138th Kentucky Derby pin flag "I'll Have Another" Churchill Downs horse race

Description

Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club to raise money for building quality racing facilities just outside the city. The track would soon become known as
Churchill Downs
, named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land for the racetrack.
[9]
The naming went official in 1937.
[10]
The Kentucky Derby was first run at ​
1
1
⁄
2
miles (12
furlongs
; 2.4 km) the same distance as the
Epsom Derby
, before changing lengths in 1896 to its current ​
1
1
⁄
4
miles (10 furlongs; 2 km). 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 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 meeting proved a success, the track ran into financial difficulties, and in 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with the 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 then became the preeminent stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses in North America.
Thoroughbred owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete in two other races. These two are the
Preakness Stakes
at the
Pimlico Race Course
, in
Baltimore
, and the
Belmont Stakes
in
Elmont, New York
. The three races offered large purses, and in 1919
Sir Barton
became the first horse to win all three races. However, the term
Triple Crown
didn't come into use 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 went in use, the race (until that time ran in mid-May since inception) changed the date to the first Saturday in May. This change allows for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races. Since 1931, the order of Triple Crown races has been the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes. Before 1931, eleven times the Preakness was run before the Derby. On May 12, 1917, and again on May 13, 1922, the Preakness and the Derby took place on the same day. On eleven occasions the Belmont Stakes was run before the Preakness Stakes.
Churchill Downs
in 1901
On May 16, 1925, the first live radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby aired on
WHAS
as well as on
WGN
in Chicago.
[11]
On May 7, 1949, the first television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, produced by
WAVE-TV
, the NBC affiliate in Louisville. This coverage was aired live in the Louisville market and sent to NBC as a kinescope newsreel recording for national broadcast. On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, aired from then-
CBS
affiliate
WHAS-TV
.
[12]
In 1954, the purse exceeded US0,000 for the first time. In 1968,
Dancer's Image
became the first horse to win the race and then faced disqualification. A
urine test
revealed traces of
phenylbutazone
(an
anti-inflammatory
painkiller drug) inside Dancer's Image.
Forward Pass
won after a protracted legal battle by the owners of
Dancer's Image
(which they lost).
Forward Pass
thus became the eighth winner for
Calumet Farm
. Unexpectedly, the regulations at Kentucky thoroughbred race tracks were changed some years later, allowing horses to run on
phenylbutazone
. In 1970,
Diane Crump
became the first female jockey to ride in the Derby, finishing 15th aboard Fathom.
[13]
The fastest time ever run in the Derby was in 1973 at 1:59.4 minutes, when
Secretariat
broke the record set by
Northern Dancer
in 1964 – a
record time
yet to be topped. Also during that race, he did something unique in Triple Crown races: for each successive quarter ran, his times were faster. Although the races do not record times for non-winners, in 1973 Sham finished second, two and a half lengths behind Secretariat in the same race. Using the thoroughbred racing convention of one length equaling one-fifth of a second to calculate
Sham
's time, he also finished in under two minutes. Another sub-two-minute finish, only the third, was set in 2001 by
Monarchos
at 1:59.97.
[14]
In 2005, the
purse distribution
for the Derby changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so.
[15]
The Kentucky Derby began offering million in purse money in 2019. Churchill Downs officials have cited the success of
historical race wagering terminals
at their Derby City Gaming facility in Louisville as a factor behind the purse increase.
[1]
The Derby first offered a million purse in 1996; then doubled to million in 2005.
[1]
A new starting gate
with twenty stalls was debuted for the 146th Kentucky Derby in 2020. Designed by Australian company,
Steriline Racing
, the new contiguous gate has replaced the previous method of starting the Derby using a 14-stall main starting gate and a 6-stall auxiliary gate. Churchill officials cited the need for increased horse and rider safety as the reason for selecting Steriline to design and manufacture the new
starting gate
.
[16]
[17]
[18]
In 2020, The Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 to September 5
19]
This is the second time in history the race had been postponed, the other being in 1945.
2012
I'll Have Another
Mario Gutierrez
Doug O'Neill
J. Paul Reddam
1 ¼
Fast
2:01.83