and Henry Churchill who provided the land for the race track. It was discovered very quickly that the race brought in a lot of money and proved success for Clark.
The Kentucky Derby is the oldest, continuous sporting event in the United States. Also being the second oldest horse race in the United States, the Kentucky Derby is one of three races in the Triple Crown, A series of three races, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, that is run annually by a group of three year old thoroughbred horses. Thoroughbreds are best known for their use in horse racing and are considered a "hot blooded” horse, because of their agility, speed and spirit. These horses started racing in 1174 in England. These horses are worth a lot of money in the horse racing buisness, normally selling for millions. The highest paid amount of money for a race horse was "The Green Monkey," a 2 year old colt in 2006. He sold for 16 million dollars.
The Kentucky Derby is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May. The race is one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings (boy horses) carry 126 pounds and fillies (girl horses) carry 121 pounds. The race is known in the United States as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" because of the time that these horses race in. The time of most winning horses clocks in somewhere around 2 minutes. The lowest time in history for a derby winner was 1 minute, 59 seconds ran by Secretariat. Click on the link to see the race won by Secretariat, who still holds the world record. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CszYzS8_bI8


The very first Kentucky Derby was held on the day of May 17th, 1875 in front of an estimated 10,000 horse race fans. Consisting of a field of 15, 3 year old horses running a mile and a half, the distance it would be run until it was changed to the current mile and a quarter in 1896. The race was won by the 3 year old chestnut colt, Aristides, who ran the fast track in 2 minutes 37 and three quarter seconds earning its owner, Hal Price McGrath, the first Kentucky Derby prize of $2,850.