The Kentucky Derby, the premier horse race of all horse races, has a checkered history that spans 130 years. At first, it struggled to survive, owing its success to the men and women who created and sustained it.
The dream started with a young man, Col. M. Lewis Clark, grandson of Gen. William Clark, the explorer. He visited England and France in 1872 and decided that he would start a racetrack in Kentucky to revive the states horse breeding industry. Development began so…