150 Years Of The Kentucky Derby

[JohnS]

A great article on the Kentucky Derby this May weekend. The original piece is the lead article of the latest March/April 2024 issue of Cigar Aficionado.

150 Years Of The Kentucky Derby

Cigar Aficionado’s guide to the most exciting two minutes in sports

By Jack Bettridge - From 150th Anniversary Of The Kentucky Derby, March/April 2024

There’s a small city in the south that for a week or two every spring suddenly becomes the very center of the world.

A two-minute event, which on May 4 will run for the 150th consecutive time, transforms Louisville into an extended celebration of horse racing, camaraderie and all things Kentucky.

“It’s like Christmas, those weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby,” says Mark Bacon, senior vice president for Woodford Reserve Bourbon, a sponsor of the event. “It’s the feeling you get around the holidays. Everybody has an extra kind word and there’s an event you go to almost every night.” As an investor in several race horses, Bacon has attended the Derby every year since he watched Affirmed beat out Alydar in 1978 as an 11-year-old. In Louisville, Derby time is a calendar fixture that, like Yuletide, people begin to plan for far in advance. Except that in this case the point of the kick-off doesn’t occur a month or two ahead. It comes when local citizens here begin the mantra “a hundred days until Derby,” counting down to the big race. In a way, post-time is sometime in January for a fixture that takes place on the first Saturday of May.

The Kentucky Derby is an anomaly among events. It occurs in the same place, Churchill Downs, and at the same time every year and laser focuses the world’s attention on a sport that the average person doesn’t pay much attention to on any other day. It packs in more fans than the Super Bowl, with as many as 170,000 filling Churchill Downs. Many of them will have cigars in hand, as the racetrack (unlike just about every other sporting venue) remains quite cigar friendly. For that one day, the venue becomes the third largest city in Kentucky. More than 16 million watched the race on NBC and Peacock last year. But unlike the World Series, NBA Championship or Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby isn’t even a national championship. It’s a race for three-year-olds who have qualified for the 20-horse field based on a limited number of races. In a sense it’s a debutante ball for equines. And as Kentuckians are fond of pointing out, it’s almost as if they got it backwards, scheduling horse racing’s biggest moment at the beginning of the season, rather than the end.

While the Derby raised its total purse to $5 million this year (up from $3 million in 2023), and the winner will take home a cool $3.1 million, it still lags behind the Breeder’s Cup, where a single horse can win $6 million. But what the Derby lacks in payoff, it makes up for in prestige. Champions are heralded, joining names such as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, American Pharoah and Justify. Jockeys ride hundreds of times every year, but this is the ultimate feather in the cap, a career maker. In most sports, the people who oversee the athletes’ regimens operate behind the scenes. At the Kentucky Derby the world hangs on the words of such trainers as D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert. And for the owner, the prize money is only the first reward. Future earnings come from stud fees when the happy horse often goes into early retirement from the track to hopefully produce more fleet issues.

But the Derby is far more than a sporting event. For Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it’s a glorious reaffirmation of its place in the world. It’s a showcase for the state’s vaunted charms. The people of the city are more than willing to welcome the world—even Yankees—with that famous hospitality: “Where y’all from? Have you come to drink our Bourbon and see our horses?” When locals feel each other out, the question is not “where did you go to college?” but “where are your Derby seats?”

To the victor go the roses. Jockey Javier Castellano celebrates atop of Mage after winning the 2023 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

The answer to that question can say as much about your status as a perusal of the social register, explains Mike Anderson, president of Churchill Downs: “It starts as a rite of passage to view it from the infield as a college student, but you aspire to be in the seats,” he says. “You work your way up in your mid 20s when you want to be in the grandstand, which is the cheaper seats, and then you work your way towards the finish line.”

Some of the ultimate prizes in Derby real estate are the governor’s and sponsors’ suites. (To get into such storied areas it’s best to bring business into the state or be a good customer of BMW, Ford Motor Co., Longines or Woodford.) If you’re into celebrity watching, try to snag a table at Matt Winn’s, the steakhouse that overlooks the racetrack from the top tier.

