LOUISVILLE—Churchill Downs is basically a giant KEEP OUT sign this week. Temporary fencing and barricades encircle the ancient racetrack. Police are a constant presence. Nobody is getting in without a credential of some kind and a temperature of 98.6 or lower.
Such is the lot of the 146th Kentucky Derby, forever a more-the-merrier celebration but now an event under siege. A bacchanal that has drawn at least 150,000 people for the last 13 years will have no paid attendance Saturday, a sign of the turbulent times.
But this is not just a COVID-19 restriction. Roiling racial tensions and the prospect of large protests also are significant factors, likely the larger ones impacting Churchill’s August decision to go from a planned 24,000 fans to zero.