The first Kentucky Derby is run, and Aristides gallops into history
On this day · 17 May 1875
America's most famous horse race debuted in Louisville, won by a small chestnut colt and a 19-year-old jockey before 10,000 spectators.
On May 17, 1875, a field of 15 three-year-olds lined up at the new Louisville Jockey Club for the inaugural Kentucky Derby, watched by an estimated 10,000 spectators.
The winner was a small chestnut colt named Aristides, ridden by 19-year-old Oliver Lewis and trained by future Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson. Aristides covered the mile-and-a-half in 2:37¾, then a record for a three-year-old at that distance, beating Volcano by two lengths.
Thirteen of the fifteen jockeys that day were Black — a reminder of how central African American horsemen were to early American racing.
The distance was later trimmed to the now-familiar 1¼ miles, but the Derby itself never stopped. It endures as the longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, the opening jewel of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown.
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