The Kentucky Derby is turning 150 years old. It's survived world wars and controversies of all kinds

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — As a record crowd cheered, American Pharoah rallied from behind and took aim at his remaining two rivals in the stretch. The bay colt and jockey Victor Espinoza surged to the lead with a furlong to go and thundered across the finish line a length ahead in the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

“There’s nothing like winning the Kentucky Derby,” recalled Espinoza, a three-time winner. “To me it’s the most important thing in horse racing.”

America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old this Saturday. By age, it’s got the Westminster dog show beat by two years. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000.

The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry, including fancy hats, fans dressed in their Sunday best, mint juleps served in souvenir glasses, the crowd singing “My Old Kentucky Home” and the hand-sewn garland of red roses for the winner. The Derby was the second-most watched sporting event of 2023 behind the Super Bowl.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s on their bucket list to attend and the one horse race that they watch every year,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time Derby winner who has this year’s early favorite in Fierceness.

Part of what makes the Derby unique is horses have just one chance to run in it since only 3-year-olds are eligible. It’s also the only race in America with a 20-horse field. Since 2013, horses have to accumulate points in qualifying races to earn their way in. Previously, money won in graded stakes races decided the field.

“It’s very tough to keep them on the path to get to the Derby, get into the Derby and then, hopefully, it all goes well, and you get a good, clean trip,” said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native who will saddle Catching Freedom, Encino and Just a Touch on Saturday.

Louisvillians take pride in their city’s tradition that dates to 1875, whipping up at-home versions of such high-calorie delicacies as Benedictine dip (grated cucumber, cream cheese, sour cream and mayo), Derby pie (chocolate chips and nuts) and cocktails if they’re not going to the track.

Thirteen of the 15 jockeys in the first Derby were Black, including Oliver Lewis, who rode Aristides to victory in front of 10,000 cheering fans in 1875.

Black riders won 15 of the first 28 Derbies, and then there were none from 1920-2000. As Jim Crow laws were introduced, segregation spread throughout the nation, including horse racing where it was nearly impossible for Black riders to get licensed.

The last Black jockey in the race was Kendrick Carmouche in 2021.

Black trainers also dominated the Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first 17 from 1875-1891. On Saturday, Larry Demeritte will be just the second since 1951 and 17th overall when he saddles long shot West Saratoga.

Protestors demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality demonstrated outside Churchill Downs in 2020 and 2021 after Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT, was killed by police in a botched drug raid at her Louisville home.

Women have been a sporadic presence in the Derby, too. Only six have ridden in the race, the last being Rosie Napravnik in 2014. Seven women have trained Derby runners, with Vicki Oliver last doing so in 2021.

“It’s an incredibly hard race just to get into, let alone win,” Cox said.

Cox was declared the 2021 winner, nine months after the race when Medina Spirit was disqualified for a failed drug test — only the second such DQ in race history — and Mandaloun was elevated to first.

“We’re all trying to win this race to experience the thrill of victory,” Cox said, “and we’ve yet to do that.”

The Derby’s image took a major hit last year when 12 horses died at Churchill Downs in the weeks surrounding the race. An independent investigation cleared the track of any fault, and no singular cause was found. The track continued training, but moved the remainder of its spring racing meet to western Kentucky.

The trainer who owns a record-tying six victories isn’t in Louisville for the third straight year. Bob Baffert has been banned by Churchill Downs Inc. ever since Medina Spirit’s failed drug test upended the 2021 results.

Baffert fought his original two-year suspension in court, but lost a year ago. Last summer, the track said it was extending the suspension through 2024. It cited “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses.”

Churchill Downs Inc., the track’s publicly traded parent company with shareholders to satisfy, has spent $500 million renovating and modernizing over the last decade. Its newest showpiece is the $200 million paddock, where fans who don’t mind dropping up to $12,000 can dine and watch the horses being saddled before the races.

In its 150th year, the Derby’s purse has been boosted to a record $5 million, with $3.1 million going to the winning owner.

Despite all the changes with the race, the track and the intrusion of current events over the years, the first Saturday in May endures.

“The one thing that continues is you got 20 of the best 3-year-olds from around the world,” said trainer Doug O’Neill, a two-time Derby winner.

“It seems like the one mainstay that we can really rely on,” Pletcher said.

AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

A horse heads back to a barn after an early-morning workout at Churchill Downs Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 4. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A horse comes off the track after a workout at Churchill Downs Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 4. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILE - Jockey John Velazquez riding Authentic, right, leads the field after winning the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 5, 2020. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Victor Espinoza rides American Pharoah to victory in the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 2, 2015, in Louisville, Ky. “There’s nothing like winning the Kentucky Derby,” Espinoza, a three-time winner, said recently. “To me it’s the most important thing in horse racing.” (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

FILE - Horses run during a race before the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020, in Louisville, Ky. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILE - Gallahadion, with Bimelech second and Dit a close third crosses the finish line to win the 66th Kentucky Derby horse race, May 4, 1940 at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. (AP Photo/FIle)

FILE - Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the 133rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, May 5, 2007. The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry. (AP Photo/Rob Carr, File)

FILE - A woman wears a hat and poses for a picture during the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 4, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry, including fancy hats. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

FILE - Shelby Wilkes, left, and Pam Deegan, both of Louisville, Ky., holds their hats from the wind during the 134th Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 3, 2008, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry, including fancy hats. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)

FILE - Horses leave the starting gate for the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, May 7, 2022. Part of what makes the Derby unique is horses have just one chance to run in it since only 3-year-olds are eligible. It's also the only race in America with a 20-horse field. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

