Kentucky Derby's first Saturday in May tradition last broke in 1945

It took a pandemic for Churchill Downs not to run the 2020 Kentucky Derby on this first Saturday in May. As for the last time the track couldn't stage its signature race on the traditional date? That was from fallout of World War II.

The Derby generally was run in mid-May, or thereabouts, since its inaugural edition in 1875. The first Saturday was permanently scheduled for the race in 1931, as were ensuing dates for the other races in the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes two weeks later and the Belmont Stakes three weeks after that.

Those dates almost held up through World War II, with an adjustment needed in 1943. Federal officials discouraged non-essential travel (sound familiar?) because resources such as oil and rubber were needed to supply troops overseas. So Churchill Downs president Matt Winn asked out-of-town ticket holders to turn their tickets over to members of the military and restricted attendance to locals. Still, 65,000 people turned out to see odds-on favorite Count Fleet win.

But in 1945, horse racing was banned nationwide as the war reached its crescendo. Allied forces won the Battle of the Bulge in January and the battle of Iwo Jima in March. As word spread of Adolph Hitler's suicide, victory in Europe was celebrated on May 8, the second Monday of the month, racing was cleared to resume. The Kentucky Derby was on for June 9.

That was when Fred Hooper and Ivan Parke forged a plan to win it. Two years before, Hooper, a jack-of-all-trades who found success in the construction industry, bought his first Thoroughbred – a yearling son of Sir Gallahad III – for $10,200 at a Kentucky auction. He hired Parke, a former jockey, to train him.

Named Hoop, Jr. after Hooper’s son, the colt had an unremarkable 2-year-old campaign. In five starts, he never missed an exacta, but he didn’t win a stakes race. His juvenile season was cut short when he developed osselets, or arthritis.

After word came of the newly scheduled Kentucky Derby, Hooper and Parke ran Hoop, Jr. in a six-furlong allowance sprint on May 22 at Aqueduct, where he came in fourth. Then he won a division of the Wood Memorial on May 30 and set out for Churchill Downs.

Hoop, Jr. began generating buzz after he breezed 1 1/8 miles in a blazing 1:51 3/5 on June 6, and he was bet down to odds of 3.7-1 at post time, the second choice behind Calumet Farm’s 3.30-1 favorite, Pot O’Luck.

Heavy rains on Derby morning created a sloppy track, but that didn’t stop legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro and Hoop, Jr. They gained an early advantage and splashed on a one-length lead through increasingly slow fractions of :23 1/5, :48, 1:14, and 1:41. Then Hoop, Jr. exploded to a six-length lead and crossed the finish line with a time of 2:07.

Though still largely a local event because of the war, about 75,000 people attended the June 7 Derby, betting a record $2.4 million for the day and $776,408 on the Derby itself, also a record for the time.

Hooper remained involved in racing and bred stakes winners well into his 90s before dying at age 102 in 2000.

Other nontraditional Kentucky Derby facts:

• The Derby has been run on every day of the week except Sunday: 11 times on a Wednesday, nine times on a Tuesday, eight times on a Monday, four times on a Thursday and twice on a Friday.
  
  
• The Derby has been staged outside of May only twice: on April 29, 1901, and June 9, 1945.
  
  
• The Derby was run at 1 1/2 miles for its first 20 years. But many argued the length was too much for young 3-year-olds, so it was shortened to 1 1/4 miles in 1896.