7 secrets of Kentucky Derby racehorses

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The sleek muscled dark bay, grey and chestnut thoroughbreds lining up at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday will run one and quarter miles in just over two minutes as 170,000 fans cheer. You can’t get close to these star athletes, but here are a few of their secrets. 

1. Racehorses love peppermints.  Untwist the crinkle wrapper and you have their full attention.  They will frisk you for peppermints.  They know if you "forgot" one in your pocket. 

2. Two Derby racehorses are half-brothers and you can trace their ancestors back to the 1740s. Five minutes on the internet and you will know more about the Derby horses than you do about your own family tree, thanks to over 300 years of breeding records. 

KENTUCKY DERBY 2022: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT FIRST LEG OF HORSE RACING'S TRIPLE CROWN

In Saturday’s Derby, the 12 horse Taiba and the 16 horse Cyberknife are half-brothers, both sired by the famous Gun Runner who won $15 million.   Impress your friends by informing them Cyberknife is "a Gun Runner" while favorite Zandon is "an Upstart" and long-shot Tawny Port is "a Pioneer of the Nile." Warning: it’s addictive, so if you point out that that Derby record-holder Secretariat is "a Bold Ruler" for his famous sire, get another Mint Julep. 

Messier, a 2022 Kentucky Derby favorite, stands in his stall in the barn of his trainer, Tim Yakteen, at Santa Anita Park on Monday, April 25, 2022, in Arcadia, Calif. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

3. Racehorses are loved…and they love to run. Behind every horse are dozens of people called "connections" ranging from owners to trainers, exercise riders, hot-walkers, the vet, jockeys and the horse’s favorites, his grooms who feed,