What is The Kentucky Derby?
A: The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky,
United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the
two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival.
The competition is a Grade I stakes race for
three-year-old Thoroughbreds at what distance?
A: One and a quarter miles.
Where is the race held?
A: At Churchill Downs.
Colts and geldings carry how many pounds?
A: 126 (57 kilograms).
Fillies carry how many pounds?
A: 121 pounds (55 kilograms).
What is the race dubbed?
A: "The Run for the Roses".
It is also known in the United States as what?
A: "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" or "The Fastest Two Minutes in
Sports" because of its approximate duration.
It is the first leg of what?
A: The American Triple Crown.
What are the other two legs?
A: The Preakness Stakes, and then the Belmont Stakes.
Of the three Triple Crown races, the Kentucky Derby has
the distinction of what?
A: Having been run uninterrupted since its inaugural race in 1875.
The race was rescheduled to September 2020 due to what?
A: The COVID-19 pandemic.
The Preakness and Belmont Stakes races had taken
hiatuses in what years?
A: 1891–1893 and 1911–1912, respectively.
Even with the Olympics and major professional sports
leagues canceled at those points, the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont took
place during what?
A: The Great Depression and both World Wars.
A horse must do what to win the Triple Crown.?
A: Win all three races.
The attendance at the Kentucky Derby ranks where in
North America?
A: First, and usually surpasses the attendance numbers of all other stakes
races including the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and the Breeders' Cup.
On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of how
many people attended the first Derby?
A: 10,000.
Under what jockey did a colt named Aristides, who was
trained by future Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson, win the inaugural Derby?
A: Oliver Lewis.
Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place
finish in what?
A: The Belmont Stakes.
In 1872, Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson of
William Clark of the
Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England,
visiting what?
A: Epsom in Surrey where The Derby had been
running annually since 1780.
From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where a
group of racing enthusiasts had formed what?
A: The French Jockey Club in 1863.
They had organized the Grand Prix de Paris at
Longchamp, which at the time was the what?
A: The greatest race in France.
Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the
Louisville Jockey Club to raise money for doing what?
A: For building quality racing facilities just outside the city.
The track would soon become known as what?
A: Churchill Downs, named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the
land for the racetrack.
The naming went official in what year?
A: 1937.
A thoroughbred horse is depicted on the reverse of
what?
A: The Kentucky state quarter.