Kentucky Derby Tickets

Ketucky Derby Background Information

Kentucky Derby is a hugely popular stakes race which is held annually in Louisville. It is famously referred to as an exciting “two minutes in sports”. In the United States this is the first part of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing. The Derby draws thousands of people every year from all over the globe.

Kentucky was a well known hub for horse breeding as well as racing in the eighteenth century. The fields in the region of Blue grass were considered good for producing excellent race horses. It was Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark who was instrumental in setting up the Louisville Jockey Club with the aim of gathering money to build superior racing facilities in the outskirts of the city. The racetrack came to be known as Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby first ran a distance of 2.4 km in the track. The distance is the same as the Grand prix de Paris and the Epsom Derby. The distance was brought down to 2 km in 1896. It was in May 1875 that the first Derby took off. There were fifteen three year old horses who contested the race.