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History of the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky has been a great center to raise horses and to compete since the late 18th century. From the time the region was settled, the fields of the region of the blue grass were noted to produce excellent race horses. In 1872, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and the expedition of Clark, traveled to England, visiting the Epsom Derby, a famous race that had been running yearly since 1780. From there, Clark passed to Paris, France, where in 1863, a group of enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club and organized the Grand Prix de Paris, that was at that time the largest horse race in France. Returning at home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club for the purpose of collecting money to build the first facilities of competing of quality in the city. The track would be known as Churchill Downs, named after Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr’s relatives, John and Henry Churchill, who had supplied the land for the track. Officially, the trail was named Churchill Downs in 1937. The Kentucky Derby was first ran in 1.5 miles (2.4 km), the same distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 1896, the distance was changed to its current 1.25 miles (2 km). In May 17, 1875, in front of a multitude of 10,000 people, a field of 15 horses of three years old represented the first Kentucky Derby. African-American rider Oliver Lewis, won the innagural Kentucky Derby. He later went on the finish in second place during the Belmont. Although the first race showed success, the trace collided with financial difficulties and in 1894, the new Louisville Jockey Club was integrated with new capitalization and improved facilities. In spite of this, the business walked with difficulty until 1902 when Colonel Matt Winn of Louisville put together a party of businessmen to acquire the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby came be the pinnacle thoroughbred horse race in America. Between 1875 and 1902, African American riders won 15 of the 28 races of the Kentucky Derby. In May 11, 1892, Afro-American rider Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton, age 15, came to be the youngest rider to win the Derby. The 1904 race was won by Elwood, the first derby winner possessed by a woman, Laska Durnell. In 1915, Grief came be the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby (of only three in the history of the career), and in 1917, the English raised colt “Omar Khayyam” came be the first foreign bred horse to win the race. The participants of the derby are limited horses of three years. No horse since Apollo in 1882 has won the derby without competing at age two. To earn additional income, jockeys began sending their successful horses fro Derby to compete some few weeks later in the Stakes of Preakness in the Racecourse of Pimlico, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Stakes of Belmont in Elmont, New York. The three races offered the largest market and in 1919, Mister Barton came be the first horse to win the three races. Nevertheless, the term Triple Crown did not enter the use for other eleven years. In 1930, when Valiant Fox came be the second horse to win the three careers, the sports writer Chat Hatton brought the phrase to the American public. Supplied of fuel by the media, the public interest in the possibility of a “superhorse” that would be able to win the Crown Triple began in the weeks that carrying to the Derby. Two years after the term was coined, the race, that had been carried out in the middle of May, was changed to the first Saturday in May to make way for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races. In May 3, 1952, the first national television broadcast of the Kentucky Derby was seen. In 1954, the prize purse exceeded $100,000 for the first time. In 1968, Dancer Image came be the first (and to this day the only one) horse to win the race and then become disqualified after the track of phenylbutazone, an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug, were found in the analysis of urine of the horse. Unexpectedly, the regulations in Kentucky race tracks changed some years later, permitting horses to be run on phenylbutazone.
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