Table for two? You've got some company with past Kentucky Derby winners
on the wall at 1875: The Steakhouse inside French Lick Springs Hotel.
You may know about some of the presidents and celebrities and even the sports teams who visited French Lick Resort in its early days. Here’s one you may not know about: Matt Winn, the man associated with making the Kentucky Derby a world-famous race.
Winn was a former president of Churchill Downs racetrack, and he used his marketing chops to add a sense of romance to the race, appealing to the wealthy and working class and more women as well. He also changed the wagering system to make it more bettor-friendly, and increased business by slashing the wager ticket from $5 to $2. He became such a central figure in the Bluegrass State that the governor gave the honorary Kentucky Colonel title.
His secret? It was revealed in a book that came out in the late 1940s celebrating the Derby’s 75th year:
“I once asked Colonel Winn his secret for looking so well and keeping so fit physically as he advanced along the years, and he attributed it to his practice of making regular trips to French Lick, the famous Indiana spa not far from Louisville, and taking the baths and resting.”
Proof that a little R&R does a world of good, no matter who you are.
Our resort shares a strong link with the Kentucky Derby, and in the spirit of the annual spring race just an hour down the road, a few more:
Find all 150+ horses who’ve won the Kentucky Derby at 1875: The Steakhouse, the signature restaurant at French Lick Springs Hotel that takes its name from the year of the first Kentucky Derby. Each year’s winner has a framed photo on the wall, and we get our fair share of horseracing enthusiasts who want to find their favorite on the wall — it’s all good, just as long as the table next to it is unoccupied!
If you come at the right time when restaurant manager Tom O’Connor is showing guests to their table, he can regale you with plenty of Derby stories and history — from Aristides, the first winner in 1875 who greets everyone at the restaurant entrance, to the little-known mule that won the Derby, and a winning horse from the 1940s with a connection to Al Capone. From the derby champs to the restaurant itself, there’s so much history in here.
Did you know that in the early 20th century, it was common for guests to stay at French Lick and West Baden Springs Hotels for nearly the entire month of May? They’d attend the Kentucky Derby early in the month, retreat to French Lick or West Baden for the next few weeks, then attend the Indianapolis 500 to cap their extended getaway. Can we start a movement to make the month-long vacation a thing again?
Tom and Thomas Taggart, the father and son who owned French Lick Springs Hotel from 1901-1946, shared a love of horses and specially decorated the hotel during Derby week. As many as 14 passenger trains per day arrived here during peak Derby times, as guests stayed here at the hotels and took another train to Louisville on Derby day. Today, you can see some unique Derby-related relics from the hotel’s history in the display case located across from Siebert’s clothing shop.
Among the Derby-related items in our display case is this small racehorse and jockey statue, with the badge under the horse reading "French Lick Springs Hotel, home of Pluto, the Kentucky Derby 1930."
The Derby was so big here that when West Baden Springs Hotel temporarily closed in December of 1931 because of low patronage, the hotel decided to reopen in the spring of 1932 to honor the scores of Kentucky Derby reservations that had already been booked. Although scheduled rail passenger service to the hotels by the major railroads ended in the 1930s and 1940s, special Kentucky Derby passenger service by the Monon Railroad continued for decades, last running in 1971.
