The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event

Notes

Notes Introduction 1. Legend has it that he won a coin flip with Sir Charles Bunbury to decide whose name the race would carry. The Derby Stakes is run at Epsom Downs over one and a half miles and is now internationally known as the Epsom (or English) Derby. 2. John Filson, The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke (New York: Corinth Books, 1962), originally published in 1784 in Wilmington, Delaware. 3. See Maryjean Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern: A Tale of Outlaws, Horse Thieves, Gamblers and Breeders (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010) for an explanation of why Kentucky became a national Thoroughbred center. The term place carries much more meaning than simply geographical location. The identity of a place (a city, state, region, nation, monument, or other site) is shaped both by its own physical characteristics, history, and so on, and the perspectives, values, and expectations of the person visiting, imagining , or referencing that site. 4. Boone was the subject of numerous biographical works in the nineteenth century, becoming one of the first pop culture heroes in the United States, and the archetypical frontiersman. He was lauded by Lord Byron in his epic poem Don Juan, and served as a model for James Fenimore Cooper’s hero Natty Bumppo (Hawkeye) in the Leatherstocking Tales. 225 Notes to Pages 3–11 226 5. Given Boone’s significant association with the history and iconography of Kentucky, it is ironic that he was buried in the state capital of Frankfort against his will. Boone had left specific instructions stating he did not wish to be buried in Kentucky because of continued disagreements with the state government. He had not set foot in Kentucky since 1799. He spent the final two decades of his life in Missouri, where he died and was originally buried in 1820. He was reinterred in the Bluegrass State in 1845 after the Kentucky state legislature appropriated funds at the request of a Frankfort cemetery to relocate Boone, with the permission of Boone’s descendants. See John Mack Faragher, The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (New York: Henry Holt, 1992), 356. 6. The fact that slaves in Kentucky were geographically closer to freedom in the North than slaves in the Lower South, and that Kentucky was home to two vocal abolitionists, Cassius M. Clay and John Fee, may also have contributed to this perception. 7. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (New York: Penguin Books, 1966), 21. The book was first published serially in 1851. 8. Vickie Mitchell, “Derby Anthem’s Dark Roots,” Kentucky Derby Souvenir Magazine, May 3, 2003, 66–68. 9. I use the term myth here and throughout this book not to signify untruth, but to refer to the kinds of legends and stories that become part of a cultural fabric without regard to whether they actually occurred. 1. Early Struggles and Foundations for Success 1. B. G. Bruce, “Derby Day,” Louisville Courier-Journal, May 17, 1875. 2. “A Voice from Kentucky,” New York Times, August 12, 1874, 4. 3. The racetrack was called Churchill Downs as early as 1883, and the name entered common parlance a few years later. Over the years the business entity that began as the Louisville Jockey Club and Driving Park Association would have numerous names under numerous ownership umbrellas, including the New Louisville Jockey Club, the Kentucky Jockey Club, and the American Turf Association. It would not officially be called Churchill Downs, Inc. (its current moniker) until well into the twentieth century. For simplicity’s sake I use the name Notes to Pages 11–24 227 Churchill Downs to describe both the racetrack and the various business entities that conducted race meets at the facility. 4. “Louisville Jockey Club Opens Meeting,” New York Times, May 18, 1875, 5. 5. Nelson Dunstan, “Reflections,” Daily Racing Form, May 3, 1952, 64. 6. “The Kentucky Derby,” New York Times, May 9, 1886, 2. 7. Louisville Courier-Journal, May 14, 1886, in William S. Butt, ed., They’re Off: A Century of Kentucky Derby Coverage by the Courier- Journal and the Louisville Times (Louisville: Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, 1975). 8. This was not the only time that Haggin threatened to take his horses and go home if he did not have his way. According to a July 17, 1890, New York Times article, Haggin pulled a similar stunt after a St. Louis...