2019 Saffire Summit Presentations: The Business of Fun - Jeff English

1. The Business of Fun
Jeff English
Senior VP & General Counsel,
Kentucky Derby Festival

2. The Festival
• Private, non-profit civic celebration
• Incorporated in 1956
• FY18-19 $7 million operating budget
• Average attendance is 1.5 million
• 75 Member Board of Directors

3. 2 weeks
22 Full-time staff
Producing over 70 events
A network of 4,000+ volunteers
Festival by the Numbers

4. “Louisville is not the same tired
old town it used to be. Sick and
tired of being sick and tired, it
has spruced up and is yelling for
nourishment.”
Earl Ruby, Co-founder, 1956

5. Festival then…

6. KDF’s 1956
operating budget:
$640.00

7. Festival now…

8. New Advertising Campaign 2020:
“Live It Up!”

9. Economic Impact
Total economic impact - $128 million annually
For every $1 spent by the Festival, $22 was generated for
the local economy

10. Financial Support
Corporate Sponsorship
– 350 sponsors
– $3.2 million in sponsorship
Merchandising
– $2 million in sales
Ticketing/Entry Fees
– Half of events are
free admission with a
Pegasus Pin
– $1 million in
admission revenues
Concessions
– $700K

14. A Policy For Everything
• Had a follow up question to my article as it
related to outside groups who want to
participate in a Festival, but which the Festival
doesn’t want them to participate.
• KDF wrote a policy for that
• Shields KDF from having to make judgment
calls for religious and political groups

15. POLITICAL AND ISSUE ADVERTISING PROCESS
Sponsorships or participation that may be affected by this policy shall be referred to the Festival’s Event Review
Committee which shall make a recommendation to the Executive Board for final action.
KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL POLICY STATEMENT
REGARDING POLITICAL AND ISSUE ADVERTISING
• When evaluating the sponsorship or participation by individuals or organizations in Kentucky Derby Festival events
the Kentucky Derby Festival (“Festival”) considers how the sponsorship or participation aids the Festival in its
mission to…
• provide creative and unique entertainment and community service for the people of Greater Louisville, that
directly contributes to the aesthetic, cultural, educational, charitable and economic development of the area.
• Next, the Festival will consider the nature and extent of the sponsorship or participation (i.e. advertising,
solicitation, sales, etc.).
• Lastly, Festival will not accept, as a sponsor or participant, individuals or organizations that engage in “Issue
Advertising.” Issue Advertising includes, without limiting the generality of the term:
– Political candidates or those groups who support political candidates; and,
– Individuals or groups who support or oppose any question which could be the subject of a referendum or
legislative, executive or judicial determination of a public question; and,
– Individuals or groups who engage in or promote discrimination; and,
– Active interpersonal solicitation for or promotion of specific religious beliefs, as opposed to general promotion of a
religious based organization; and,
– Elected government officials, if invited, may participate in Festival events in their official capacity.

16. • Lastly, Festival will not accept, as a sponsor or participant, individuals or
organizations that engage in “Issue Advertising.” Issue Advertising
includes, without limiting the generality of the term:
– Political candidates or those groups who support political candidates;
and,
– Individuals or groups who support or oppose any question which could
be the subject of a referendum or legislative, executive or judicial
determination of a public question; and,
– Individuals or groups who engage in or promote discrimination; and,
– Active interpersonal solicitation for or promotion of specific religious
beliefs, as opposed to general promotion of a religious based
organization; and,
– Elected government officials, if invited, may participate in Festival events
in their official capacity.

17. The Kentucky Derby
• Location: Churchill Downs (Louisville, KY)
• Patterned after Epsom Derby (England)
• Date: First Saturday in May (since 1931)
• Field:
– Largest = 23 (1974)
– Smallest = 3 (1892, 1905)
• Distance:
– 1875-1895 = 1 ½ miles
– 1896-present = 1 ¼ miles

18. Inaugural Derby
• First running: 1875 (oldest
continuously held sporting event in
the US)
– Winner: Aristides
– Date: May 17
– Distance: 1 ½ miles
– Attendance: 10,000
– Payout on $2 bet: $6.00*
– Winner’s Purse: $2,850.00

19. Derby 145
• Winner: Country House (by
disqualification)
• Date: May 4, 2019
• Distance: 1 ¼ miles
• Attendance: 150,729
• Payout on $2 bet: $132.40 (2nd
highest)
• Winner’s Purse: $1.86 million

