Showers could create wet track for 151st Kentucky Derby as days of storms dampen race week festivities

Rain is expected on Saturday ahead of the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby as rounds of storms move over the Louisville area in the days leading up to the event.

The first leg of horse racing’s coveted Triple Crown, this year’s Kentucky Derby, starts this Saturday, May 3, at 6:57 p.m. ET, the climax of a day of races that begin at 11 a.m. ET.

Conditions are expected to be dry over the Churchill Downs racetrack for the start of the race, but there’s a chance of showers Saturday morning and afternoon, creating the potential for a wet track. 

Storms on Thursday and Friday could put a damper on pre-race festivities. 

This comes after severe storms in early April dumped 10-20 inches of rain across parts of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, causing historic flooding in the region, including in Louisville.

Currently, FOX Weather’s exclusive Risk of Weather Impact forecast, ROWI, has been increased to “medium” for the Derby itself, with showers forecast earlier in the day and the threat of isolated thunderstorms. 

Conditions are expected to dry out just in time for the race, but be sure to check the FOX Weather app for the forecast as it evolves over the coming days.

Occasional thunderstorms will threaten Louisville through Thursday evening.

Additional rain showers are forecast for part of the day on Friday and into Saturday.

Due to the repeated rounds of rain, most of Kentucky is under a Level 1 out of 4 risk for flash flooding through Thursday.

The last five Derbies have been run on fast tracks.

The last sloppy track was in 2019, when Country House won following the disqualification of Maximum Security for interference.

This year, Journalism, a colt out of Kentucky who won the Santa Anita Derby earlier in April, is the consensus favorite, running out of the No. 8 post position.

This comes after places near Louisville tallied nearly a foot of rain since the beginning of April.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg launched a multi-million-dollar cleanup effort to prepare the city for race festivities.

“We started the cleanup within 24 hours of the Ohio River receding into its banks,” Greenberg told FOX Weather in an interview earlier this month.

Greenberg said the early April flood event was the eighth-largest flood in the city’s history.

He credited flood walls and levees with preventing more damage and saving lives.

“All roads impacted by the flooding are cleared and operational, and work at Metro Parks impacted by the floods is wrapping up,” read part of a news release from the mayor’s office last Tuesday.