Twenty horses stampeding 1¼ around Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. The Kentucky Derby turns 150 years old this year, extending its run as America’s longest continuously held sporting event.
The 2-minute race features a dash out of the starting gate, especially for the horses breaking from posts 15-20 whose jockeys want to angle them in to save ground. There’s a scramble for positioning going into the first turn before the field stretches out on the backside. The pace picks...