Yes, We Have A Sense of Humor About the Derby

Oldest and most important horse race in the world, most exciting two minutes in sports, blah, blah, blah.

It's not really Derby season until the Running of the Rodents.

It took a little persuading, but once Burrhus Frederic decided to break from the starting gate, the gray and white rat circled the oval and finished first in the 38th annual Running of the Rodents, held Thursday at Spalding University.

“She likes small spaces, so we knew that our biggest barrier was getting her out of the starting gate,” said Lacy Ford, one of several graduate students from Spalding’s Applied Behavioral Analysis Student Organization who helped trained the rat.

Burrhus Frederick beat out seven other rats in the featured race — the Spalding Derby — a tradition at the university for nearly four decades.

“It started as a stress reliever for students and also as a science project, and it really caught on and it’s now kind of the unofficial start to the (Kentucky) Derby,” said Audrey Cecil, director of civic involvement.

The event pits teams of Spalding students, staff and faculty against one another to train their rats to race around a .024 furlong track. The races celebrate the end of the “rat race” of finals week and conclude a week of events, such as a cereal-eating contest and a “Rat Hat” contest.

This year's theme for race day was “HistoRATS” and featured historic competitors named Florence RATingale, RATicus Finch, Ginghis RAT and SocRATes, among others.

Before racing got under way, a parade with floats and decorated vehicles took place along Third and Fourth streets in downtown Louisville. The teams then walked to the Spalding University Center Building for the race.

Churchill Downs bugler Steve Buttleman played “My Old Kentucky Home” to kick off the races. He also played the signature call to post before each of the five races.

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