Track Facts:
The Founding of Churchill Downs
While traveling in England and France in 1872-1873, 26-year-old Col. M. Lewis
Clark, devised the idea of a Louisville Jockey Club for conducting race meets.
Clark toured and visited with a number of prominent racing leaders, including
England's Admiral Rous and France's Vicompte Darn, vice president of the French
Jockey Club.
Upon his return from Europe, Clark began development of his racetrack which
would serve to showcase the Kentucky breeding industry. The track would
eventually become known as "Churchill Downs." The first reference of the name
Churchill Downs came in an 1883 Kentucky Derby article reported by the former
Louisville Commercial.
"The crowd in the grand stand sent out a volume of voice, and the crowd in the
field took it up and carried it from boundary to boundary of Churchill Downs."
Track Information
Acreage: 147
Track: One mile, oval
Soil: Sandy loam, 75% sand, 23% silt, 2% clay
Width: 80 feet; backstretch, 79 feet
Distance from Derby Start to Finish Line: 1,320 feet; racetrack is 120 feet wide
at Derby start
Distance from Last Turn to Finish Line: 1,234 1/2 feet
Distance from Finish Line to First Turn: 113 1/2 feet
