The Kentucky Derby is not only a sports event, it's big business. It involves horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, television networks, Internet websites and videos, gamblers and consumers. The latest race occurred on May 3, 2008. Stay tuned until the end and I'll tell you why I'm writing about this. If you don't care for the sport, feel free to skip straight to the end.

Horse Racing in General

I don't know what fascinates people about horse racing, although it's obvious that gambling has been intertwined with horse racing for a long, long time. Horse racing dates back to the chariot races of the Roman Empire, well over 1,000 years ago. In America, it predates the establishment of the US, dating back to 1665.

I'm not a gambler in any way. I don't even play cards for fun. I'll never understand gamblers just like I'll never understand horse racing, dog racing or anything like that.

What is the "Kentucky Derby" exactly?

From the Wikipedia article on Kentucky Derby:

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57.2 kg) and fillies 121 pounds (54.9 kg).[1] The race is known in the US as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for its approximate duration, and is also called "The Run for the Roses" for the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the US and typically draws around 155,000 fans.

The 2008 Kentucky Derby Winners

1st Place: Big Brown
Post Position: 20
Time: 2:01.82
Odds: 5-2

2nd Place: Eight Belles — Runner-up Eight Belles breaks front ankles, euthanized on track
Post Position: 5
Time: 04 3⁄4 Behind #1
Odds: 12-1

3rd Place: Denis of Cork
Post Position: 16
Time: 08 1⁄4 Behind #1
Odds: 26-1

The 2008 Kentucky Derby Coverage

Official Website: Kentucky Derby 134
Video: The Official Website and YouTube
Television: NBC

Why did I write this?

I don't normally write about anything sports-related, so why did I do it this time? I want to show you that you can increase your website and search engine traffic with current events topics as well as answering the question, "What are they searching for?".

I answered the question for myself by looking through the Google Hot Trends for the last 10 days. At least 5 percent of the searches were related to the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, the names of the horses and even the state of Kentucky. You may not consider 5 percent a whole lot, but rarely do any of the search topics even reach that amount. Even rarer is when they reach the top 10. A lot of these did.

What am I looking for when I write an article like this, social traffic or search engine traffic? It should be obvious that I'm looking for search engine traffic. What may not be so obvious is that I'm not really looking for search traffic from what has already transpired. The Kentucky Derby will take place again next year. I'm willing to be that I'll get boatloads of traffic for two weeks prior to the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Blogging success includes long-term goals like this.

I'm breaking my self-imposed rule of one post per day, as I wrote about in "Producing Quality Versus Quantity", because I still want to capitalize on as much as the residual search activity as possible. Google indexes my blog nearly every day and I'm crossing my fingers that this article will show up in the SERPS within 24 hours.

Here are some more blogs with articles about the Kentucky Derby for 2008:

• Eight Bells euthanized on the track
• PETA AND THE KENTUCKY DERBY
• Kentucky Derby overshadowed by death of horse
• Experiencing the Kentucky Derby Infield
• PETA shows up at Kentucky Derby. Tries to have Jockey Suspended
• THE KENTUCKY DERBY WAS… BLAM!

(Image source: IT'S POST TIME!)

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