20. Derby Facts
• Dates:
– Earliest: May 1st
– Latest: June 9th (1945)*
• Nicknames:
– “Run for the Roses” (1925 by Bill
Corum, New York Evening Journal)
– “Most Exciting Two Minutes in
Sports”
– “Fastest Two Minutes in Sports”

21. Derby Facts
• Sex:
– Colts = 133
– Fillies = 3*
– Geldings = 9*
• Time (@ 1 ¼ miles):
– Fastest: 1:59.40 (Secretariat 1973)
– Slowest: 2:15.20 (Stone Street 1908)
• Attendance (modern day):
– Largest: 165,307 (2012)
– Smallest: 60,000 (1942)*

22. Derby Facts
• Payouts (on $2 bet)
– Highest = $184.90 (Donerail 1913)
– Lowest = $3.30 (Halma 1894, Agile 1905)
• Weather
– Warmest: 94 degrees (1959)
– Coldest: 36 degrees (1940, 1957)
– Wettest: 3.15 inches of rain (2018)
– Sleet: 1989
• Disqualifications
– 1968: Dancer’s Image/Forward Pass
– 2019: Maximum Security/Country
House

23. NBC Replay of 2019 Kentucky Derby
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci_ychn7
ga0

24. Triple Crown of Racing
• Kentucky Derby (145th - Louisville,
KY)
– First Saturday in May
– 1 ¼ miles
• Preakness Stakes (144th -
Baltimore, MD)
– Third Saturday in May
– 1 3/16 miles
• Belmont Stakes (151st - Elmont,
NY)
– First Saturday in June
– 1 ½ miles

25. Triple
Crown
Winners
Sir Barton (1919*)
Gallant Fox (1930)
Omaha (1935)
War Admiral (1937)
Whirlaway (1941)
Count Fleet (1943)
Assault (1946)
Citation (1948)
Secretariat (1973)
Seattle Slew (1977)
Affirmed (1978)
American Pharoah (2015)
Justify (2018)

26. What’s Next?
• The Challenges of Special Events and Civic
Celebrations
• The Future of Thoroughbred Racing
• Questions and Answers

27. Sir Barton
“Being first is forever”
• Sir Barton was the first horse who won the three American classics (KY
Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) even though it wasn’t called the
Triple Crown in 1919.
• In fact, in 1917 and 1922, the Derby and Preakness were run on same day.
• Sir Barton broke his maiden (won his first race) in the 1919 Derby carrying
only 110 pounds – the last year a maiden allowance weight was offered.
• The Preakness was run the following Wednesday (4 days later) and he was
given a weight allowance as a result.
• In the 4 weeks between the Preakness and Belmont, he won the Withers
Stakes.

28. Sir Barton (continued)
• Sir Barton won the Belmont against only 2 other horses at a distance of 1
3/8 miles. He set a track record running CLOCKWISE.
• His owner’s son described Sir Barton as, “Downright evil. He ignored
other horses, despised human beings and hated pets.”
• He was rumored to have cocaine administered prior to running (there
were no doping tests in 1919)
• His owner has a $50,000 side bet on him with the man later implicated in
the 1919 “Black Sox” World Series cheating scandal.
• His jockey, after winning the Triple Crown on Sir Barton and participating
in a match race with Man O’War, lost his license and was banned for life.

29. Sir Barton (continued)
• In 1920, Sir Barton ran a Match Race against 1920 Preakness and Belmont
winner Man O’War. He lost by 7 lengths and never won another race.
• He did stud duty and was ultimately sold to breed military horses in WY
for $10 per cover (“payable in cash, hay, grain or feed.”)
• Died in 1937, at the age of 21, of acute intestinal colic.
• Sir Barton was buried on a farm in Wyoming but 30 years later (1967) was
exhumed and reinterred in a Douglas, WY public park.

30. Editorial Board, The Courier Journal
Saturday, April 24, 1999
“Our Spring Fling”
What connects all these Derby Festival events are
freedom and fun – freedom from the shackles of
winter, and the fun of finally being outdoors. It’s
convenient to schedule them around Derby. It gives
out-of-towners a way to participate even if they
don’t go to the track.
But if the EPA found horses cause cancer, if OSHA
decided jockeys take an unacceptable risk and
the sport of horse-racing were banned –
Louisville would still have to hold a Derby
Festival.
It has become a rite of spring, a chance to get
out and be part of a community that has
been shut up indoors.”

31. Thank You!
Jeff English
jenglish@kdf.org
502-216-0198