FILE - Victor Espinoza rides American Pharoah to victory in the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., May 2, 2015.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - Hoop Jr. (2) leads by a length as the Kentucky Derby field rounds at Churchill Downs at Louisville, Kent., June 9, 1945. Bymeabond (10) is second. Hoop retained the lead to go on to win the race. America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old this Saturday. By age, it’s got the Westminster dog show beat by two years. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and pandemics. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Lucky Debonair and jockey Bill Shoemaker are seen coming ahead in the final challenge to win the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 1, 1965. America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old Saturday. The Kentucky Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Tim Tam goes from even-Stephen with Lincoln Road (7) to finish half a length ahead at the wire in at the Kentucky Derby, May 3, 1958 in Louisville, Ky. America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old Saturday. The Kentucky Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000.(AP Photo/File)

FILE - Citation, center, with Eddie Arcaro in the saddle, comes up on Coaltown, right, during the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky., May 1, 1948. America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old Saturday. The Kentucky Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000.(AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this May 4, 1968, file photo, Dancer's Image, jockey Bob Ussery up, crosses the finish line to win the 94th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old Saturday. The Kentucky Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. (AP Photo/File)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Workers at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, voted overwhelmingly against joining the United Auto Workers on Friday, a setback in the union’s drive to organize plants in the historically nonunion South.

The workers voted 56% against the union, according to unofficial totals released by the UAW, which had people watching the vote as it was counted by the National Labor Relations Board.

About 5,200 workers were eligible to vote at an auto assembly plant and a battery factory in and near Vance, Alabama, not far from Tuscaloosa.

The loss slows the union’s effort to organize 150,000 workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto factories largely in the South.

The voting at the two Mercedes factories — one an assembly plant, the other a battery-making facility — comes a month after the UAW scored a breakthrough victory at Volkswagen’s assembly factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In that election, VW workers voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW, drawn by the prospect of substantially higher wages and other benefits.

The UAW had little success before then recruiting at nonunion auto plants in the South, where workers have been much less drawn to organized labor than in the traditional union strongholds of Michigan and other industrial Midwest states.

A victory at the Mercedes plants would have represented a huge plum for the union, which has long struggled to overcome the enticements that Southern states have bestowed on foreign automakers, including tax breaks, lower labor costs and a nonunion workforce.

Some Southern governors have warned that voting for union membership could, over time, cost workers their jobs because of the higher costs that the auto companies would have to bear.

Yet the UAW has been operating from a stronger position than in the past. Besides its victory in Chattanooga, it achieved generous new contracts last fall after striking against Detroit Big 3 automakers: General Motors, Stellantis and Ford. Workers there gained 33% pay raises in contracts that will expire in 2028.

Top-scale production workers at GM, who now earn about $36 an hour, will make nearly $43 an hour by the end of their contract, plus annual profit-sharing checks. Mercedes has increased top production worker pay to $34 an hour, a move that some workers say was intended to fend off the UAW.

Shortly after workers ratified the Detroit contract, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a drive to organize about 150,000 workers at more than a dozen nonunion plants, mostly run by foreign-based automakers with plants in Southern states. In addition, Tesla’s U.S. factories, which are nonunion, are in the UAW’s sights.

About 5,200 workers at the Mercedes plants were eligible to vote on the UAW, the union’s first election there. Balloting was run by the National Labor Relations Board.

It turns out that the union had a tougher time in Alabama than in Tennessee, where the UAW narrowly lost two previous votes and was familiar with workers at the factory. The UAW has accused Mercedes of using management and anti-union consultants to try to intimidate workers.

In a statement Thursday, Mercedes denied interfering with or retaliating against workers who were pursuing union representation. The company has said it looked forward to all workers having a chance to cast a secret ballot “as well as having access to the information necessary to make an informed choice” on unionization.

If the union had won, it would have been a huge momentum booster for the UAW as it seeks to organize more factories, said Marick Masters, a professor emeritus at Wayne State University’s business school who has long studied the union.

Interviewed before the results were in, Masters said he expected that even a loss would not stop the UAW leadership, which he said would likely explore legal options. That could include arguing to the National Labor Relations Board that Mercedes’ actions made it impossible for union representation to receive a fair election.

Though the loss is a setback for the UAW, Masters suggested it would not deal a fatal blow to its membership drive. The union will have to analyze why it couldn’t garner more than 50% of the vote, given its statement that a “supermajority” of workers signed cards authorizing an election, Masters said. The UAW wouldn’t say what percentage or how many workers signed up.

The loss could lead workers at other nonunion plants to wonder why Mercedes employees voted against the union. But Masters said he doesn’t think it will slow down the union.

“I would expect them to intensify their efforts, to try to be more thoughtful and see what went wrong,” he said.

If the UAW eventually manages to organize nonunion plants at Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Toyota and Honda with contracts similar to those it won in Detroit, more automakers would have to bear the same labor costs. That potentially could lead the automakers to raise vehicle prices.

Some workers at Mercedes say the company treated them poorly until the UAW’s organizing drive began, then offered pay raises, eliminated a lower tier of pay for new hires and even replaced the plant CEO.

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Krisher reported from Detroit.

FILE - The Mercedes emblem is displayed outside the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. plant, Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The United Auto Workers union faces the latest test of its ambitious plan to unionize auto plants in the historically nonunion South when a vote ends Friday, May 17, at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler, File)

FILE - United Auto Workers union supporters attend a rally, Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Birmingham, Ala. The United Auto Workers union faces the latest test of its ambitious plan to unionize auto plants in the historically nonunion South when a vote ends Friday, May 17, at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler, File)