* Think your kid is the only one who manages to lose shoes and make you late? Nope. In 1989, Triple Buck lost his hose shoe four minutes before post time. The race was delayed so he could returned to the paddock for a new one.
* It’s not cheap to run the race. The entry fee costs $25,000. If the horse enters the starting gate, there is an additional $25,000 fee.
* Many people know that Secretariat was the fastest Derby winner, posting a time of under two minutes (1:59) in 1973, but the slowest winning horse doesn’t get much attention. Maybe it’s because you have to go back to 1891 to find that Kingman won with a time of 2:52.
* Five women have ridden in the famed “Run for the Roses”: Diane Crump, Patti Cooksey, Andrea Seefeldt, Julie Krone, and Rosemary Homeister.
* There has been measurable rainfall on 46% of all Derby days, but the race has only been postponed once due to weather. Even in 1918, when 2.31 inches of rain fell on race day, the race was held and Exterminator won.
* The Kentucky Derby is called the Run for the Roses because the winning horse is draped with blanket of red roses. The red rose became the official flower of the race in 1904. The blanket consists of 554 red roses and is presented, along with the trophy, by the Governor of Kentucky.
* When the horses are moved to the starting gate, The University of Louisville Marching Band performs “My Old Kentucky Home,” which Stephen Foster wrote in the 1850s.
* The Kentucky Derby was first televised nationally on May 3, 1952. On May 16, 1925, the first live radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby was originated by WHAS and was also carried by WGN in Chicago.
Sources: 365horses.com, cnn.com, Kentucky Derby Musuem, KentuckyDerby.com
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