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10 Facts About The Kentucky Derby That Will Make You Say "Whoa"

Fun Facts is in the lead, with OMG Who Knew trailing by a neck!

NBC Sports
by NBC Sports

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1. The first Kentucky Derby ran in May 1875.

Ed Clark / Getty Images / Via Churchill Downs shown in 1945

The first horse to win was a 3-year-old colt named Aristides, and 10,000 people showed up to watch the race!

2. But now, an average of 150,000 people attend the Derby every year.

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That's more than the population of Hartford, Connecticut, and about a quarter of the population of Louisville itself!

3. The giant, extravagant hats that are so common today didn't actually become commonplace until the 1960s.

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Fashion has always played an important role in the Derby, but the prevalence of television and loosening fashion norms in the 1960s encouraged women to stand out more by wearing bigger, brighter, and more over-the-top styles.

4. The entry fee for the Kentucky Derby is $25,000.

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That is a lot of mint juleps.

5. Annnnd it costs another $25,000 if a horse is chosen to start (aka race) in the Derby.

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SO MANY MINT JULEPS. And probably a really fancy hat, too.

6. Speaking of mint juleps, they have been the traditional drink of the Derby since the 1930s, and each year almost 120,000 are served throughout the weekend.

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That requires 1,000 pounds of fresh mint and 60,000 pounds of ice! And if you want to get really fancy, you can try a $1,000 mint julep — for charity. An annual tradition, this year’s edition of the $1,000 mint julep cup sale will benefit the Kentucky Derby Museum.

7. The purse for the race is a guaranteed $2 million, so, you know, it's worth the investment.

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The purse is divvied up between first, second, and third place; first place gets around $1.5 million. Enough to set yourself up in a nice stable of your own.

8. Especially given that the stud fees (or the money other horse owners will pay to breed their mares to a stallion) for Derby winners are almost double the entry fee.

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Nyquist, 2016's winner, is at stud for $40K for every healthy foal. But American Pharaoh, who became the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown in 2015, is at stud for $200K. This makes sense; foals are really freakin' cute.

9. A maximum of 20 horses can enter the Derby, and those 20 are chosen from...basically all the horses that have run in a given set of races that year.

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There's a point system! It's a little complicated, but basically, the more times a horse places in a race along the path to the Kentucky Derby, the more points they gain. The 20 horses that are top in points are chosen to run in the Derby.

You could say the Derby is like the Ivy League college of horse races.

10. The garland of roses presented to the winner is made up of more than 400 roses and is the source of the Derby's moniker the "Run for the Roses®."

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The first garland was presented in 1896, and the red rose became the official flower of the Derby in 1904. Since 1987, the garland has been constructed at a local Kroger store, and anyone can go and watch it being made.

But win or lose, all of the horses are pure and good.

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Just look at this wonderful little creature.

Don’t miss the excitement of the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby this Saturday at 2:30 ET on NBC!