The first Saturday in May will be different this year. The world won’t stop what it’s doing and focus its attention on a dirt track in south Louisville. The mint juleps won’t flow, the ladies’ hats won’t be on parade, and lumps won’t form in hundreds of thousands of throats because My Old Kentucky Home won’t be wafting across Churchill Downs.
Like so much else in our lives these days, this annual spring ritual is being postponed because of you-know-what. It’s now scheduled for September 5.
The big race has been run without interruption since 1875. Not many traditions can make that claim. Only once before was it held in a month other than May. In fact, it came within a whisker of not being run at all. And a South Carolinian played a key role in the controversy. This is the story of the year there almost wasn’t a derby.
As January 1945 began, American troops in Europe were recovering from the bloody Battle of the Bulge. In the Pacific, the Navy and Marine Corps were making final preparations for the upcoming (and equally bloody) Battle of Iwo Jima. In Washington, Jimmy Byrnes had a sticky problem.
The former Palmetto State congressman, senator, and Supreme Court justice was serving as director of the Office of War Mobilization. It coordinated all government agencies involved in the war effort. Byrnes’ power was so immense he was nicknamed the “assistant president.” If Brynes decreed it, it happened.
While the war was going in the Allies’ favor, its outcome wasn’t a certainty. Byrnes’ job was to keep the American military machine fully equipped and to remove anything hampering that effort—which is where horse racing enters the picture.
Believe it or not, the “sport of kings” was hampering the war effort. Moving all those thoroughbreds from one racetrack to another burned gasoline and tire rubber that were desperately needed on the front lines. Hundreds of millions of dollars wagered on races was money that could be spent to buy war bonds. All those able-bodied workers who kept the tracks open and the horse farms operating could be serving in the armed forces.
But banning horse racing for the duration of the war wasn’t easy. First, it was far more popular back then than it is today. Fans would be furious. Track attendance jumped during the war by 2 million; betting nearly doubled from 1943 to 1944 alone. No other sport was cancelled because of the war; why should horse racing? The Senate’s powerful majority leader happened to be Kentuckian Alben Barkley, who had a vested interest in the sport.
Byrnes had come close to banning horse racing in early 1943. Racing interests had prevailed that time. But their luck eventually ran out. Byrnes announced a total ban on all horse racing on Jan. 3, 1945.
That meant no Kentucky Derby for the first time. Horse racing fans were crushed.
Then fate intervened.
Nazi Germany surrendered on May 8, ending the war in Europe. Byrnes quickly lifted the ban on America’s beloved sport. Organizers had to scramble to put it together, but there would be a 1945 Kentucky Derby after all!
Churchill Downs was filled on a rainy Saturday, June 9, for the 71st edition of the “Run for the Roses.” They watched legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro lead Hoop, Jr. down a sloppy track to victory by 6 lengths. His winning time of 2:07 was solid, if not impressive. There was no Triple Crown winner in 1945, though Assault would become the 7th horse to claim the prestigious honor the following year.
It was also the only time the Kentucky Derby was ever run outside of May. Until now. 
I’ll be watching on September 5 when the Run for the Roses, “the most exciting 2 minutes in sports,” is held. But it won’t be the same seeing the thoroughbreds stampede around Churchill Downs’ track in Labor Day weekend’s oppressive heat.
But we horse racing fans are a sentimental lot. All that really matters is the tradition stretching all the way back to when Ulysses S. Grant lived in the White House will remain unbroken. And in these uncertain times, that’s pretty doggone important.
Email Mark with comments, questions or suggestions at jmp.press@gmail.com .