History of the Kentucky Derby

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The race is known in the United States as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports” or “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” for its approximate duration, and is also called “The Run for the Roses” for the blanket of roses draped over the winner.
It is the first leg of the American Triple Crown and is followed by the Preakness Stakes, then the Belmont Stakes.

The Mint Julep was declared the official drink of the Derby in 1938

The Kentucky Derby began in 1875 and has run every year, even when similar races took off for World War I and World War II.

Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark
expedition, was the founder of the Kentucky Derby.  The idea was based on his travels to England and France.

The track in Kentucky is 1 1/2 miles and known as Churchill Downs for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land for the racetrack.

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