Every year on the first Saturday in May, millions of people from all over the world fix their eyes on Churchill Downs to watch the greatest two-minutes in sports.
[Youtube clip: “Call to Post at Churchill Downs!!”]
Last weekend we saw the 151st annual running of the Kentucky Derby, the most anticipated horse race in the entire world. Now, being from Louisville, Kentucky, the home of Churchill Downs, I grew up celebrating the Derby. On Derby day, all across Kentucky we throw big parties before the race. It’s like our personal Superbowl. And when I moved to Evanston, I was worried about missing out on all the fun Derby festivities. And it seems like I wasn’t the only one.
KATIE CUMMINS: So the Derby’s a pretty big deal even when you’re not in Louisville, if you’re a Louisvillian. Freshman and sophomore year I took my friends home for the derby.
That’s Communications senior Katie Cummins, a fellow Louisville native.
CUMMINS: Last year I was just like, I just wanna throw a party. Like I’m gonna throw a big party and I want it to be really fun. ‘Cause it’s expensive to go down to the, like, the tickets are so expensive and it’s like kind of a hard weekend to make work, like with the quarter system, getting home. And so yeah, like last year once we moved off campus we had like a backyard with which to throw a derby party. Um, and I’m glad that we did that, especially because the weather was kind of terrible during the actual Derby.
Throwing a Derby party is no small feat, especially if you’re outside of Kentucky. There are a lot of Kentucky foods and drinks that are Derby party staples, such as mint juleps and Derby pie, that you just can’t find in stores outside of Kentucky. So, you have to make them yourself.
CUMMINS: The pies were funny because for, first off, I, I made six pies, which I’ve never like undertaken a baking production of that scale. But people kept saying that they were store bought. Like I had to shut down several rumors throughout the party. And I like. Yeah, like people kept being like, “Katie, are these, where are these from?” My heart, my soul.
A really important aspect of the Derby is betting. According to expert sports bettor and analyst Jimmy Boyd, the Kentucky Derby broke the betting record this year, with over $234 million wagered for the race. And this doesn’t even include all the independent betting pools running at house parties.
CUMMINS: Yeah, we ran a $5 pool and a $10 pool. I did find out that my grandparents, when they threw Derby parties, they would hire a bookie to come for their parties, like in the eighties. So, I just had people like pull the horses out of a hat. So it wasn’t, it was random, which a lot of people were very relieved about. They were like, “I don’t know anything about horses.” And I was like, “honestly, me neither.” Um, And there was no way I would be able to like actually be a bookie and run a pool.
And then there’s the running of the actual race itself. Now the race is only about two minutes long. But those two short minutes are full of ups and downs and twists and turns. But not literal twists and turns. It’s an oval-shaped track.
CUMMINS: I crowded everyone into my apartment like for the actual race. So we had like a hundred people in my apartment, like watching, and people were confused. They were like, “I didn’t realize we cared about the race.” And I was like, “Of course we care about the race. That’s why we’re here.”
This year was especially exciting because it was the first time that all the horses in the race were descendants of Secretariat, the famed 1973 Derby winner widely considered to be one of the greatest racehorses of all time. The favorite in the race this year was a horse named Journalism, who had three-to-one odds at the start of the race. Other top contenders were horses named Sandman, Sovereignty, and Luxor Cafe, with five-, seven-, and eight-to-one odds respectively. But in total, there were nineteen horses posted up at that start line, and all were let go at the exact same time.
[Youtube clip: “Kentucky Derby 2025 (FULL RACE)] “They’re off in the Kentucky Derby. Journalism is in a little bit of traffic early on here, but he came out of the gate okay. Citizen Bull and Neoequos as expected to the front, but they’ve come well off the rail, and these two are setting the pace with Owen Almighty to the outside.”
And during those two heated minutes, Churchill Downs and every Derby party around the world explode with noise and excitement, as everyone is rooting, with unbridled passion, for their horse to win. Here’s a recording from my Derby party this year, which was just a small gathering of about thirty of my friends.
[nat sound: yelling and cheering]
And once those horses start to round the final bend, all you can do is hope for your favorite to pull through.
[Youtube clip: “Kentucky Derby 2025 (FULL RACE)] “Journalism is on the move as they turn for home and Sovereignty is coming with him on the outside. The two of them go right by with a furlong to run. Journalism and Sovereignty, nose to nose, down to the last 16th of a mile. Sovereignty has taken the lead. Journalism is second toward the inside. Baeza’s third. But it will be Sovereignty to rule the Kentucky Derby!”
For WNUR News, I’m Sofi Pascua.
