What Is The Kentucky Derby?
I Know It's a Horse Race...But Is It?
The first Saturday in May means a lot of things to a lot of people. Whether you’re making your Memorial Day/Victoria Day plans or picking up a couple of comics at your local shop for Free Comic Book Day, there’s a feeling that spring is in the air and the summer is right around the corner. The first Saturday in May is also features the Kentucky Derby, the cream of the crop when it comes to horseracing.
Now, I have a very particular image of what it means to be a horseracing fan. Growing up in Brooklyn, there were these little shops called OTB (Off Track Betting) that would dot the neighborhood. In it, where a bunch of guys in their fifties who were perpetually mad and throwing crumpled betting slips on the floor after a loss. So imagine my surprise every year where I see news and content coming out of Louisville, Kentucky on the first weekend in May. The Kentucky Derby isn’t a sad gray-tiled storefront that is overly bright with fluorescent lights, it’s a thing to see and be seen at. It’s a place where the ladies can wear their finest fascinator.
It’s also a place where celebrities show up and pretend to be huge year-round fans of horseracing. It was a bit coincidental it was the same weekend as the Formula 1 Miami GP, because the celebrities at that event were doing that “I’m such a huge fan” thing there too.
As far as the Derby itself, It sounded like a good time. The horse Sovereignty (with 7 to 1 odds apparently) won the race, every horse in the race was related to the legendary Secretariat, and many sites did fashion fails of the people who showed up wearing “the ick.” But after I experienced all of that I was left with one question: Who is the Kentucky Derby for?
Of course, I say this being on the outside of the main demographic. I don’t think I’m sophisticated enough to wear church clothes to a sporting event, but just because something is too rich for my blood doesn’t mean it’s bad. (Because honestly most sports are these days, anyway). The Kentucky Derby is dripping with tradition with it being 151 years old, but unlike other sporting events, has leaned into the “old-timey” order of things. I bet Louisville makes a mean mint julip.
With all the colorful names for horses and how people clamor in the stands, I wondered whether this sort of thing is like Monster Jam for rich folk.
Or is it more of the “Kentucky Met Gala?”
The above is a picture of F1 Driver Lewis Hamilton at this year’s Met Gala but if I told you he had a racehorse, you’d probably believe me.
There’s so many celebrities out there that DO own horses, that you would’ve thought it was a cryptocurrency.
For what it’s worth, I loved the spectacle of the Kentucky Derby, but do I start following the sport? Or is it a “same time next year” sort of thing? Who knows, man? Who knows?