On the Muscle

Regret: America's Filly

Nineteen 3-year-olds, the largest field ever at that point in time, were entered in the 41st Kentucky Derby, including an undefeated filly sent from New Jersey who would carry the colors of the nation's most powerful racing stable at Churchill Downs, and there was an air of excitement that pulsed well beyond Louisville.

The Father of the Derby: Colonel Matt Winn

The story begins like those of most people who become involved in racing. A father takes his son to the races. The spectacle is seductive. The atmosphere is enchanting. There is brilliant color, excitement and glorious, graceful thoroughbreds. The senses are filled to overflowing. The connection is instant and permanent. Lives are changed. A few are destined to make history.

The Panic from Panama: Manny Ycaza

They called him the "Panic from Panama," a hot-blooded young rider whose whirlwind determination left a trail of irate jockeys and hard-nosed officials reeling in his wake.

The Story of a Great Generation

If Tom Brokaw's seminal 1998 tome The Greatest Generation ultimately failed to create a popular consensus about which group of Americans history will record as being in a class of its own or, dare say, indispensable to the republic's survival, at the very least the ensuing debate was lively and passionate, if not definitive. In a similar vein, though in a matter far less world-changing in scope, a discussion concerning the greatest generation of American Thoroughbreds could be, among racing aficionados, just as thought provoking and equally unanswerable. One thing that can be said with certainty, however, is that the colts and fillies who drew their first breaths in the spring of 1966, and whose three-year-old year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this season, were an unforgettable group -- a Great Generation.

Aristides: How The First Derby Winner Lived Up To His Name

THE KENTUCKY DERBY WAS FORTUNATE TO HAVE ARISTIDES AS ITS FIRST WINNER, for his name is exceptionally appropriate to adorn a classic race. Literally meaning "the best kind" in classical Greek, his name not only summed up his character, but it would also foreshadow the nature of the Kentucky Derby itself.

Canonero II: The Mystery Horse Who Shocked The Derby

The wildly improbable tale of Canonero is a case of truth beingstranger than fiction. He was the archetypal cheap horse who overcame the staggering odds to become a champion, triumphing over the hardships and maladies that were liberally strewn in his path.

Affirmed & Alydar

30 years after their storied rivalry, the showdown between Affirmed & Alydar, still etched in Triple Crown History.

Count Fleet - The Derby That Nearly Wasnt

Imagine a year without the Kentucky Derby. Far from being the premise of a bleak futuristic novel, or a flight of sci-fi fantasy in an alternate universe, it nearly happened in 1943.

Nick Zito

"No question. There is only one race, my friend. There is only one race. Period. The Kentucky Derby."

- Nick Zito

Citation - You Can't Stop A Runaway Train

You can't stop a runaway train. Citation, 1948 Triple Crown winner.

Bill Hartack - Five Time Derby Winner

Bill Hartack, five-time Kentucky Derby winner, never had a good day at the racetrack. Not one.