I’ve always thought that May is one of the most exciting months of the year. It tends to mean different things to different people, usually depending on where in the country one lives. For those in the South and Southwest, it probably means that the short spring there is ending and the heat of summer is soon to be upon them. For those in the Midwest, East, or Northeast, however, May signals much more than simply a change in the weather. It also means that cabin fever is mercifully ending, especially when a few above-average temperatures and sunny days finally start showing up. This is not to be confused with the Covid isolation; cabin fever in snowy places is an annual occurrence, not a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime anomaly.
Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
May is a time to get flowers and vegetables ready to plant and for the re-arrival of enough dry soil for farmers to begin planning how to plant their fields and crops that will come to harvest later in the year. Because frost can always show up in May in these parts of our nation, however, many home horticulturists wait until near Memorial Day to plant, the better to avoid the likely loss of these spring treasures should cold return. Lucky residents in warmer climes, of course, have already been enjoying their new gardens and flowers, albeit with accompanying concern for the superheated air that’s sure to follow. And certainly, no flower is more symbolic of spring, save perhaps the daffodil, than the red rose. (What, you thought that this article was just another version of the Olde Farmer’s Almanac?)
The Kentucky Derby – the Run for the Roses – is of course another rite of spring. Always scheduled for the first Saturday in May, this iconic, historic race is another indicator that better weather and happier times are ahead, and every year, a field of some of the best three-year-old horses in the world will be tested at the classic American distance of a mile and a quarter, a distance longer than most have ever raced.
To win this single race not only means millions of dollars in purse winnings, but also creates the opportunity for a winning colt to go on to earn many more millions as a stallion. The hopes and dreams of the owners are as high as they could be for any race in this fabulous sport. This is still the one that, probably more than any other, gets the casual race fan’s pulse racing. Since this contest is only for three-year-olds, a colt gets just one chance for immortality, and for many owners, the same is true. Trainers like Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher have won the Derby several times over the years, but this racing Holy Grail has eluded dozens of other legendary trainers. They may have won hundreds of other races, captured prestigious contest around the world, and earned hundreds of millions of dollars, but the lack of a Derby win nevertheless hovers over their reputations. Whether it’s fair or not, the Kentucky Derby, still the most famous race in the country, is to many is the race that truly stamps one as a great trainer.
There are a maximum of 20 horses in the Derby field, a number which has been met every year since 2005, although scratches have meant that in several years since then the field that actually raced didn’t contain the full complement of 20. Horses earn points by competing and placing in certain designated races run prior to the first Saturday in May. It’s a simple process: the 20 horses with the highest point totals after these designated are allowed to enter in the Louisville classic. To add intrigue to the contest, owners are required to nominate their horses months before their colts compete in any race, and each nomination costs several hundred dollars. With a chance at a Derby berth at stake, many owners nominate several of their potentially best runners early, since the entry cost rises substantially as the Derby draws closer. The number of early nominations usually runs around 350 per year, give or take, and the per-horse nomination fee increases from a standard $600 to ten times that if, as the race draws near, the horse has not been nominated earlier. (That window closes in late March, and the numbers spike afterward. Feel free to take a look at this horse-races.net article if you’d like to know more. The process is Byzantine, to say the least.) How does a horse have to finish to make any money in the Derby ? The total purse for the 2021 Derby is $3 million, with this year’s winner slated to receive a tidy $1.86 million – nearly two hundred thousand dollars a furlong. The second horse receives $600,000, third $300,000, fourth $150,000, and fifth $90,000. The rest of the field wins $25,000 each – and the chance to be billed a Kentucky Derby contender wherever he goes for the rest of his days.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of calculus – and a lot of wishcasting – that goes into setting the final Derby field. But, given that the winner of this race will potentially be worth millions of dollars and forever have “Kentucky Derby winner” affixed to his pedigree, one can see why this race, which does not have the world’s highest purse structure, is still one of the crown jewels of horse racing.
Thanks to the Covid pandemic, last year’s Derby was run in September before an empty grandstand, with no one on hand to see it except trainers and owners. Covid protocols are still in place today throughout the country, but as vaccinations increase, they’re starting to ease ever so slightly, and in light of this Churchill Downs has decided this year to “invite” as many patrons as they are allowed – a to-this-point fluctuating number that I am certain will be adjusted as protocols are lessened. But it’s still fair to say that the 150,000 or so racegoers who usually attend the Run for Roses will largely be watching on TV again this year, rather than sipping mint julips in the grandstand. This is still a strange and unique time in history, but the results of this year’s race will yield the same benefits as all those of the past. The winner will become an historic figure, the only horse to have the chance to win the 2021 Triple Crown. All this will happen no matter how few the number of people personally witness the race. And you can be sure that the Derby winner will be toasted by millions of fans around the world who will be watching on television.
The field is now set, and all the information you might want about any of the colts slated to go on Saturday can be found at Kentuckyderby.com. But there’s an even more interesting extended list at BloodHorse that covers the top 43 point-getters, and it’s worth looking over at least the top of that list, since when the Derby qualifiers are announced, the racing officials also place a couple of horses, those next in line on the points list, on the “also eligible” list, meaning if a horse who is already entered withdraws, one of these AE horses may have an opportunity to get into the race by paying the $25,000 entry fee, and, like all 20 starters, earn at least that $25,000 back if they actually run in the race. Some horses on 2021’s previous top 20 list have already been removed because of injury. Two of the top three horses, Life is Good and Greatest Honour, are no longer running, leaving last year’s two-year-old champion, the undefeated Essential Quality, as the overwhelming betting favorite going into tomorrow. In past years, several horses who were favored turned up sick or otherwise unable to perform as late as the night before the race and did not compete, and a few other top contenders developed minor injuries before the Derby and also failed to run. Thoroughbreds are beautiful, majestic animals, and the care they receive is the best available, but sometimes things happen – a circumstance with which, in light of the past year, I’d wager pretty much all of us are familiar.
Whatever it is, sometimes, it just ain’t fair.
Now: prepare your flowers for planting, look forward to spring or summer, and maybe follow a horse or two. And if you find yourself at a Derby party and are asked that age-old horse racing question “Who do you like?”, have faith – with the smallest bit of research, you might call the winner before the race is even run.
Most of all, though, please celebrate that the pandemic is gradually getting under control, that people are getting vaccinated in record numbers, that flowers are about to bloom, that the temperatures are warming and the windows are opening, and that the running of the Kentucky Derby will always be a symbol of hope and spirit and dreams. Enjoy the races, everyone!
The Queen of England at the 2007 Derby (photo by the author)
