May 7, 1775, Daniel Boone traveled into the woods trying to find a stray horse . He camped all night and upon his return he found Captain Harrod and Colonel Slaughter from Harrodstown on the Salt River. The men were of great mood. History of Kentucky by Zachariah Frederick Smith
When the 1st census was taken in Kentucky on May 7, 1777 , and another on September 2, 1777, at Harrodsburg, it gave 65 children under ten, 24 women, and 198 total. Boonesborough was then nearly as large, and there were families at McClelland’s (Georgetown), Logan’s (near Stanford), and several other stations.
May 7, 1840, a small steamboat capsized and nine people drown in the Green River.
May 7, 1861, Maysville native William “Bull” Nelson visited Louisville native Joshua Fry Speed for a secret mission to supply arms for the Union cause in Kentucky. President Lincoln organized the meeting.
May 7, 1867, W.L. Grinnan and D.B. Ridgly, both of Harrison County, met on the field of honor near Cynthiana at 6:30 a.m. “one round fired and nobody hurt.” Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 146
Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Albert and Emma Fall , who wed in 1883. Albert, a Frankfort native became the 28th U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The couple had four children, two of which died days apart during the Spanish Flu.
May 7, 1910, Layminister won the 35th Preakness Stakes going one mile. The 36th Derby ran three days later.
May 7, 1911, Night Policeman John Austin Robey, Lebanon Police Department , died after being stabbed 19 times by two men. One held him while the other stabbed.
On May 7, 1921, Behave Yourself won the 47th Kentucky Derby in 2:02.40 and earned $38,450 . The duo of owner Colonel Edward R. Bradley and trainer Herbert J. Thompson won for their 1st of four Derbies together. Jockey Charles Thompson won by a head over the favorite and stablemate Black Servant.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Loyall native Jerry Donald Chesnut , born in 1931 in Harlan County. His hits include “Good Year for the Roses ” (recorded by Alan Jackson, George Jones, and Elvis Costello) and “T-R-O-U-B-L-E ” (recorded by Elvis Presley in 1975, and Travis Tritt in 1992.)
May 7, 1931, Harland Sanders put two bullets in Matt Stewart , a service station manager in Corbin, while Matt was painting his station’s company sign. A Shell Oil executive lay dead nearby.
May 7, 1932, Burgoo King won the 58th Kentucky Derby for Col. E.R. Bradley’s Idle Hour Stock Farm, leader for all-time Derby starters at 28. Col. Bradley and trainer, Herbert Thompson, won their 3rd Derby as a team. Bradley’s 1926 Derby winner Bubbling Over sired Burgoo King. Bradley named Burgoo King for James T. Looney, who popularized the Kentucky-created stew known as burgoo. The winning time of 2:05.20 earned $52,350.
Time magazine’s May 7, 1934, issue featured Edward R. Bradley on its front cover . In 1898, Bradley purchased his 1st racehorse. Then, in 1906, he bought Ash Grove Stock Farm, a 400-acre property near Lexington, and renamed Idle Hour Stock Farm. The farm became the leading Thoroughbred breeding operation in the American South and added greatly to the rise of Kentucky’s prominence in horse racing and breeding and the Kentucky Derby as the country’s premier race.
Friday, May 7, 1937, V.P. John N. Gardner and a group of Senators left Washington, D.C., via train to attend the Saturday Kentucky Derby . The V.I.P. group were guests of Senator Guffey (D-PA), who hosted an annual Derby Soiree.
May 7, 1938, Lawrin won the 64th Kentucky Derby for Herbert M. Woolf, who bred the colt in Kansas. Mr. Woolf’s Woolford Farm is the official owner. The colt went in 2:04 4/5 to win $47,050. The team of Ben Jones and Eddie Arcaro hook up for the 1st of four times Derby wins.
May 7, 1945, the war against Germany, the greatest war in world history, ended with the unconditional surrender of the once-mighty Wehrmacht.
On May 7, 1949, Ponder won the 75th Kentucky Derby for Warren Wright’s Calumet Farm . Mr. Wright’s homebred won $91,600 and gave the farm their 4th Derby victory. The U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey, Steve Brooks, gets his only Derby win in a time of 2:04 1/5. Ben A. Jones won for the 5th time, getting one more in 1952.
May 7, 1951, Air Force 1LT John S. Collins from Louisville died in the Korean War.
May 7, 1955, Swaps won the 81st Kentucky Derby for owner Rex C. Ellsworth, trainer Mesh Tenney, and Bill Shoemaker, who got his 1st Derby win of four. The winning time earned $108,400. Rex was the leading breeder in the U.S. twice but would have a remarkable fall from grace when authorities found more than 100 horses near-starvation, along with five dead ones, on his California farm.
On May 7, 1957, Churchill Downs’s President Bill Corum announced a red disc would be hung over the finish line before next year’s Derby to eliminate any confusion that Willie shoemaker had in the Derby four days prior. Shoemaker received a 15-day suspension for his miscalculation. Meanwhile, the government announced a one-cent hike for a 1st class postage stamp from three to four cents.
May 7, 1960, Venetian Way, with Bill Hartack up, won the 86th Kentucky Derby in 2:02 2/5 on a good track to win $114,850. Bill earned his 2nd Derby win out of five. Owner Isaac Blumberg named Venetian Way for a street in Miami. Victor J. Sovinski trained his one Kentucky Derby winner.
May 7, 1963, the citizens of Lynch in Harlan County, incorporated their community .
On May 7, 1966, Kauai King won the 92nd Kentucky Derby for Ford Stable in 2:02 . It would be Nicholasville native and Hall of Fame jockey Don Brumfield’s only Derby win. In addition, Trainer Henry Forrest enjoyed his 1st of two Derby wins. The winning connections divide $120,500.