And what other event can be as much about fashion and people watching as the action on the field? Nobody tunes into the World Series to see the latest styles. But Kentucky belles start to shop in January in order to show up in monumental chapeaus at the Run for the Roses. Even the men get into the spirit with everything from checky outfits to classic seersucker suits. Fashion is so engrained in the event that Churchill Downs publishes a style guide on its website.

While there is certainly a sense of gentry here, the tone is still laid-back. Whereas a northerner who is into tracing his genealogy is likely to brag on his ancestors’ berth on the Mayflower or his ranking in society’s 400, a well-healed Louisvillian might tell you how his great granddaddy was a moonshiner or descended from Jesse James—only half kidding.

For Louisville, the excitement starts long before the private jets begin to fill the airport tarmac on Derby Day. At Wagner’s Pharmacy, a diner near the track, it revs up late March when the racing circuit returns to Churchill Downs. “You blink and miss it,” says Jennifer Oller, a manager. What was founded as an apothecary caters to track personnel—walkers, exercise riders, even some well-known trainers. But don’t expect to see jockeys, as the food here is far too rib-sticking for anyone trying to make weight. The specialty is the Hangover Breakfast: country-fried steak on a bed of biscuits and gravy, topped by two eggs, with a side order of hash browns, a perfect balm after a day (and night) of sipping Mint Juleps and drams of Bourbon.

Studies show that the Derby brings a $400 million positive economic impact to the community, says Anderson. The effect begins to be truly felt the weekend before, when hotels start to book rooms by the week, restaurants reserve all their tables and legendary bars like the ones at the Brown and Seelbach Hilton hotels fill with converts to the state spirit.

In fact, it’s hard to go anywhere in Louisville without encountering Bourbon. With its resurgence, the city is now dotted with small distilleries that can be toured, and if you enjoy corn-based whiskey and you judge a museum by its gift shop, you’ll be delighted by the Kentucky Derby Museum. Not only can you see films on every Derby since 1875, watch the previous year’s running on a state-of-the-art display and tour Churchill Downs, but you can buy Bourbon, and the well-stocked bar serves cocktails.

Woe be to the local business that doesn’t start to stock up on the essentials months ahead of time, says Lewis Shuckman, owner of Louisville’s Shuckman’s Fish Co. & Smokery. “For a lot of people—stores and restaurants—the Derby makes their year,” he says. “The Liquor Barn is packed and there’s a line out the door waiting to get into the cigar room. Taxi drivers lick their lips because you never know when somebody’s going to drop a hundred-dollar tip.” For his part, Shuckman sells out of delicacies like spoonfish caviar, which can be found at the many spectacular Derby parties.

It used to be that the Kentucky Oaks, an all-filly event the day before the Derby, started things off here, but now the entire week is a runup of events, beginning with a track opening ceremony the Saturday before. Events that fill in the calendar are Tuesday’s 502’sDay (named for the local area code) and the Thurby on Thursday. And Louisville children celebrate too, as the city’s school system goes on holiday the day before the Derby.

For those who can’t find tickets, there are plenty of other features. In the two weeks before the Derby comes a succession of 70 events, including balloon races, fireworks, steamboat races on the Ohio River and a parade. And, of course, there’s always watching from home, wearing your finest, puffing on cigars and enjoying some Bourbon. (And just because it’s a short race doesn’t mean you need to only celebrate for two minutes. We suggest gathering long before the horses shoot from the gate, and sticking around for quite some time after.)

The Derby only seems to get bigger with each passing year.  So far, nothing has ever stopped it. The big bash has run uninterrupted for its entire history, taking place even through two World Wars and a pair of pandemics.

For Anderson, the Kentucky Derby is far more than a sports event: “It’s an institution that brings communities together. When there’s bad things going on in the world, we’d like to think we can put our differences aside and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to celebrate life. Have this two-minute horse race, meet and greet people and eat good food and drink great whiskey.’ ”

Source: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/150-years-of-the-kentucky-derby