The Kentucky Derby is more than a horse race. It is a spring ritual, a cultural festival, a sporting spectacle, and one of America’s longest-running traditions.

This episode tells the story of the Run for the Roses, from the first Kentucky Derby in 1875 to the legends of Churchill Downs. We explore Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., Aristides, Oliver Lewis, Isaac Murphy, Colonel Matt Winn, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, American Pharoah, Justify, Rich Strike, and the traditions that made the Derby famous: roses, mint juleps, hats, “My Old Kentucky Home,” the Twin Spires, and the first Saturday in May.

We also look at the complicated history of Black jockeys in horse racing, the cultural significance of Derby Day, the business of the event, shocking upsets, disqualifications, and the modern safety questions facing the spor ...