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The Kentucky Derby is simply a world sports spectacle and, successful nan eyes of many, America’s definitive sporting tradition.
The arena was forged, remarkably, by 2 of nan awesome epic events successful United States history: nan triumph of nan Lewis and Clark Expedition and nan calamity of nan Civil War.
The bluegrass seeds of nan world's most celebrated equine race were planted by a fascinating man pinch a uniquely American heritage.
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His name: Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.
He founded some nan Kentucky Derby, which has been tally each twelvemonth since 1875, and nan Louisville Jockey Club, later known arsenic Churchill Downs.
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. founded nan Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs, which is named for his mother's family. Clark Jr. was nan grandson of famed Lewis and Clark Expedition leader William Clark. (Churchill Downs Racetrack, Courtesy of Kentucky Derby Museum)
"Clark’s effect connected nan Kentucky Derby and connected equine racing successful wide cannot beryllium overstated," Chris Goodlett, elder head of curatorial and acquisition affairs astatine nan Kentucky Derby Museum, told Fox News Digital.
"He was highly important, to opportunity nan least."
"Clark’s effect connected nan Kentucky Derby and connected equine racing successful wide cannot beryllium overstated." — Chris Goodlett, Kentucky Derby Museum
If nan sanction Meriwether Lewis Clark sounds familiar, it should.
The laminitis of nan Kentucky Derby is nan grandson of 1 of nan awesome heroes of American history, famed explorer William Clark.
He was named for Clark's arsenic legendary partner, Meriwether Lewis.
Justify (number 7, successful center), ridden by jockey Mike Smith, crosses nan decorativeness statement to triumph nan 144th moving of nan Kentucky Derby astatine Churchill Downs connected May 5, 2018, successful Louisville, Kentucky. (Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed nan vast, rugged, unrecorded American interior from St. Louis to nan Pacific Ocean and backmost betwixt 1804 and 1806.
The travel made some men nationalist heroes.
"The nonstop nexus to nan Kentucky Derby comes done William Clark," James J. Holmberg wrote for nan Filson Historical Society successful Louisville.
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"His emotion of horses was passed onto his son, Meriwether Lewis Clark."
The elder Meriwether Lewis Clark raised dozens of horses and kept elaborate records of them. Clark Jr. grew up successful a civilization shaped by dauntless pioneers and horsemen.
Sacagawea guiding nan Lewis and Clark expedition. The occurrence of nan Lewis and Clark expedition was aided by nan Indian enslaved woman of a French pioneer who was engaged to guideline nan party. Drawing by Alfred Russell. (Getty Images)
The Kentucky Derby besides sprang from nan desire of Kentucky’s horse-racing organization to retrieve from nan devastation of nan Civil War.
Clark was astatine nan forefront of an effort that helped merge nan federation done emotion of horses, sports, spectacle — and rowdy, old-fashioned bully times.
Pioneer's namesake
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. was calved connected Jan. 27, 1846 successful Jefferson County, Kentucky, to Meriwether Lewis and Abigail Prather (Churchill) Clark.
His family called him Lutie.
His father, Clark Sr., was nan oldest kid of William Clark, nan Army officer, explorer and later politician of nan Missouri Territory. Grandpa Clark died 8 years earlier Lutie was born.
Edward Troye, American, 1808-1874 (artist); "The Undefeated Asteroid," 1864, lipid connected canvas. Former enslaved Ansel Williamson (far right), trained nan celebrated Asteroid and later Aristides, nan Kentucky Derby's first winner. (Paul Mellon Collection; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond)
The enslaved shared by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis is evident successful nan astir friendly tribute imaginable: Clark named his firstborn boy aft his partner successful exploration.
Lewis ne'er had children.
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Clark Sr. served arsenic a U.S. Army officer successful nan Mexican-American War, past arsenic a wide successful nan Confederate service successful nan Civil War. Clark Jr. was of subject property during nan conflict but his service, if any, appears unknown.
Kentucky played a unsocial domiciled successful America's deadliest conflict. It was a enslaved state, but ne'er seceded from nan Union.
"The nonstop nexus (from Lewis and Clark explorations) to nan Kentucky Derby comes done William Clark." — Filson Historical Society successful Louisville.
It besides drew peculiar attraction from President Abraham Lincoln, who was calved successful Kentucky successful 1809.
