- It was inspired by the Epsom Derby in England. In 1872, Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. went to England to attend the race and decided to set up a similar event at home. He started a racing club called the Louisville Jockey Club and raised enough money to build a permanent racetrack in Louisville. Since 1883, the track has been known as Churchill Downs.
- It's the oldest sporting event in the USA. The first Kentucky Derby was held in 1875. On that occasion, fifteen Horses competed. The winner was Aristides, a three-year-old chestnut colt, watched by 10,000 people.
- Nowadays, about 80,000 people show up, which is enough people to make Churchill Downs the third biggest city in Kentucky for the day.
- The field for the race is limited to 20 horses. The smallest field was in 1892, when only three horses ran. In order to take part, a horse must have taken part in a given set of races over the previous year and be less than three years old. There is also a hefty entrance fee. $25,000 to enter to race to be chosen, and another $25,000 for the final 20. Seems like a lot, but the winner gets around $1.5 million, which they can easily double with stud fees later on.
- The Kentucky Derby has never been postponed because of bad weather.
- The race is one and a quarter miles long. Until 1896, it was one and a half miles, like its Epsom counterpart. It takes about two minutes to run the race, hence it is sometimes referred to as "The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports".
- It's also known as "The Run for the Roses", a name coined by a journalist called Bill Corum in 1925. This name derives from the huge garland of red roses draped over the winner. The garland contains more than 400 roses, with a crown in the centre. The crown has a single rose pointing up, which symbolises the heart and struggle the winner will have gone through to get there. The number of roses in the crown is determined by how many horses compete in the Derby. Giving the winner roses dates back to 1896, when winner Ben Brush was given a garland made of white and pink roses. The red rose is the race’s official flower.
- The race also has an official drink, the Mint julep. About 120,000 mint juleps are consumed during the two day period of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. There's an unofficial dish as well. Burgoo, a thick stew of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables, is a popular Kentucky dish which is served at the Derby.
- The fastest time for the race is 1:59.40. This time was achieved by Secretariat in 1973.
- Only three fillies have won the Derby: Regret (1915), Genuine Risk (1980) and Winning Colors (1988). Fourteen female trainers have competed, with Shelley Riley coming second with Casual Lies in 1992. Six female jockeys have taken part. Diane Crump was the first, in 1970. To date, the best performance was Rosie Napravnik on Mylute who came fifth in 2013.
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