Contributing Reporter Johnette Jernigan contributed to this story
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio-Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, now seeking a triple crown at the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 7 after winning the Derby on May 7 and the Preakness on May 17, was the talk of the Kentucky Derby festivities in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a social event hosted locally for more than 15 years by the Pyles family.
The Kentucky Derby, held annually at Churchill Downs in Louisville, is always the first Saturday in May, with the Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland held two weeks later, and Belmont Stakes three weeks after that, but never before June 5 or after June 11 for the Belmont Stakes. Winning all three legs will bring a triple crown, the last race horse to do so being Affirmed in 1978.
Today's featured race for the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes kicks off at 6:25 pm with all eyes on California Chrome, a three-year-old colt. Chrome has 3-5 odds and is the favorite, with Tonalist and Wicked Strong also dubbed to possibly win, either one, and any other in the race that is victorious, denying front-runner Chrome, and veteran jockey Victor Espinoza, the elusive triple crown.
The purse for winning at Belmont is $1.5 million, while the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness brought purses this year of $2 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
Pyles graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work from Kentucky State University and went on to earn a master's in social work at Case Western Reserve University. He is a native of Hardinburg, Kentucky. His deceased wife Louise, also the mother of his three adult children and who preceded him in death, was a native of Springfield, Kentucky. She actually initiated Kentucky Derby in Cleveland Heights, said Lillian Pyles, a local casting director and the oldest of the Pyles children, all three of whom are educated. Read the full story in this week's print edition of the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press
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