Pyles family holds annual Kentucky Derby festivities in Cleveland Hts, no triple crown for derby winner Orb after colt loses at Preakness

Top row from left Carolyn Terry, Marjorie Pyles Hearst, Racine Crawford, Valerie Smith, Charita Cockrum, Kellie Merritt, Sharon Gorman Bremer, and Janis Pace

Middle row from left Beverly Charles Hamilton, Rita Taylor, Lillian Pyles, and Elaine Whitlow

Bottom row from left  Kimberly Elder, Maxine Greer, Martha Harris, Barbara Walker, and Hortense Johnson 

                              

Jockey Joel Rosario rides Orb (from horse post No. 16) to victory at the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky on May 4. Orb came in fourth at the Preakness on Saturday, losing to Oxbow and shutting out any possibility of winning a triple crown this year. 

By Johnette Jernigan, contributing writer

CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Kentucky Derby in Cleveland Hts, Oh., hosted annually by the Pyles family, is as if the festivities were happening in Louisville, Ky., ripe with mint juleps, women in fancy hats, men dressed to the nines, and all eyes glued to television sets to watch a 2 minute, one and a quarter mile run of premier thoroughbred horses around the race track at Churchill Downs.

"I came from Detroit to the party for the first time and it is fabulous " said Kimberly Elder, a native of Cleveland who now lives in Detroit, MI. 

Another feature of the Pyles family derby party is the best hat winner and the best dressed man. This year those prizes went to Leonard Whitlow as best dressed male, and to Beverly Charles Hamilton, who works in the office of 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, for outstanding derby hat. 

And who won the 139th run of the Kentucky Derby?

The masterful colt Orb, ridden by jockey Joel Rosario and trained by veteran  trainer Shug MGaughey, took the Derby crown as a favorite, with  Revolutionary, also a favorite,  finishing  third, and Golden Soul taking second place. 

Orb paid Derby winnings of  $12.80 to win, $7.40 to place and $5.80 to show.

The Kentucky Derby is the first Saturday in May with the Preakness two weeks later and Belmont three weeks thereafter, but never before June 5 or after June 11 for the Belmont Stakes. 

Winning all three legs will bring a triple crown, an honor Orb must now forfeit after its heartening loss at the Preakness on Saturday to Oxbow, which was ridden by jockey Gary Stevens, the oldest jockey to win the Preakness.  

The Pyle's say that while the Preakness and Belmont Stakes both have merit,  the Kentucky Derby is number one with them, and many of their friends that come to join them to party on that special day agree. 

"The Kentucky Derby is something we do every year," said Marjorie Pyles Hearst, who hosts the derby festivities at her home with husband Jamal Hearst, her sister  Lillian,  her brother Joseph "Ronnie" Pyles Jr., and their 94-year old dad Joseph Pyles Sr., who this year watched the derby race at his home, also in Cleveland Hts. 

Pyles Sr  was a Buffalo soldier who fought in World War II, and  is a native of Hardinburg, Ky. His deceased wife Louise, a native of Springfield, Ky, initiated Kentucky Derby in Cleveland Hts. 15 years ago with her husband,  and their three grown children. 

"We will keep the Kentucky Derby tradition alive," said Lillian Pyles, the oldest of the three Pyles siblings. "It is a time to relax with friends and family and to enjoy the past time of horse racing."