The Exciting 1963 Kentucky Derby Season

In Retrospect

No Robbery was sidelined after the Derby and Never Bend, Candy Spots and Chateaugay continued to battle it out for the rest of 1963. None of them proved to be the super horses the public hoped they would be and with an actual super horse named Kelso competing that year, those three year olds looked even less impressive by comparison.

By season’s end, Never Bend, Candy Spots and Chateaugay proved to be a fairly evenly matched group. Luck proved to be the factor in the outcome of their remaining meetings.  When the votes were cast for the best three-year-old colt or gelding of 1963 the results were, Chateaugay, 157; Candy Spots, 68; Never Bend, 55.

It has been nearly 60 years since that Kentucky Derby and time seems to have forgotten just how promising and exciting that run for the roses shaped up to be. It makes one wonder 60 years from now how will this year’s Kentucky Derby be remembered? No one knows for sure, but as long as horse racing exists, the running of each Derby is sure to be remembered.