Churchill Downs releases 2010 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks logos

Churchill Downs releases 2010 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky
Oaks logos

The new Derby logo features sapphire blue (Churchill Downs Incorporated) The official event logos for Kentucky Derby 136 and Kentucky Oaks 136 were released Tuesday by Churchill Downs Incorporated, and officially licensed apparel and gifts items featuring the new marks are now available for purchase at www.TheDerbyStore.com. Horses are featured prominently in both event marks, with a contemporary, athletic horse head topping the Kentucky Derby 136 logo and a curvaceous pink filly attached to the Kentucky Oaks 136 design. Both event logos also feature the Derby and Oaks “icon” marks — golden horseshoes with a red rose for Derby and a pink stargazer lily for Oaks — embedded within the overall artwork.

The official Kentucky Derby 136 mark introduces a new color, sapphire blue,
to the Derby brand colors of red and gold, while a shade of plum accentuates the
more feminine aspects of the Kentucky Oaks’ signature colors of pink and gold.

For the second consecutive year, the Kentucky Derby 136 and Kentucky Oaks 136
logos were designed in partnership with New York-based SME Branding, a world
leader in branding and design whose client portfolio includes the New York
Yankees, LPGA and Miami Dolphins.

The Oaks features a “Ladies First” theme (Churchill Downs Incorporated) “The new Kentucky Derby and Oaks 136 logos build upon an overall visual brand strategy introduced in 2009, which folds the ‘icon’ marks representing the Derby and Oaks brands on a year-round basis into a larger event logo design,” said Edward M. O’Hara, SME’s chief creative officer and senior partner. “A horse race is at the heart of the Derby brand, and reintroducing equine images to this year’s logo collection allows us to blend the tradition of premium horse racing with fresh colors and text styles that communicate the Derby and Oaks’ modern-day relevance and constant evolution.” Kentucky Derby 136 and Kentucky Oaks 136 products currently available for purchase at www.TheDerbyStore.com include Polo shirts, long and short-sleeved T-shirts, hats, a jacket and a poster of past winners. Additional apparel and gift items, including the collectable Kentucky Derby mint julep glassware, are scheduled for release later this fall prior to the holiday season.

Last month, Churchill Downs Incorporated also introduced the rollout of a new
Kentucky Derby Icon collection, featuring merchandise with non-dated versions of
the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks logos and icons.

The Kentucky Derby (G1) is annually staged on the first Saturday in May at
historic Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Inaugurated in 1875, the legendary 1
1/4-mile race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds is the oldest continuously held
sporting event in North America and the first leg of horse racing’s challenging
Triple Crown series. The Kentucky Derby is often called “The Run for the Roses,”
“The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” and “America’s Race” and typically attracts
a crowd in excess of 150,000.

In recent decades, the day prior to the Kentucky Derby, known as Oaks Day,
has grown to become the second largest attended horse race in America with a
crowd of more than 100,000. The highlight of the day is the Derby’s sister race,
the Kentucky Oaks, which is the nation’s premier race for three-year-old
fillies. Its focus on fashion and celebrities rivals Derby Day and now features
a “Ladies First” theme, complete with a “Pink Out” to raise awareness and funds
for breast cancer in partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure©.