How much do you know about the first Kentucky Derby? Test your knowledge with our quiz

It’s the “fastest two minutes in sport,” “The Run For the Roses,” everyone’s favorite, and perhaps most well-known, horse race in America: The Kentucky Derby.

Apologies to the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, those other two races alongside the Derby which make up the infamous Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, but the Preakness and Belmont don’t have the same undeniable swagger and gusto as the Derby.

Granted the other two are older (inaugurated in 1873 and 1867, respectively), but they are practically peepaws compared to the youthful veneer of the Derby; who I suppose is either a Millennial or Gen Z in this analogy.

But this year the Derby enters into the sesquicentennial club right along with its peers. That’s right, Saturday, May 4, 2024, is the 150th anniversary of the Kentucky Derby. It’ll take place, as it has for some time now, at Churchill Downs in a little city called Louisville.

Do you think anyone would’ve thought back in 1875 that this horse race was still going to be happening even 10 or 20 years after it started, let alone 150? What is considered to be the invention of the world’s first automobile didn’t even happen until 1886; just to give you a sense of how long ago this was.

A lot can happen in 150 years and, in fact, a lot has happened. As we celebrate this milestone anniversary for the Derby, I invite you to look back and test those brain muscles of yours. How much do you know about the first running of the Kentucky Derby? Prove your mental chops in our quiz down below.

Winners get a free mint julep on me. If you don’t like mint juleps then I can also provide, oh, I don’t know a very nice hat or something.

This story was originally published April 26, 2024 at 1:14 PM.

Andrew Henderson

Lexington Herald-Leader

Andrew is the deputy audience editor for McClatchy’s mid-sized and smaller newsrooms. His home newsroom is the Lexington Herald-Leader and he occasionally writes opinion columns for the paper. He was previously the editor of the Oldham Era and is a graduate of Western Kentucky University. Andrew is from Olive Hill in Carter County.