Just beyond the dual-spired grandstand, brand-laden paddocks, thundering dirt straightaways, and julep-soaked infield of Churchill Downs is one of the most vital partners the Kentucky Derby and its brand sponsors turn to each year: The city of Louisville itself.
In its 151st year, horse racing’s marquee event is still reaching out to new generations of fans around the globe, but it has also emphasized its strong ties closer to home. Among those, it recently renewed a longstanding relationship with Ford that extends the automaker’s sponsorship of the race through 2029, gives it naming rights to the First Turn Club hospitality space, plants activations around the grounds and logos along the starting gate and barn area, and even mixes up a Ford Pony non-alcoholic cocktail of lemon juice, simple syrup, blackberry, mint leaves, and ginger beer.
That deal isn’t just a favor thrown to a longtime supporter or an attempt to get on the right side of tariff talks: It’s an acknowledgement of a company that’s had an assembly plant in Louisville for 80 years and a truck plant there since 1969. Today, Ford employs more than 12,000 workers at its Louisville plants alone, with its Ford Escape and Expedition, Lincoln Corvair, Navigator, and F-250-550 Super Duty trucks all produced in the city.
“Ford is really thinking about our entire demographic, which is 18 to 80, and how they can really engage with each set of demographics,” said Casey Ramage, vp of marketing and partnerships at Churchill Downs Racetrack.
Meanwhile, showing off the more erudite side of its upbringing, the Derby marked this year’s 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by emphasizing the ties between Louisville and the novel’s tormented millionaire namesake. Jay Gatsby started out as a soldier at Camp Fay in Kentucky, while his beloved Daisy Buchanan began as Daisy Fay, “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville,” before marrying Tom Buchanan in a wedding at Louiville’s Seelbach Hotel “with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before.”
As it turns out, Churchill Downs, Louisville Tourism, and what is now the Seelbach Hilton all revel in the association, with the Seelbach opening a Great Gatsby suite earlier this year and pointing out Fitzgerald’s tendency to grab drinks at the hotel’s Rathskeller while at Camp Taylor himself during World War II. Designed by Louisville native Terra B. Nelson, the two rooms of the Art Deco suite were meant to highlight the divide between Jay and Daisy while surrounding visitors with references from the novel.