"I deliberation to suffer Kentucky is astir nan aforesaid arsenic to suffer nan full game," Lincoln wrote successful a missive to Sen. O.H. Browning of Illinois successful 1861.
Abraham Lincoln was famously calved successful a Kentucky pioneer log cabin, a replica of which is connected show astatine nan Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum successful Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln saw nan destiny of his location authorities arsenic basal to nan result of nan Civil War. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum)
The Union did not suffer Kentucky. Nor did it summation it. The commonwealth was ravaged by soul conflict amid nan wider nationalist bloodshed.
Kentucky’s system was devastated by nan war, including its cherished horse-racing industry, which dates backmost to nan presence of nan first pioneers successful nan precocious 1700s.
"Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. himself had nary known racing liking until 1872, erstwhile a group of equine breeders, concerned pinch nan diminution of horse-racing successful Louisville, approached him pinch a scheme to prevention it," reports nan Filson Historical Society.
He built nan way connected 80 acres leased from his uncles John and Henry Churchill.
He visited Europe, wherever he was impressed by nan spectacle and nan value of the Epsom Races successful Britain.
He returned pinch a scheme to revive Kentucky's horse-racing manufacture pinch an arsenic glamorous spectacle.
"He built nan way connected 80 acres leased from his uncles John and Henry Churchill, conscionable 3 miles southbound of downtown Louisville," Churchill Downs reports successful its online history.
Racegoers bask nan betting and nan ambiance astatine nan Investec Derby Day held astatine Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey, confederate England, successful June 2011. The Queen's equine Carlton House was seeking to beryllium nan first Derby victor owned by a reigning monarch for complete 100 years, but vanished successful 3rd place. (Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)
Clark raised money by trading rank subscriptions to nan track, nan Louisville Jockey Club.
"With 320 rank subscriptions sold for $100 each, Clark raised a full of $32,000," Churchill Downs notes.
"A group of equine breeders, concerned pinch nan diminution of horse-racing successful Louisville, approached Clark pinch a scheme to prevention it."
"This profit was utilized to conception a clubhouse, grandstand, Porter’s Lodge and six stables connected tract for nan opening of nan track. Throughout nan years, nan first structures still stand, but nan racetrack has continued to turn and modernize."
‘Grand success’
The first Kentucky Derby was held connected May 17, 1875. It was 1 of 3 races astatine nan Louisville Jockey Club that day.
"The opening time of nan Kentucky Derby, astatine Louisville, connected Monday, was a expansive success," raved nan Interior Journal of Stanford, Kentucky.
Aristides, Kentucky calved and bred, was nan winning equine successful nan first Kentucky Derby. Kentucky horses person won 114 of nan 148 Kentucky Derby races from 1875 to 2022. (Churchill Downs Racetrack, Courtesy of Kentucky Derby Museum)
The derby apparently debuted pinch galore of nan traditions still cherished today, according to historiographer Goodlett.
Among them: racing fans lubricated by Kentucky bourbon fashioned into aromatic mint juleps while dressed successful their celebratory finery.
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"The attendance was upward of 12,000," nan New Orleans Republican reported. "The grandstand being thronged by a brilliant assemblage of ladies and gentlemen."
Aristides, a majestic chestnut colt, galloped to triumph against a section of 14 different thoroughbreds "in nan fastest clip ever made by a three-year-old," according to different modern account.
Jockey Oliver Lewis, 19, of Kentucky, won nan first Kentucky Derby successful 1875 riding Aristides. (Churchill Downs Racetrack, Courtesy of Kentucky Derby Museum)
Aristides was owned by H. Price McGrath; jockeyed by Oliver Lewis, a 19-year-old African American (both men from Kentucky); and trained by Ansel Williamson, a erstwhile enslaved and legendary American horseman.
Williamson was calved into slavery successful Virginia successful 1806. He was sent to activity astatine famed Woodburn Stud successful Louisville successful 1864 successful nan midst of nan Civil War.
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It was location that Williamson heroically saved Asteroid, Kentucky’s astir celebrated thoroughbred of nan era, from Quantrill’s Raiders, a notorious set of Confederate horsemen that included among its members Frank and Jesse James.
Aristides, nan first Kentucky Derby winner, was trained by Ansel Williamson, a erstwhile enslaved and legendary American horseman.
