Somewhere along the line, the Kentucky Derby became known as “America’s Race,” which seems a bit of a misnomer given that the Derby is not a) America’s best race, b) America’s oldest race, c) the Daytona 500. But so it is with the relentlessly hyped Derby, where undeniable bunkum runs stride for stride with quaint nostalgia and willful anachronism. You can see all of that in the name alone. Since 1896, when the mile-and-a-half race was shrunk to a mile-and-a-quarter, the Derby hasn’t been, strictly speaking, a derby.
Read what else Tommy Craggs has to say about How we misunderstand the Kentucky Derby.