Mark Your Calendar for the 14th Annual Night at the Races

Mark your calendar for May 4, 2019 at Edgewood Country Club for the 14th Annual Night at the Races to benefit Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center. The event is a Kentucky Derby watching gathering complete with food, drinks, contests, auction items and of course watching the Run for the Roses on a big screen.

This will be the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs.

From the Kentucky Derby web site: Brief History of the Event.

The Kentucky Derby’s long history began in 1872, when Meriwether Lewis Clark, the grandson of William Clark – of the famed pair Lewis and Clark – traveled to Europe. While there, Clark attended the Epsom Derby in England, a well-known horse race run since 1780, and also fraternized with the French Jockey Club, a group that developed another popular horse race, the Grand Prix de Paris Longchamps. Clark was inspired by his travels and experiences, and, upon his return, was determined to create a spectacle horse racing event in the States. With the help of his uncle’s John & Henry Churchill, who gifted Clark the necessary land to develop a racetrack, and by formally organizing a group of local race fans to be named the Louisville Jockey Club, Clark and his new club raised funds to build a permanent racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. On May 17th, 1875, the racetrack opened its gates and the Louisville Jockey Club sponsored the very first Kentucky Derby. A total of fifteen three-year-old Thoroughbred horses raced one and a half miles in front of a cheering crowd of approximately 10,000 spectators. Aristides was the first winner of the Kentucky Derby.