Quantrill’s Raiders scoured Kentucky for horses successful nan hopeless last months of nan warfare erstwhile they came crossed Woodburn Stud — seeking its astir legendary horse.
"At nan unchangeable 1 of nan guerrillas asked for Asteroid by name," writer William P. Magnum II wrote for The Filson Club Historical Quarterly successful 1996.
Illustration showing nan sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, aliases nan Lawrence Massacre by nan Quantrill Raiders, led by nan Confederate guerilla leader William Quantrill, connected Aug. 21, 1863. The raiders attempted to seizure celebrated Kentucky racehorse Asteroid erstwhile trainer and enslaved Ansel Wlliamson stopped them. (Interim Archives/Getty Images)
"Because it was dark, nan shrewd trainer Ansel pulled a move and substituted an inferior horse. The substitution was a brave enactment because nan guerrillas demanded nan horses astatine gunpoint."
Williamson had "saved nan champion equine successful nan stable," Woodburn Stud proprietor Robert A. Alexander reportedly said.
Black jockeys and trainers specified arsenic 1875 champions Lewis and Willamson, galore of them erstwhile slaves, dominated nan early days of nan Kentucky Derby, winning 15 of nan first 28 races and training six of nan first 17 winners, notes nan Kentucky Commission connected Human Rights.
Tragic death
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. ne'er lived to spot nan Run for nan Roses blossom into nan stunning spectacle it is today.
He died by his ain hand, shooting himself in Nashville, Tennessee, connected April 22, 1899. He was 53 years old.
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. founded nan Kentucky Derby successful 1875. He was nan grandson of famed explorer William Clark and named for his grandfather's Louisiana Purchase travel partner Meriwether Lewis. (Tom Stoddart/Getty Images; Churchill Downs Racetrack, Courtesy of Kentucky Derby Museum; Robin Alamy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There is simply a haunting precedent for his death.
Clark’s namesake, explorer Meriwether Lewis, reportedly killed himself by gunshot, too, besides successful Tennessee, successful 1809.
The origin of his decease has been disputed.
Clark Jr. was reportedly suffering awesome financial hardship, spurred by monolithic losses successful nan banal marketplace clang and nan Panic of 1893.
The signature copy spires were added to Churchill Downs successful 1895.
The Derby itself has suffered thin years aft nan committedness of 1875.
"The way was not successful bully financial shape, location were short fields and it wasn’t definite what nan Derby would become," said Goodlett.
A wide position of roses successful nan winner's circle pinch nan Twin Spires successful nan inheritance during nan 147th moving of nan Kentucky Derby connected May 1, 2021, astatine Churchill Downs successful Louisville, Kentucky. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The shortest section came successful 1892, erstwhile only 3 horses ran successful nan Kentucky Derby. (In 1905, only 3 horses ran arsenic well, aft 2 others scratched.)
In 1894, Clark surrendered activity of nan event. New guidance took over, solidified nan arena and expanded nan infrastructure.
The signature copy spires were added to Churchill Downs nan pursuing year, 1895.
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The accepted opus "My Old Kentucky Home," which was written successful 1852, only slow became a portion of nan lore of nan Kentucky Derby. Its first confirmed quality was astatine nan 47th title successful 1921.
Twenty of nan world’s fastest racehorses typically compete successful nan Kentucky Derby, pinch nary fearfulness of a dismal section of three.
This year, nan first-place victor of nan Kentucky Derby will drawback $3.1 cardinal — "a notable summation from nan $1.86 cardinal awarded past year," according to Fox Sports. (The full purse is $5 million, to beryllium divided among nan apical 5 finishers.)
Race fans show their style astatine nan 141st moving of nan Kentucky Derby astatine Churchill Downs successful Louisville, Kentucky, May 2, 2015. (Jim Owens/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
More than 150,000 group battalion Churchill Downs each year.
Millions much stitchery astir TVs and astatine parties from seashore to coast, galore dressed successful their Derby finest, arsenic if they’re astatine Churchill Downs.
"We cognize what nan Kentucky Derby has go — an unthinkable sporting and taste arena not conscionable successful nan U.S. but astir nan world," said Goodlett.
"It wouldn’t person happened if we didn’t person what Clark started."
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But, nan historiographer added, "the scope of nan Kentucky Derby coming was ne'er known to him."
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Kerry J. Byrne is simply a manner newsman pinch Fox News Digital.
