May 4, 2024 marked the 150th annual Kentucky Derby, the most-watched horse race in the United States. 157,000 people attended the race this year, which was held in Louisville, Kentucky. Many attendees wore colorful and extravagant outfits, topped off with large and intricate hats.
Along with the several hundred thousand in-person viewers, the Derby had 16.7 million viewers worldwide, the largest audience since 1989.
“Derby Day” is marked with around 700,000 bets on the various horses racing. Each year, 20 horses participate in the Kentucky Derby. Every horse is accompanied by a jockey, a trained professional with the Derby horses who guides the horses throughout the race.
Though the Kentucky Derby is a horse race, there is a large social aspect of the race. Many fashion traditions surround the race, such as wearing large, ornate hats. Popular themes to wear are often Glacial Blue, Roses and prep school-themed attire. Popular brands like Vineyard Vines even have clothing lines specifically for the Kentucky Derby, illustrating the complexity of this event. Freshman Bryce Brigham-Hill described horse racing and fashion as one of her favorite parts of the Derby. “It’s so cool to see the things that people wear,” she said, “some outfits are so complex, and the hats top them off.” Many social media influencers can be found attending and documenting the event in their luxurious outfits.
Derby horse Fierceness was favored to win this year’s race with 5-2 odds, with horses Sierra Leone and Catching Freedom also being close contenders. These horses were all within the top five contenders predicted to win. This year’s Derby was heavily betted on with a record $320.5 million worth of bets, with the majority favoring Firecenees.
Despite not being predicted to win, with 18-1 odds, Mystic Dan and his jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., were the winners of this year’s Derby, with a time of 2:03.34. This year’s race was extremely close, and Mystic Dan only beat Sierra Leone by a nose, one of the smallest margins in the event’s history. This win won the horse 3.1 million dollars, and Sierra Leone received 1 million for second place. At the end of the race, Brian Hernandez Jr. described his win as a “lifetime achievement,” and how “It [was] hard to describe what kind of feeling [it was].”He continued to discuss how big it would be for his family, as many of his family members were also jockeys.
Mystick Dan’s rider Brian Hernandez Jr. also spoke about the various races they attended Derbys leading up to the Kentucky Derby, specifically the Arkansas Derby, saying Mystic Dan “proved he had a lot of grit, and a lot of toughness.” Mystic Dan was heavily favored to win the Preakness Stakes on May 18, 2024 due to his run in the Kentucky Derby. Mystik Dan finished second in the stakes to Seize the Grey who won at 9-1 odds.
