Do you believe in luck? Why horseshoes are considered to be lucky in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Winning the Kentucky Derby takes immense skill, great teamwork, and a little bit of luck.

Horse racing and luck have a long history that goes hand-in-hand, or should we say hoof-in-hoof?

From four-leaf clovers to rabbits’ feet to knocking on wood, luck is a tricky concept. Especially in the world of horse racing, it’s something you are either a full believer in;

“Yeah, sometimes,” Anne Marti said.

Or a full-blown skeptic.

“No, I think it’s talent,” explained Tim Wall.

And everyone has their reasons.

“Maybe it depends on your confidence,” said Louise Frisvold. “If you believe you have more luck, you’re more confident, and maybe it is more likely to happen.”

“I don’t think so,” Wall detailed. “I think the trainers are very good. The jockeys are very good. They research horses; they know what they do when their racetrack is; they know what they’re doing when they bring them up.”

Regardless of where you stand, it’s hard to deny the deep-rooted connection between horses, luck, and the Kentucky Derby.

“In about the 10th century, with Saint Dunstan, who is the patron saint of blacksmiths,” explained Curator for the International Museum of the Horse Noa Leibson. “The story goes with him, the devil came by with a horse and asked to be shod. But Sir Dunstan tricked him and actually shod the devil instead. With this iron horseshoe being another protective material. Said to drive off the fey evil, and the devil, in his fright and great pain, threw off the shoe. So, the belief came to be that if you hung up a shoe, it would keep the devil out. It would keep evil out.”

And despite what you might have heard, there is no wrong way to capture a horseshoe’s luck.

“The shoe facing downward allows the luck to be sprinkled into different communities, different people, the home that it is said to protect,” Leibson said. “Whereas other people believe that the horseshoe facing up keeps all the luck inside, and if you turn it down, then it will spill out and you will have no luck.”

Just take the Kentucky Derby trophy, for instance.

Look closely and you’ll notice a horseshoe prominently in the center, but depending on whose trophy you look at, you’ll notice a difference in the horseshoe’s orientation.

“The only thing that’s changed on the trophy is up until 1998 or 1999 is when they turn the horseshoe right side up,” Susanne Blackinton-Juaire, whose family makes the Derby trophy. “So, the luck won’t run out.”

So, whether you believe in luck or not, when it comes to the Kentucky Derby, it never hurts to have a little bit on your side.