They'll come by the tens of thousands for the party of the year, adorned in the gaudiest of hats and sipping on mint juleps, witnesses to the most thrilling two minutes in sports.
Hopefully, they won't ignore the stench of death that hangs over the Kentucky Derby and its magnificent athletes.
Four horses perished in the past week at Churchill Downs, again raising troubling questions about the sport of kings ahead of the 149th run for the roses today.
If this can happen at the world's most famous track, with the eyes of the world focused on its biggest race, what's happening when no one is looking?
Is enough being done to make this sport as safe as possible for 1,200-pound thoroughbreds that can reach top speeds of 45 mph?
"I don't think we're close to that right now," said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and a long-time advocate for greater regulation of the racing industry. "When you're in competition, there are risks. I don't think a zero-injury or zero-death standard is achievable. But we can do so much better than the present circumstances."
It's hard to argue with that point.
According to a database kept by the Jockey Club, which oversees the breed registry for thoroughbreds in the United States and Canada, more than 7,200 horses died in races from 2009-21.
"There's a lot less injuries here with legs than there are in other sports, but here it means your life is over," said Mike Repole, co-owner of early Derby favorite Forte. "God, it's depressing as you can get."
There's no getting around that some horses will break down on the track, and many of those will be catastrophic injuries that require them to be euthanized. The risk of paying the ultimate price can never be removed from such a perilous sport.
But four deaths so close to the Derby have rocked the industry, much like more than 40 deaths during the 2019 racing season at California's Santa Anita track forced a reckoning over health and safety issues.
Churchill Downs indefinitely suspended trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who worked with two horses that collapsed on the track and died after races. Lord Miles, who also was trained by Joseph, was scratched from the Derby.
Kudos for that decision, even though Joseph insisted he had done nothing wrong and there hasn't been a finding on why either of his horses died.
"It shatters you," Joseph said, his voice breaking. "Anyone around me knows how much I care about my horses. Whether it just be a small issue, I care. When you care, it hurts."
Pacelle said it was highly unusual for two horses from the same stable to die under such mysterious circumstances.
"The sort of people who know something about the sport find it incredibly unusual that 4-year-old and 5-year-old horses dropped dead after their races," he said. "It wasn't like they broke a leg and had to be euthanized. It's just a sudden-death circumstance -- and two horses with that end-of-life circumstance. It's so incredibly unusual that it speaks to something the trainer did to put them at some risk."
In the wake of the Santa Anita carnage, new rules were written to address track safety, the health of the horses, and a hodge-podge of doping rules that varied from state to state. Part of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) took effect last summer, but new antidoping rules have been delayed by court challenges that seemed largely designed to maintain the status quo.
Sadly, those regulations won't be implemented until after the first two legs of the 2023 Triple Crown.
Too late for the four horses that died at Churchill Downs.
"We should have had federal authority in place by now for testing horses and making sure the race day anti-doping provisions and other provisions of the law were being enforced," Pacelle said. "It's like the Miami Dolphins having different rules in Florida for football compared to the Detroit Lions. It doesn't make sense."
Horse racing, by its very nature, will always have a bit of a PR problem compared to other sports.
"If every athlete, when they break their leg they have to be put down, you'd stop sports. You'd have to," Repole said. "You see a football player carried out. Unfortunately, if that happened to a horse, he gets more than carried out. That's the reality of it."
Horse racing needs to demonstrate once and for all that it truly cares about the athletes at the heart of its sport. The safety rules are a good start. Doping guidelines that apply across the nation will help even more. But that won't be the end of it.
Despite the challenges posed by other forms of legalized gambling, horse racing still holds a significant niche in our sporting world.
"Horse racing is in a different political, economic and cultural position," Pacelle conceded. "It's going to be around. We just hope we can have safe competition for the horses in racing."
Here's to those 19 horses that will burst from the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
May they all make it to the finish line safely.
May the roses be red, not black.
FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo, trainer Bob Baffert watches his Kentucky Derby entrant Game Winner during a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Baffert won't be saddling any horses in the Kentucky Derby this weekend. The winner of a record-tying six Derbies will miss the race for the second straight year while completing a two-year suspension issued by Churchill Downs Inc. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Kentucky Derby hopeful Lord Miles works out at Churchill Downs Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kentucky Derby hopeful Lord Miles works out at Churchill Downs Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Co-owner of Kentucky Derby hopeful Forte, Mike Repole, stands outside a barn after a workout at Churchill Downs Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kentucky Derby entrant Forte works out at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kentucky Derby hopeful Forte works out at Churchill Downs Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kentucky Derby entrant Skinner workout at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
A horse walks past saddle blankets at trainer Todd Pletcher's barn at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
A horse heads to the track for a workout at Churchill Downs Thursday, May 4, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 6. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)