The Kentucky horse race that stops America

Exaggerator, left, with Kent Desormeaux aboard moves up on Nyquist (3) with Mario Gutierrez aboard during the 141st Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2016, in Baltimore. Exaggerator won the race. AP PHOTO / GARRY JONES

Kentucky - bourbon, fried chicken, and horses! All are synonymous with the State of Kentucky and like Melbourne on Cup day. Everything stops in the 'bluegrass state' for the annual running of the Kentucky Derby, America's premier horse racing which they entitle the most exciting two minutes in sport.
The build-up to the Kentucky Derby starts when a thoroughbred foal is born and the dreams commence - could this be the Derby winner? - And of the thousands of foals born ONE will eventually win the Derby as a three-year-old. The foals become weanlings, the weanlings become yearlings, the yearlings become two-year-olds and many begin their racing careers either for their breeders or their owners as many go through the sales arenas across the USA and Canada and are bought with the dream in mind.
The horses that show their spirit and ability are generally racing as two-year-olds and the promise that they show leads them on to the Derby path. By the end of their two-year-old season, which in North America is December 31 as all horses 'age' a year on January 1, the potential champions are racing across the country earning points towards a place in the Derby field. The more prestigious the race, such as the Florida Derby or the Santa Anita Derby, the more points are collected and eventually the highest accumulated point gainers head to Louisville, Kentucky for The Run for the Roses at the famed Churchill Downs racetrack.
They are feted like royalty and every time they train the media reports their every move - their time for a set distance, their movement, their attitude, their preparedness for the occasion - and by midweek prior to the first Saturday in May the top 20 are entered into the Kentucky Derby. Celebrations and parties abound in Louisville for the week preceding the Derby with parades and events that help glorify and build to the moment that they will be sent on their mile and a quarter journey.
The crowds pour into Churchill Downs on the Friday for the running of the Kentucky Oaks, which is the premier event for fillies - 124,000 folks celebrating both that race and survivors of breast cancer - pink is the dominating colour for the day, and prior to the running of the Oaks a parade of survivors takes place and the walk down the track to the respect and cheers from the crowd.
Then comes Saturday - Derby Day! A day of fashion, a day of celebrities who have never touched a horse but feel it is the place to be, and a day of racing which, by 6.34pm in the afternoon, culminates in the Kentucky Derby. A total of 167,000 fans attended this year - the infield [or 'booze-field' as some call it] is packed with race-goers who may have paid up to $100 to be there, while the stands with their seating that could be priced in the thousands of dollars, are packed for the day.
Forty minutes before post time the horses are walked from their barns which are in the back stretch area of Churchill Downs around the track to the saddling area behind the main stands - and it is a nervous time for horse and handler and for all connections of the horse with the crowd noise high. The 20 horses are saddled, the call for 'riders up' is made and the horses come out onto the track to the chorus of the Stephen Foster song, My Old Kentucky Home being sung by a featured artist and the thousands in attendance. The horse, with a pony next to them to help assist the horse and jockey, make their way down the track to the starting gate and will eventually be called into line for the race.
The Run for the Roses this year, the 142nd running of The Kentucky Derby, saw the favourite Nyquist sit just off the lead for most of the journey then burst away from the field as they came down the straight to win comfortably from the second favourite, Exaggerator.
And now it is on to what is called the Triple Crown - the attempt by the Derby winner to also win the Preakness Stakes [May 21, Baltimore, Maryland] and the Belmont Stakes [June 11, Belmont, New York], a feat that has proven very difficult over the years and has had only 12 horses achieve the three wins including American Pharaoh who achieved it last year after a 37-year wait from the 1978 winner, Affirmed.
The Derby is a celebration unlike any other in America and, like the Melbourne Cup, it is the race that stops the nation. There are the office pools, the parties where folks dress up and go to their local pub for the race, and for two minutes there is a 'national' party!
The effect of winning the Triple Crown as American Pharaoh did last year has given racing across America and Canada a new lease on life - wagering is up, television ratings are the highest they have been for racing in 20 years, farm visits to tour the Kentucky farms is, attendance at racetracks is up - and it is being called the 'Pharaoh Effect'.
Like those local champions, Veandercross and Kiwi, the magic of the horse still resounds and excites - that brief moment but so memorable, whether it is the owner, the trainer, the jockey or the fan.