May 4
1905 — Belmont Park in New York opens for its first thoroughbred meet.
1935 — Omaha, ridden by Willis Saunders, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths over Roman Soldier. Omaha goes on to win the Triple Crown.
1946 — Assault, ridden by Warren Mehrtens, wins the Kentucky Derby by eight lengths over Spy Song on his way to the Triple Crown.
1957 — Iron Liege, ridden by Bill Hartack, wins the Kentucky Derby by a nose when jockey Willie Shoemaker, aboard Gallant Man, misjudges the finish line. Shoemaker is in front but stands the saddle before the finish.
1968 — Dancer’s Image, ridden by Bob Ussery, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths over Forward Pass. Three days later, Dancer’s Image is disqualified when traces of a painkiller are found in tests. Forward Pass, ridden by Ismael Valenzuela, is declared the winner.
1968 — The Pittsburgh Pipers beat New Orleans Buccaneers 122-113 in Game 7 to win the first ABA championship.
1969 — The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup with a four-game sweep, beating the St. Louis Blues 2-1.
1994 — Charles Barkley scores 56 points, including a playoff-record 38 in the first half, to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 140-133 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
1999 — The New Jersey Devils become the first top-seeded team to lose in the first round of the playoffs in consecutive years when they are beaten 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7.
2000 — Keith Primeau ends the third-longest game in NHL history by scoring at 12:01 of the fifth overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, tying their Eastern Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.
2003 — Detroit becomes the seventh NBA team to advance after falling behind 3-1 in a series, beating Orlando 108-93.
2008 — In the eighth longest game in NHL history, Dallas eliminates San Jose in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. In a game that lasts 5 hours, 17 minutes, the Stars beat the Sharks 2-1 after Brenden Morrow scores a power play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime.
2009 — Cleveland’s LeBron James, unstoppable at both ends of the floor this season, is named the NBA’s MVP. James, who easily outdistanced Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers in the voting, averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists.
2009 — Alex Ovechkin records his first NHL playoff hat trick and scores the winning goal in Washington’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference series. Sidney Crosby of the Penguins also scores three goals.
2013 — Floyd Mayweather comes back from a year’s absence to win a unanimous 12-round decision over Robert Guerrero in their welterweight title fight in Las Vegas. All three judges score the bout 117-111 and Mayweather remains unbeaten in 44 fights.
2016 — J.R. Smith makes seven 3-pointers and the Cleveland Cavaliers drain an NBA-record 25 3s in a 123-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of the second round. Cleveland finishes 25 of 45 behind the arc, with 10 players making at least one 3. Cleveland’s 25 3s are the most in any game — regular or postseason.
May 5
1904 — Cy Young of the Red Sox pitches a perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics, beating Rube Waddell 3-0.
1934 — Cavalcade wins the Kentucky Derby by more than three lengths over Discovery. It’s his third victory in less than two weeks.
1966 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.
1969 — The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-102 in the seventh game to win the NBA championship for the 10th time in 11 years. Player-coach Bill Russell and Sam Jones retire as players.
1973 — Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, wins the Kentucky Derby with a record time of 1:59.2. Secretariat beats Sham by 2½ lengths and goes on to win the Triple Crown.
1978 — Pete Rose of the Reds becomes the 14th player with 3,000 hits, singling in the fifth inning against Montreal’s Steve Rogers at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
1993 — Canisius beats Niagara 11-1 in softball to set an NCAA Division I record with 34 straight wins.
2001 — Monarchos wins the Kentucky Derby carrying Jorge Chavez across the finish line in 1:59 4-5, only two-fifths of a second off the track record set by Secretariat en route to the Triple Crown in 1973. Monarchos finishes a dominating 4¾ lengths over Invisible Ink.
2007 — Street Sense, ridden by Calvin Borel, roars from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby by 2 1-2 lengths over Hard Spun.
2007 — Floyd Mayweather Jr. beats Oscar De La Hoya in one of the richest fights. Mayweather, with superb defensive skills and superior speed, wins a 12-round split decision and the WBC 154-pound title in his first fight at that weight. The sellout crowd of 16,200 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas sets a record $19 million gate.
2012 — I’ll Have Another catches Bodemeister down the stretch and pulls away in the final furlong to win the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Mario Gutierrez, riding in his first Derby, guides the 3-year-old colt to a 1½-length victory in front of a Derby-record crowd of 165,307.
