Kentucky Derby 2011 Online Guide

Kentucky’s three most notable exports are baseball bats, bourbon, and horses. The premiere event of the year venerating the latter will take place this Saturday, May 7 at 5PM EST at Chruchill Downs in Louisville.

The 137th Kentucky Derby will feature a full field of 20 horses with names more befitting Twitter handles than multi-million dollar animals racing around a left-handed track for what’s called “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” The top contenders are Uncle Mo (this guy’s favorite), Stay Thirsty (this guy’s favorite), Twice the Appeal (this brand’s favorite), and Pants on Fire (this guy’s favorite).

That should be all the info you need to know for casual conversations about this weekend’s race, but if you’re wanting a crash course in Derby-related whatnot for conversation centerpieces at your fancy pants Derby party with Boyz II Men

(?!?), these online videos should do the trick.

The Wall Street Journal’s sports reporter Reed Albergotti visits two-time Derby-winning jockey Chris McCarron’s horse rider training facility in Lexington, Kentucky. Albergotti learns the importance of wall sits and not eating, while coming away with a great insider’s tip on how to pick the Derby winner. Go for the horse with the jockey with the biggest quads.

Mint juleps are the beverage of choice for any red-blooded Derby watcher. Here, Yankee cocktail master Eben Freeman shows you how to mix one up.

The official Kentucky Derby YouTube channel isn’t necessarily an entertainment hotspot, unless you’re looking for footage from historic derby races and practice runs in anticipation of this weekend’s big event. There’s no official, sanctioned live stream of the race, so if you want to see the action from Churchill Downs online, this channel and the material on KentuckyDerby.com are the best you’re going to get.

After you’ve watched the above, it’d probably a great idea to your use your newfound derby knowledge for something useful, like gambling on the race. You, too, could be a big winner.