Tennessee was an advantageous area for breeding thoroughbred horses due to a warmer climate, mild winters, and earlier spring grasses. Middle Tennesseans were also wealthier than Kentuckians, due to their investments further south in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. John Harding, the first owner of the Belle Meade Plantation, had holdings in both Arkansas and Louisiana. However popular Tennessee was for horses, breeding in Kentucky became more prominent by the 1850s, and suffered little during the Civil War because Kentucky did not secede from the Union. The Civil War almost destroyed breeding in Tennessee, due to secession and massive troop movements throughout the state.

Horse racing is regarded as America's first national pastime and first professionally organized sport.  Early settlers began this form of mass entertainment with "Quarter Racing." 

The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville has been run annually since 1875.  The first winner was Aristides, who earned $2,850 for the win.  The horse was trained by an African American man, Ansel Williamson, and raced by African American jockey, Oliver Lewis, one of fifteen black jockeys who rode in the Derby.