Each year as we turn the page on the calendar the racehorses of the current year enjoy a collective “birthday” for the purposes of their designation in terms of races they are eligible to participate in, so all of last year’s two-year-olds became three when 2010 began. When you think about horse racing, and the new crop of three-year-olds, the first thing that most of us are going to think about is the Triple Crown series of racing that kicks off with the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May.

Horse racing is a sport that is not necessarily embraced by just about everyone throughout the year like baseball and football, but when it comes to the Kentucky Derby, seemingly everyone is a fan. The 2010 Kentucky Derby will be the 136th running of the race, and it can certainly be considered one of the seminal sporting traditions in the country. It has the flavor of a uniquely American event that serves as a backdrop of the times in which we have lived over those many decades that it has been run. The Kentucky Derby is indeed a slice of Americana.

This is why it is disturbing to recognize that the fast food conglomerate, Yum! Brands, owns the Kentucky Derby as a sponsor. An event like the Kentucky Derby is cheapened by that type of cheesiness, and it has become a part of the sporting landscape, with all stadiums and college bowl games being named after one corporation or another. It is sad that our country and even its most heartfelt institutions that all of us have invested in emotionally are “sold” to the highest corporate bidder and turned into a commercial rather than a stitch in the fabric of what is good about our country.

In any event, the first Saturday in May this year falls on May 1st, and that is when the race will be run in 2010 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.