May 7, 1968, Army SGT Roger D. Cauley from Owensboro died in the Vietnam War.
May 7, 1969, Marine Corps PFC Donald R. Haywood from Blue River in Floyd County died in the Vietnam War.
On May 7, 1970, police arrested a dozen UK students, including student president Steve Bright as 20 State Police and 12 National Guardsmen moved in to disperse a crowd of students gathered at UK’s student center. They charged the students with “generally exciting trouble” or disorderly conduct while protesting the Vietnam War.
May 7, 1974, the $8 million Camp Nelson Bridge over the Kentucky River between Jessamine and Garrard Counties opened to traffic. The bridge is 1,100 feet long.
May 7, 1977, Seattle Slew won the 103rd Kentucky Derby for Karen L. Taylor, jockey Jean Cruguet, and trainer William H. Turner Jr. Seattle Slew was America’s 10th Triple Crown winner.
On May 7, 1980, a Kentucky lawyer claimed that the state’s Sunday Closing Law was vague, ambiguous, unfair, and unenforceable . He made the claims on behalf of retail stores Mr. Wiggs and CSC. He also represented a small garden shop that wanted to take it to the state’s Supreme Court.
On May 7, 1983, click to see ex-presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter watch Sunny’s Halo win the 109th Kentucky Derby. President Ford attended 13 times, more than any other, while President Carter enjoyed his only visit. Canadian trainer David C. Cross Jr. and owner D.J. Foster Racing Stable captured their only Derby. Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye won his 1st of two in a row. The winning time of 2:02 1/5 earned the Canadian bred $426,000. Click for a picture immediately after the race and some of the 134,444 who attended.
On May 6-7, 1984, a major storm hit Kentucky , Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Rainfall exceeded 14 inches in many areas. Seven Kentuckians drowned. “This ” is a picture of the record Paintsville flood.
May 7, 1985, UK’s board of trustees rejected a measure that would have prohibited discrimination against gay men and women in admission and financial aid.
May 7, 1988, the filly Winning Colors won the 114th Kentucky Derby for Eugene V. Klein. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won his 1st of four Derbies. Jockey Gary Stevens won his 1st of three. The winning time of 2:02.20 earned $611,200.
May 7, 1988, Detective Alton P. Embry, Jr., Louisville Police Department , died when the unmarked police vehicle he was a passenger in crashed on Interstate I-64.
On May 7, 1990, while the 1st Lady, Martha Wilkinson, declared her candidacy to replace her husband , a toxic waste study clouded the Commonwealth. Kentucky ranked in the top 10 for exporting and importing toxic waste. Oddly enough, in 1987, we exported 32.8 million pounds and imported 31.7 million pounds.
May 7, 1994, Go for Gin won the 120th Kentucky Derby in 2:02.73 on a sloppy track for W.J. Condren & J.M. Cornacchia. Jockey Chris McCarron and trainer Nick Zito each won their 2nd and last Derbies. The winning connections earned $628,800.
On May 7, 1998, fans of the television show Seinfeld showed up in full force for Lexington’s look-alike contest at Fayette Mall . Seventy-five people entered the competition celebrating the popular show’s finale, which aired a week later. Unfortunately, only one George showed up.
On Sunday, May 7, 2000, the Rev. Jesse Jackson seemed genuinely excited to receive his honorary degree from Union College in Barbourville (Knox County). He spoke in Robsion Arena to about 180 graduates. This would make Jackson’s third trip to Eastern Kentucky in three years.
On May 7, 2006, about 6,100 pupils received degrees in UK’s 139th commencement. Nobel Prize Winner Seamus Heaney, an Irish Poet, cited a poem by William Wordsworth to the 2006 Class.
May 7, 2008, Army CPL Jeremy R. Gullett, 22, of Greenup , died in Afghanistan from a bomb fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.
May 7, 2011, Animal Kingdom won the 137th Kentucky Derby for Team Valor Stable in 2:02.04 to win $1,411,800. John Velazquez and H. Graham Motion completed the winning connections. It was only his 5th race, the last horse to win the Derby after racing just four times was Exterminator in 1918. Also, Kathleen O’Connell became the 6th woman to ride in the Derby, she finished 18th .
On May 7, 2015, court documents described an inside job at the Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey distilleries robberies of over $100,000 worth of bourbon. Gilbert Curtsinger, a Buffalo Trace employee, was the only defendant to receive jail time. He spent 30 days in the Woodford County jail and then was granted shock probation by Judge T. Wingate.
May 7, 2016, Nyquist won the 142nd Kentucky Derby in 2:01.31 to earn $1,631,400. This was the 2nd Derby win for the connections of owner J. Paul Reddam, trainer Doug O’Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez. The team’s 1st win came with I’ll Have Another in 2012.
On May 7, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced that Kentucky restaurants could open back up at 33% capacity on May 22 . Movie theaters and fitness centers would reopen on June 1, campgrounds on June 11, child care services, and outdoor youth sports on June 15. Meanwhile officials released a man after serving 20 years but told him to return for two weeks after being free for 24 hours because he tested positive on his last day. It seemed the absurdity would never stop.
May 7, 2021, as Kentucky’s economy picked up steam, the state announced that citizens collecting unemployment benefits must prove they looked for work . The U.S., including Kentucky, would soon face a worker shortage. Meanwhile, Nancy Messonnier who led CDC’s Covid-19 response, resigned in disgust over the organization’s corporate capture.
On May 7, 2023, Governor A. Beshear surrounded himself with some of Kentucky’s finest.