To be perfectly honest, I was unsure what I was going to blab about in the midweek column until last night. That’s when I stumbled upon something I had no idea about until it came across my Facebook feed. That’s where I saw an item from a group that features historical tidbits and photographs on my hometown, Norwood, Ohio.
The post mentioned that the winning jockey of the 1908 Kentucky Derby was “a Norwood boy.” Immediately, I was intrigued, so I dug a little deeper, and I was more than a little surprised at what I eventually discovered.
The track conditions at the 34th running of the Derby on May 5, 1908 paralleled what we witnessed Saturday; it was a muddy mess after rain pelted Churchill Downs in Louisville. The track was so sloppy that the three-year-old that crossed the finish line in first place, a longshot by the name of Stone Street, had a winning time of 2:15.20, the slowest Derby ever at 1 ¼ miles. The colt went off at 24-1 and paid $123.60 to win on what was then a $5 minimum bet. It would be the only time Stone Street won a major stakes race, winning a purse of $4,850 for co-owners C.E. “Bud” and John W. Hamilton…