LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It has been an up-and-down year for the 3-year-olds who were being steered toward the 143rd Kentucky Derby: There were injuries and upsets and even a general sense of malaise as a clear favorite failed to emerge.
But hope springs eternal here, and for many, there is no better place to be than the Bluegrass State on the first Saturday in May.
And so the owners and trainers of the 20 horses running in the $2 million Kentucky Derby, two years after American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown champion since 1978, were hoping to become part of another history-making run.