Kentucky Travel Guide, Kentucky Real Estate, University of Kentucky

The classic American horse race, the Kentucky Derby is the oldest consecutively held Thoroughbred race in America. It is run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Along with the Preakness in mid-May, and Belmont in early June, it is the first jewel of the coveted Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing, which has been won by only eleven horses since 1919. Triple Crown winners include memorable names such as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Whirlaway, and Affirmed.

The first Kentucky Derby was held May 17, 1875, before a crowd of 10,000 from around the city, state and surrounding areas. In that race, a field of 15 three-year-olds ran a 1.5 mile course which was won by H.P. McGrath's Aristides. Although the first Derby was held at 1.5 miles, the distance was changed to the current 1.25 miles in 1896. The Derby field is limited to three-year-olds; fillies carry 121 pounds and colts 126 pounds. So far, only three fillies have won the Derby: Regret in 1915, Genuine Risk in 1980, and Winning Colors in 1988. The Kentucky Derby has also produced countless statistics and bits of trivia over the course of its history. The largest field was during the 100th running in 1974 when 23 horses ran. The smallest fields were in 1892 and 1905, with only three horses in each race.

The fastest Derby was run by the legendary Secretariat, who covered the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 2/5, the only Derby winner to finish under two minutes.

Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr who built Churchill Downs in Louisville, wanted his track to have a race that would rival England's Epsom Derby. After visiting England to study both its tracks and its races, he established the Kentucky Derby, which was first run on May 17, 1875.

However, the Derby was just another regional race until 1902, when Colonel Matt J. Winn took over the track. Although he had seen every Derby since the beginning, Winn know little about horse racing or running tracks. But he was a very good promoter.

After rising money to same Churchill Downs from bankruptcy, Winn began making frequent trips to New York, then the center of American racing to persuade owners to enter their horses in the Kentucky Derby. His persistence paid off. By 1920, the Derby had become the best-known race in the North America and it was attracting the top three-year-olds from all over the country.

The first race in the Triple Crown, The Derby is run on the first Saturday in May. A whole week of festivities know as The Kentucky Derby Festival is built around the race which, like the Indianapolis 500, has become as much a happening as a sporting event. It attracts crowds of well over 150,000 spectators and is watched on television by millions more, many of who are otherwise not interested in Thoroughbred racing.

Oregon & Kentucky Primaries

By: Ernie Fitzpatrick

The rhetoric has been flying in a special way these past few days leading up to the Oregon and Kentucky primaries. Obama is set to say that he now as a majority oif nthe pledged delegates (though shy of the needed 2,025 for the nomination). Hillary is saying that Obama can declare anything but it means nothing as she has spent all of her time in Kentucky trying to run up the popular vote.

Barack Obama will reach for a symbolic tipping point in the Oregon and Kentucky primaries Tuesday - a majority of pledged delegates offered in the Democratic presidential contest. Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed there was "no way that this is going to end anytime soon" as she campaigned Monday across Kentucky, a state she was expected to win. She wants to go OUT with CLOUT!

Obama was favored in Oregon, where supporters delivered the largest crowd of his campaign on Sunday. A record-setting 75,000 people attended the biggest rally of this election cycle. Regardless of who prevails in those states, Obama is on track to secure the largest share of delegates who could be won in the long slog of primaries and caucuses since the snows of January.

After these two primaries, theare only three left and they are small fish comaprted to the 103 delegates at stake in today's two primaries. Now it is on to persuading the remaining uncommitted superdelegates - the party insiders who are not tied to primary or caucus results - to pick up the pace of their endorsements. Enough of them have done so already to transform Clinton's hopes for the nomination from improbable in recent weeks to worse.

Still, the New York senator soldiered on through event after event, ending her night Monday in Louisville before a crowd of several hundred, her voice raspy from the stage. "There are a lot of people who wanted to end this election before you had a chance to vote," she said, husband and former President Clinton at her side. "I'm ready to go to bat for you if you'll come out and vote for me." She argued at one stop that she is the "more progressive candidate" and dismissed Obama's large crowds, like the record rally by an estimated 75,000 in Portland on Sunday.

Obama planned to spend the latest primary day in Iowa, the state of his opening electoral success. This, after he campaigned Monday in Montana, where voters will join those from South Dakota on June 3 in dropping the curtain on the 2008 primary and caucus season. The Illinois senator rarely mentions Clinton now, and neither does the press corps. Hillary who?

Counting aligned superdelegates, Obama has a total of 1,915 and Clinton had 1,721, according to the latest Associated Press count. That placed Obama just more than 100 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination.

After Tuesday, enough super delegates should get behind Obama to make the last three primaries (Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico) non-events.