2013 — LeBron James is the overwhelming choice as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. The Miami star gets 120 of 121 first-place votes in this year’s balloting, giving him the award for the fourth time.
2017 — Corey Perry scores 6:57 into the second overtime after the Anaheim Ducks rally from a three-goal deficit in the final minutes of regulation, completing a spectacular 4-3 comeback win over the Edmonton Oilers. Rickard Rakell scores the tying goal with 15 seconds left in regulation to cap a stunning sequence of three goals in just over three minutes, all with goalie John Gibson pulled for an extra attacker.
2018 — Justify splashes through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby by 2½ lengths, becoming the first colt in 136 years to wear the roses after not racing as a 2-year-old. The colt that began his racing career in February improves to 4-0 and gives trainer Bob Baffert his fifth Derby victory. Jockey Mike Smith earns his second Derby victory as the 5-2 favorite in the field of 20.
May 6
1895 — African American jockey James “Soup” Perkins guides Halma to a wire-to-wire victory in the Kentucky Derby. The 15-year-old joins fellow African American jockey Alonzo Clayton as the youngest jockey to ride a Derby winner.
1917 — Bob Groom of the Browns duplicates teammate Ernie Koob’s feat of the previous day by pitching a 3-0 no-hit victory against the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader in St. Louis.
1944 — Pensive, ridden by Conn McCreary, wins the Kentucky Derby going away by four and a half lengths ahead of Broadcloth. Pensive, who clocks 2:04.2, is third entering the stretch and wears down Broadcloth and Stir Up.
1973 — The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets 9-6 to win the first World Hockey Association championship.
1976 — Philadelphia’s Reggie Leach ties an NHL playoff record, scoring five goals in the Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins. Maurice Richard and Darryl Sittler also accomplished the feat.
1978 — Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, holds off Alydar’s late charge for a 1½-length victory in the Kentucky Derby. This is Affirmed’s easiest race against Alydar en route to the Triple Crown. aA1988 — Rick Stiner is 6-for-8 with 11 RBIs and three home runs and Matt Hyde is 6-for-9 with two homers and seven RBIs as Grand Canyon College sets a college scoring record with a 45-15 victory over Denver.
1991 — Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union breaks his world outdoor pole vault record and Seppo Raty of Finland smashes the world javelin record during the Toto International Super Track and Field Meet in Japan. Bubka clears 19 feet, 11 inches, breaking his outdoor record of 19-10½. Raty hurls the javelin 301 feet, 9 inches, breaking the world record of 298-6 set.
1998 — Rookie Kerry Wood ties the major league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, pitching a one-hitter to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros 2-0.
2000 — Fusaichi Pegasus, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, is the first favorite to win Kentucky Derby since 1979. Fusaichi Pegasus pays $6.60, becoming the first favorite to win the race since Spectacular Bid.
2001 — Scott Dixon, a 20-year-old rookie, becomes the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing when he holds off Kenny Brack by 0.366 seconds to capture the CART Lehigh Valley Grand Prix.
2006 — Barbaro storms into the lead at the top of the stretch and wins the Kentucky Derby victory convincingly. Barbaro, ridden by Edgar Prado, wins his sixth consecutive race 6½ lengths ahead of Bluegrass Cat and is the sixth undefeated winner of the Derby.
2006 — Phoenix is the eighth team in NBA history to win a series after trailing 3-1 with a 121-90 victory over Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of its Western Conference opening-round series.
2010 — Johan Franzen scores a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, scores a fourth goal in the third, and sets a Red Wings playoff record with six points as Detroit stays alive with a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
2011 — James Hylton, at age 76, becomes the oldest driver to make the field in NASCAR’s top three series by qualifying for the Nationwide event at Darlington Raceway. Hylton surpasses his own mark for racing longevity set three years ago when the then-73-year-old started the Nationwide event at Daytona.
2012 — Dustin Brown scores two goals and the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings finish an improbable four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory, advancing to the conference finals. The Kings become the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conference’s top two seeds in the same postseason. After steamrolling past top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games.
2018 — Marc-Andre Fleury makes 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Western Conference Final in their inaugural season after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 of their second-round series. Vegas becomes the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first season.
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