On the first Saturday in May, the best three-year-old Thoroughbred race horses gather in Louisville, Kentucky to run “the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports,” the Kentucky Derby. The mile-and-a-quarter race consists of a field of horses chosen through a qualification period where they earn points for races leading up to the Derby.
The “Road to the Kentucky Derby” has become as exciting as the actual Run for the Roses. This year it will take place on May 2nd. It’s a chance for horses, trainers, jockeys, and owners to prove themselves in the time leading up to the Big One at Churchill Downs Racetrack at the end of the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival.
The Derby is not just a critical stand-alone race. It is the first leg of the prestigious Triple Crown. The next two are the Preakness Stakes held at the Pimlico Race Course in Maryland the third Saturday in May; and the Belmont Stakes, held on the first or second Saturday in June at New York’s Belmont Park track in Elmont. The Triple Crown is the ultimate trophy for any racehorse and its human connections. It has only been won by 13 horses since its first winner, Sir Barton, in 1919. But it all begins in Louisville.
There are actually three ways a horse can nab one of the twenty field positions for the Kentucky Derby. There are four reserve spots as well. The main road to the Derby consists of 35 races. This is including 19 races for the Derby Prep Season, and 16 for the Derby Championship Season.
One of those races takes place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The other two roads are the Japan Road, with four races in that country; and the European Road, with seven races in Ireland, England, and France. Top four finishers get four points, and the bigger prep races offer more points. The horses with the most points get to run for that beautiful rose blanket and go on to compete for the Triple Crown.
In my next blogs, I’ll talk about some of the great Derby winners of the past. As well as the current standings of horses on the Road to the Derby for 2020.
[…] Durnell nominated husband and horse trainer Charles Durnell’s horse, Elwood, to compete in the Kentucky Derby that year. Elwood won and became the first starter and winner owned by a woman. Elwood was also […]