LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The bourbon is flowing again, colorful coats and flowery hats - and the people who wear them - are on the scene, and 20 horses are ready to run the most chaotic race of their lives.
After being disrupted by a pandemic, the Kentucky Derby is back with many of its traditions intact, including the event's regular spot on the calendar: the first Saturday in May.
The 147th edition of America's longest continuously held sporting event comes less than eight months after "The Run for the Roses" was held without spectators at Churchill Downs because of COVID-19, making this the shortest gap between races in Kentucky Derby history.
"I was hoping to enjoy my Derby win a little longer," joked trainer Bob Baffert, who earned his record-tying sixth last year with Authentic.
The eerie silence that settled over the track last September when no spectators were allowed is being replaced by a capped crowd of about 45,000 people, some 100,000 fewer than usual. Masks are required, and food and drinks are included as part of the price for reserved seats in order to avoid separate payments for every transaction and reduce the length of vendor lines.
Post time is set for 6:57 p.m. Eastern, and the forecast calls for sunshine, low humidity and a high of 75 degrees.
With the Kentucky Derby restored to its usual day, last year's upside down Triple Crown has been righted. The Preakness Stakes will follow on May 15 in Baltimore, and the Belmont Stakes, which kicked off the prestigious thoroughbred racing series a year ago, will conclude it June 5 in Elmont, New York.
Essential Quality is the early 2-1 favorite and has the bona fides. The striking gray colt was last year's 2-year-old champion. He comes in undefeated in five career starts. The last unbeaten colt to win the Derby was Justify in 2018, and he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.
Essential Quality is owned and bred by Godolphin Racing, the stable of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, who is 0-for-11 in his decades-long quest to win America's greatest horse race. A victory by Essential Quality would bring extra scrutiny of human rights issues involving the sheikh, who won't attend the race.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission received a complaint this week from a group of human rights attorneys and students at the University of Louisville seeking to have Sheikh Mohammed banned from the event because of alleged human rights abuses. A judge in England ruled he orchestrated the abductions of two of his adult daughters.
Essential Quality's jockey, Luis Saez, is seeking his first Kentucky Derby win after crossing the finish line first aboard Maximum Security in 2019 only to have his colt disqualified.
"Essential Quality is a deserving favorite," trainer Todd Pletcher said, "but I think it's a wide-open race."
A two-time winner of the race, Pletcher will saddle four starters, led by 6-1 shot Known Agenda. His others are listed at double-digit odds: 20-1 Dynamic One, 30-1 Bourbonic and 50-1 Sainthood.
Besides Essential Quality, the other undefeated horses in the field are 5-1 Rock Your World and 50-1 Helium, both 3-0. Rock Your World won his first two starts on turf before switching to dirt and winning the Santa Anita Derby.
The biggest question for these 3-year-olds is whether they can handle the 1 1/4 miles while getting jostled in a full field of 20 horses. They'll be running in front of a noisy crowd for the first time since the pandemic forced tracks to close to the public last year.
Two-time Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill goes for another with 8-1 shot Hot Rod Charlie, a colt co-owned by his nephew Patrick O'Neill and four of his former Brown University football teammates.
Said the trainer: "It's going to be the race of a lifetime for these guys."
For all its tradition, this year's Kentucky Derby has the potential for some firsts:
* It's the first to be run without Lasix. Previously allowed on race day, the anti-bleeding medication has been banned by Churchill Downs and the other Triple Crown tracks - Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and New York's Belmont Park.
* Brad Cox will try to become the first Louisville-born trainer to win it. Besides saddling Essential Quality, he has 15-1 shot Mandaloun, whose Juddmonte Farms owner Saudi Prince Khalid bin Abdullah died in January. Cox said a victory would make him "a pretty good 'Jeopardy!' question that nobody will answer."
* Kendrick Carmouche, aboard Bourbonic, could be the first Black jockey to win the event in 119 years. The race was won by Black riders in 15 of its first 28 editions.
* Mike Smith, aboard 20-1 shot Midnight Bourbon, would be the oldest jockey to win at age 55.
* Vicki Oliver will saddle 50-1 shot Hidden Stash in a bid to become the first female trainer to win this race. Shelley Riley finished second with Casual Lies in 1992.
* Baffert, tied with Ben Jones for the most Kentucky Derby wins, goes for a record seventh with Medina Spirit, a 15-1 shot, after his other hopefuls were derailed along the leadup to the race. Baffert said he's "coming in there quiet, but I need luck."