It is probable to say that there would be no Kentucky Derby as we know it now, without the much needed help and assistance of its early founders, as well as the original concept of Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.
The dawn of the birth of the Kentucky Derby was made possible by the idea and dream of a great man and racing enthusiast Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. Grandson of the famous William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.
Meriwether was born in 1846 to Abigail Prather Churchill (descendant of one of the first families of Kentucky) and Meriwether Lewis Clark Sr. who made great contributions to the architecture of St. Louis, by his designs of the St. Vincent Roman Catholic Church in LaSalle Park, which was built in 1844.
After the death of his mother Meriwether went to stay with his aunt and cousins John and Henry Churchill, who would later become the benefactors through land and funds, for the building of Churchill Downs, enabling Meriwether to establish the Kentucky Derby in 1875.
Due to financial disaster during the stock marker crash of 1893, Meriwether was reduced to poverty and became no more than a steward at the track he had originated. Fearing a life now destined to hardships, and constraints, Meriwether chose to end in all in 1899. However he will always be remembered as the founding father of the internationally acclaimed and most famous horse race in the U.S. the Kentucky Derby, and for his great contributions to the racing industry such as many of the racing rules that are still used today. He is also responsible for revolutionizing a uniform system of weights, and pioneering the stakes system.
Colonel Martin J. “Matt” Winn, also played a major role in the rise to fame of the Kentucky Derby, it was through his ingenuity and financial backing that the derby was able to survive to this day, becoming the longest running consecutive sporting event in the U.S.
Matt had been a life long racing enthusiast since his father took him to see the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875 when he was just 14. In 1915 through his convincing Harry Payne Whitney a multimillionaire sportsman of his day, shipped his filly Regret from New Jersey to Louisville to compete in the Kentucky Derby, Regret would become the first filly to ever win at the Kentucky Derby and still remains the first out of only three in its history. The publicity around Regret’s victory encouraged Matt’s ideas for the Derby by also turning it into an exotic fashionable event which encouraged woman of the day as well as the working class society to also take part in the festivities and race, thus broadening its horizons. Matt became so popular that the governor of Kentucky bestowed upon him the title of Kentucky Colonel. Future years would see the annual running at Churchill Downs in May of the race named in his honor.
