The oldest continuously run sporting event in the United States, the Kentucky Derby is America's most famous horse race, rich in tradition and celebrated by racing fans throughout the world. In May, 1875, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, taking his lead from the English Derby at Epsom Downs, established the race for three-yearold thoroughbreds over a one-and-a-half-mile course (later reduced to a mile and a quarter). Attracting an annual crowd of more than 100,000 spectators, the Kentucky Derby has been called the "greatest two minutes in sports." It is also the first leg of racing's most sought-after goal, the Triple Crown, awarded to those rare horses who win at the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and at Belmont.

The Kentucky Derby race in progress, Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky.

Although the idea for building a race track and attracting the best horses to a rich, classic race originated with Colonel Clark...