ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY May 17, 1875
The First Kentucky Derby is Run
On this day in 1875, in front of a crowd of 10,000 people, the first Kentucky Derby was run with a field of 15 horses for a distance of 1.5 miles (the race was later changed to the current distance of 1.25 miles). The colt Aristides under jockey Oliver Lewis won that first race and later that year took second place in the Belmont Stakes.
|