And it continues to maintain that spirit. From MSNBC:

The Kentucky Derby has always glorified the Good Ole Boys of the American South, a bastion of American conservatism. It makes perfect sense that Donald Trump sold $75,000 tickets to a “MAGA, Again!” fundraiser event at the Derby in 2022; it fits perfectly with now-President Trump’s branding and ethos.

It was already like that in 1970, when the Kentucky Derby wasn’t particularly special or notable for any reason except that Hunter S. Thompson was there. Thompson, credited with pioneering the subjective and literary writing style of so-called New Journalism and who is best known for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” wrote a piece on the Kentucky Derby that year. Published in Scanlan’s Monthly, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved” is a salient metaphor for Nixon’s America. It also reads as a parallel between past and present.

The more things change …

(By the way: Sovereignty won the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday, upsetting favorite Journalism.)