Rain is in our forecast for Derby Day at Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 2.If you're going, pack the rain slicker. The weather pattern will favor roundsof the wet stuff throughout the day. While the odds of downpours typicallyincrease later in the day and the first part of the evening, several episodesof soaking showers are expected throughout the day. There may not besignificant drying time between the periods of rain.
Since 1875, rain of 0.01 of an inch or more fell on approximately 50 racedays, just shy of 40 percent.
Muddy to sloppy track conditions are almost a certainty for the race, asepisodes of rain will also fall on days prior to the big event. There is thepotential for an inch of rain from noon Thursday through race time Saturday atChurchill Downs. Based on this, some horses will struggle and may tire beforethe final stretch.
The favored horse, I Want Revenge, worked in the mud for the first time everearlier this week. Of the six horses that have run on a wet track before,Desert Party and Friesan Fire are the only two horses entered that have won inthe same conditions.
Conditions for training Thursday, despite rain showers, were rated as faston the main track and firm on the turf course. About 0.50 of an inch of rainhas fallen on the Louisville, Ky., area from early Tuesday through noonThursday.
For details of the wind, temperature and rainfall on Derby Day and the daysleading up to the event, check out the forecast for Louisville, Ky.. Get the latest breaking weather
forecast for the Louisville area.
Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
