March 17, 2020, 9:01 a.m. ET
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For the first time since 1945, the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the sport’s prestigious Triple Crown, will not be run on the first Saturday in May. The Derby, the longest continuously held sporting event in the United States, has been postponed from May 2 until Sept. 5 because of the coronavirus outbreak. The race, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., has been run outside of May only twice in its 145-year history: on April 29, 1901, and June 9, 1945.
Racetracks across the country have been shuttered to the public, but races are still being run and bets are still being welcomed. But Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., which hosts a significant Derby prep race, canceled its April meet on Monday. And Churchill Downs followed suit Tuesday, officially pushing back its signature race and putting its spring meet in jeopardy.
“Certainly we picked this date after careful reflection,” said William C. Carstanjen, the chief executive officer of Churchill Downs Incorporated. “We feel confident that we are going to run the Kentucky Derby, and we are going to run it with a crowd. It is a participatory event.”
Now, a year after the 145th Derby ended with the winner, Maximum Security, being disqualified for interference, and just days after federal indictments were unsealed that charged his trainer and others with administering performance-enhancing drugs to horses, organizers were forced to postpone the sport’s biggest race.
News of the move began to leak Monday night, and hotels, which go can go for over $1000 a night, quickly sold out. Organizers were determined to run the race in front of spectators and wanted to push it far enough in advance to do so, and NBC, which broadcasts the Triple Crown races, likely pushed for the September date because Notre Dame, whose football games it airs, had an open date on Labor Day weekend.
The final two legs of the Triple Crown, the Preakness, which is normally held two weeks after the Derby at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, and the Belmont, three weeks after that at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., have not been worked out, and a shift in the order is possible. Organizers of those races said they hoped to have dates soon.
NBC said in a statement that while it appreciated “the traditional sequencing of the Triple Crown races, these are uncharted waters.”
Prep races that provide the points needed to qualify for the Derby will be spread among existing stakes races throughout the summer, organizers said.
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