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| Table for two? You've got some company with past Kentucky Derby winners on the wall at 1875: The Steakhouse inside French Lick Springs Hotel. |
You may know about some of the presidents and celebrities
and even the sports teams who visited French Lick Resort in its early days. Here’s
one you may not know about: Matt Winn, the man associated with making the
Kentucky Derby a world-famous race.
Winn was a former president of Churchill Downs racetrack,
and he used his marketing chops to add a sense of romance to the race, appealing
to the wealthy and working class and more women as well. He also changed the
wagering system to make it more bettor-friendly, and increased business by slashing
the wager ticket from $5 to $2. He became such a central figure in the Bluegrass
State that the governor gave the honorary Kentucky Colonel title.
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| Matt Winn |
“I once asked Colonel Winn his secret for looking so well
and keeping so fit physically as he advanced along the years, and he attributed
it to his practice of making regular trips to French Lick, the famous Indiana
spa not far from Louisville, and taking the baths and resting.”
Proof that a little R&R does a world of good, no matter who
you are.
Our resort shares a strong link with the Kentucky Derby, and
in the spirit of this year’s Labor Day Derby this weekend, a few more:
• Find all 145 horses who’ve won the Kentucky Derby at 1875:
The Steakhouse, the signature restaurant at French Lick Springs Hotel that
takes its name from the year of the first Kentucky Derby. Each year’s winner
has a framed photo on the wall, and we get our fair share of horseracing enthusiasts
who want to find their favorite on the wall — it’s all good, just as long as
the table next to it is unoccupied!
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| 2019 Derby winner Country House sits alone for now, but he'll soon have company as a new section of the wall has been started. |
• Did you know that in the early 20th Century, it was common for guests to stay at French Lick and West Baden Springs Hotels for nearlythe entire month of May? They’d attend the Kentucky Derby early in the month, retreat to French Lick or West Baden for the next few weeks, then attend the Indianapolis 500 to cap their extended getaway. Can we start a movement to make the month-long vacation a thing again?
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| Among the Derby-related items in our display case is this small racehorse and jockey statue, with the badge under the horse reading "French Lick Springs Hotel, home of Pluto, the Kentucky Derby 1930." |
• Tom and Thomas Taggart, the father and son who owned French Lick Springs Hotel from 1901-1946, shared a love of horses and specially decorated the hotel during Derby week. As many as 14 passenger trains per day arrived here during peak Derby times, as guests stayed here at the hotels and took another train to Louisville on Derby day. Today, you can see some unique Derby-related relics from the hotel’s history in the display case located across from Siebert’s clothing shop.
• The Derby was so big here that when West Baden Springs
Hotel temporarily closed in December of 1931 because of low patronage, the hotel
decided to reopen in the spring of 1932 to honor the scores of Kentucky Derby
reservations that had already been booked. Although scheduled rail passenger
service to the hotels by the major railroads ended in the 1930s and 1940s,
special Kentucky Derby passenger service by the Monon Railroad continued for
decades, last running in 1971.