History challenge answers

1. Leonatus won the inaugural Hindoo Stakes, which was renamed the Latonia Derby in 1887. He beat the same two horses to the wire - Drake Carter and Lord Raglan - that he did two weeks earlier in the ninth Kentucky Derby.

The win in Louisville was the first start of the year for Leonatus. He went on to win nine more starts in a row, before suffering a career-ending injury while training at Monmouth Park.

Leonatus was ridden by 16-year-old Billy Donoghue (often printed with the "g" missing) in Louisville, but was replaced by future Hall of Fame jockey Isaac Murphy in the Latonia Derby.

Following the Kentucky Derby, rumors had spread quickly throughout racing circles that Donoghue had bet his life savings on Leonatus. The rumor was later substantiated, but there was doubt that the teenager had much of a "life" savings.

Among other noted Kentucky Derby winners to compete in the Latonia Derby were Hall of Fame members Ben Brush (first in 1896) and Exterminator (second in 1918). Exterminator won the first start of his 100-race career at Latonia in 1917.

2. Jockey Carl Ganz used his German family's old surname to avoid being confused with his more famous brother, Roscoe Goose.

Following Ganz's death at Latonia in 1915, Col. Edward Bradley was instrumental in developing a safety helmet for jockeys and campaigned relentlessly for years to have it become required equipment.

Goose is famous for riding Donerail to victory in the 1913 Kentucky Derby. The colt set a track record and returned $184.90 for $2 - still the highest payout in Derby history.

The death of his brother, and his own subsequent spill at Latonia in 1917, prompted Goose to retire early in 1918. With Bradley's guidance, Goose parlayed his savings into a fortune. When the former jockey died in 1971, he left an estate of nearly $1.2omillion.

3. The 1923 Latonia Championship featured Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Zev, who was on an eight-race win streak.

Sent off at 2-5, Zev took an early lead in the 1 3/4-mile race, but had nothing left when challenged by the 11-1 upstart In Memoriam, whose owner lived just a few miles from the track. In Memoriam went on to win by six lengths.

The race drew such a huge throng, and was covered so widely by the press, that a match race for the two horses was arranged two weeks later at Churchill Downs.

The Zev-In Memoriam match race is perhaps the most famous non-Derby race ever run at Churchill Downs. The two horses hit the wire together. In his autobiography, Col. Matt Winn wrote that he was at the wire and could not separate the two horses. The Daily Racing Form chart caller thought In Memoriam won, but the placing judges gave the victory by a nose to Zev. (Photo-finish cameras would not appear for another decade.)

4. Bourbon maker Jim Beam sponsored the Spiral Stakes from 1982 to 1998. It was during this era that the event played its most important role in the spring classics.

In 1990, Summer Squall won the Jim Beam Stakes and Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes en route to a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Two weeks later, Summer Squall turned the tables on Derby winner Unbridled and won the Preakness Stakes by two lengths.

5. After finishing 10th in the 1991 Kentucky Derby, Jim Beam Stakes winner Hansel won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes on his way to being voted champion 3-year-old.

A year later, Pat Day guided Jim Beam winner Lil E. Tee to a one-length upset victory in the Kentucky Derby, becoming the first, and to date only, winner of the Turfway event to bring home the roses on Derby Day.

In 1993, Jim Beam winner Prairie Bayou captured the Preakness Stakes en route to being named 3-year-old champion. That made four straight years in which a Beam winner won at least one spring classic. In the 15 years since, no winner of the Turfway race has won a Triple Crown race.