• Kentucky Derby Picks For 2017
• 2017 Kentucky Derby Video
• 2017 Kentucky Derby Horse List

More: Derby winners from 1875 through 2017 Always Dreaming ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.59 and paid $11.40, $7.20 and $5.80. “This is the best horse Todd and I have ever come to the Kentucky Derby.

• 2017 Kentucky Derby Longshots. Underdogs With The Best Chance At The Run For The Roses By Jessica Paquette. Anything can happen in the most exciting two minutes in sports and the historical race is one that is ripe for an upset. Though the race has historically been kind to favorites.
• For lovers of long shots, it doesn't get any better than the Kentucky Derby. America’s top horse race frequently produces winners that handsomely reward their backers. From 1990-2005, nine champions entered the starting gate with double-digit odds and two others were close. The pattern now has flipped, and the past three winners were favored.

Kentucky Derby priorities: horses, hooch and hats.

Horse racing’s biggest event of the year turns into a Met Gala-esque event for the milliners of the the South. There are so many wild hats that it can be difficult to sort through.

Thankfully, USA TODAY Sports Images’ Mark Zerof and Jamie Rhodes are excellent photographers with discerning eyes. They caught all sorts of hats, including …

hats with no end in sight,

hats with mesmerizing colors,

Kentucky Derby Picks For 2017

hats with all the flowers,

hats with GIANT flowers,

2017 Kentucky Derby Video

hats with GIANT EVERYTHING,

hats that looked like the decorative chocolate on a cheesecake,

hats with horses(!!) and beards,

hats that actually just look really classy,

hats that protected drinks,

hats that actually matched outfits

and hats with feathers.

But the best hat we saw, the one that summed up everything about the Kentucky Derby, was this beauty on the head of Skip Koepnick:

Koepnick’s no stranger to great Derby hats.

Here he is in 2011:

And 2013:

And in 2014:

2017 Kentucky Derby Horse List

But we think the artistry on this year’s is the best. Look at it up close, just the helmet-esque part:

That’s some fine, fine work, Mr. Koepnick.