The fastest two minutes in sports

The Kentucky Derby is Kentucky’s premiere Thoroughbred racing event which takes place the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, Louisville.. There will be twenty-one contenders for the race, the first leg of the Triple Crown. The race is billed as the fastest two minutes in sports. The Grade 1 Stakes for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds is 1 1/4 miles. Colts carry 126 pounds and fillies carry 121. There are no fillies running this year.The Run for the Roses has raced every year since 1875. More people attend The Derby than all other North American stakes races combined.  The Derby is the high point of a two- week- long festival that draws thousands to Louisville.

Horses are started along a track that leads to Churchill the September, the year prior to the Derby. The Prep and Championship races for which the top four horses who finish are awarded points will decide which horses make in into the Derby line-up.

Former UK offensive guard and Richmond, Ky. native Larry Warford was selected by the Detroit Lions in the third round (65th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft on Friday night. 

Warford is the highest selection of any UK player since Randall Cobb was drafted in the second round of the 2011 draft (62nd overall).

As a senior, Warford was selected to the All-SEC first team by ESPN.com and CBSSports.com, and was named third team All-America by the Associated Press. He was the 12th offensive linemen in program history to earn All-America honors, and earned All-SEC first or second team honors in each of the last three seasons.

Warford did not allow a quarterback sack in his final season at UK, and finished his career having started 37 consecutive games. 

Larry Warford. Photo courtesy of UK Athletics

UK Dining Services is steadily moving forward with revitalization. According to UKnow, the University will receive notice from offerors on who will attend the pre-poposal conference on May 11.  The University decided last fall to revamp the dining offerings as a way to cut costs and add additional dining choices on campus. Aramark, an institutional supplier, has been mentioned as a possible take-over agent for UK Dining management. Robert Mock, vice president for student affairs said in a document, “In relation to Kentucky Proud products, we would like to keep that relationship because we have had it for so many years, but no contract has been drawn with a vendor yet…We will decide what is best for UK.” UK could also partner with companies such as Taco Bell, Panera Bread, Pizza Hut and Qdoba Mexican Grill, according to the contents of a survey sent out to the university community.

UK implemented a Kentucky Proud purchasing program in 2007. In 2007, the purchases totaled $150,000 by 2012 it had reached $800,00. This is money that directly returns to the local community that might be spent elsewhere when the dining services are revamped. According to a Kernel article published in February “Western Kentucky University, Transylvania University and Texas A&M have outsourced their dining services. Outsourcing had a positive impact on revenue at WKU, said Gary Meszaros, assistant vice president of auxiliary services at WKU. WKU has been outsourced to Aramark since 1992, Meszaros said. “

In 2006,Yale University hired Aramark. Apparently, cost-cutting should not be the only criteria fo a revamp of dining services. since according to the Yale Daily News, “Under the terms of Yale’s contract with Aramark ­— a copy of which was obtained by the News — large incentives to control costs were built into the partnership from its early stages, foreshadowing current concerns among staff and union officials that fiscal pressures are compromising quality of service. But the relationship failed to live up to expectations, administration officials acknowledged this week, ultimately necessitating a radical policy shift and an economic opportunity for sustainable food to become a part of life at Yale.”