Fun Facts About the Kentucky Derby In Louisville, KY

The Kentucky Derby is an annual horse race held in May. Eager horseracing fans can enjoy the event in person in Louisville or watch the Derby and all of its fanfare on their television at home. The Kentucky Derby is a big deal no matter where you watch it. To get into the spirit of things, here’s a list of 10 fun Kentucky Derby facts from our in-house fans at Oxmoor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

image via Flickr used under CC BY 2.0

The Kentucky Derby Is Based on a British Sport

Even though the Kentucky Derby has a distinctly American name, it didn’t originate in the United States. Instead, founder Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. was trying to recreate the Epsom Derby. This English racing competition had many of the traditions you might recognize from the event’s evolution: formal dress, a prestigious horse race, and plenty of fervent fans.

The 1892 Kentucky Derby Was the Smallest Competition Year

Generally, there’s quite a crowd of competitors on the track at the Kentucky Derby. However, 1892 saw the smallest group of competitors in the race’s history. There were only three horses in the race. First place went to Azra and his jockey Alonzo Clayton, who got $4,230 for the win.

The Biggest Part of the Kentucky Derby Might Be the Food Order

When people go to see the Kentucky Derby, they like to eat and drink (and we’ll get to the drinks later). Estimates place the in-stadium orders at over 140,000 hotdogs, 8,000 pounds of potatoes, and 300,000 strawberries. This doesn’t even account for other menu items like sandwiches, hamburgers, and desserts.

The Kentucky Derby Sees Millions of Dollars in Bets

There’s no clear answer to how much people bet on the Kentucky Derby around the world. However, Las Vegas sees at least $6 million in bets on the event each year, and the total is approximately $130 million at Churchill Downs. The actual sum is even higher than those two locations alone.

In fact, each recent year seems to beat the previous year’s record. In 2017, the total amount of betting on the Kentucky Derby from all sources was about $209 million, and it rose to over $227 million in 2018 and nearly $251 million in 2019.

The Kentucky Derby Has an Official Song

The official song of the Kentucky Derby is “My Old Kentucky Home.” Stephen Foster wrote the song in 1852, and it’s played each year at the start of the event. Remember that betting we just talked about? People don’t just bet on the race — they also bet on how long the song will be each year.

Six Women Have Competed in the Kentucky Derby

Only six women have ridden in the Kentucky Derby since the even first began in 1875. These six women are:

• Diane Crump, 1970.
• Patti Cooksey, 1985.
• Andrea Seefeldt, 1991.
• Julie Krone, 1992 and 1995
• Rosemary Homeister, 2003.
• Rosie Napravnik, 2011 and 2013.

Rosie Napravnik got fifth place in the 2013 Kentucky Derby, the highest place secured by a female jockey to date.

The Kentucky Derby Was Supposed to Be About Fashion, Too

Kentucky Derby founder Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. didn’t just want the event to be about racing — he wanted it to be an event for the socialites and elites in the country. People attending the race wore the latest spring fashions, and it was considered to be a relatively formal, well-to-do affair. However, the Kentucky Derby dress code eventually transformed into something a bit more unique, including a focus on intricate and extravagant hats.

This tradition was partially inherited from similar racing events in Europe. There, attendees have to wear fashionable formalwear called “morning dress.”

The Kentucky Derby (Almost) Always Happens on the First Saturday of May

The Kentucky Derby is a spring event. Since 1938, the event runners have scheduled the event for the first Saturday in May each year. The one exception happened early after this rule was put in place. In 1945, racing was banned until late May in order to concentrate the country’s efforts on World War II, so the race was scheduled for June 9 instead.

However, this didn’t stop the Kentucky Derby competitors from practicing. Some prepared in the short gap between the lifting of the restrictions and the day of the race, while competitors who could easily travel practiced in other countries to prepare for the big day.

The “Run for the Roses” Tradition Got Its Start in the 19th Century

The Kentucky Derby often goes by another name, the “Run for the Roses.” This tradition got its start in 1883 when a New York socialite named E. Berry Wall celebrated the event by giving out roses to female attendees at the after-party. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. liked the idea so much that he eventually made the rose the official flower of the Kentucky Derby.

In 1896, the winner of the race received a garland of roses for their victory. Since then, the Kentucky Derby victors have been awarded a blanket made of over 400 red roses each year.

The Kentucky Derby Has an Official Drink

The Kentucky Derby’s official drink is a mint julep. This sweet cocktail has three ingredients: bourbon, mint, and simple syrup. This isn’t just an empty title, either. Attendees love the official drink so much that the Kentucky Derby serves around 120,000 every year. It usually costs around $11 to order a mint julep at the track.

This icy drink is well-regarded for being refreshing. Its history as a popular drink in Kentucky also started long before the Derby. Allegedly, julep cups were a popular prize at county fairs throughout the state.

You might love a good horse race, but are cars your passion? They’re ours, too! At Oxmoor Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, we love everything about high-performance riding competitions, and the Kentucky Derby is one of our favorite events. If you have a favorite fun fact about the Kentucky Derby or you want to expand on one of these facts, let us know so we can add it to our list!