LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - In 1989, a colt named Sunday Silence crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs to win the most storied horse race of all time, the Kentucky Derby.
Among the tens of thousands in attendance that day were the governor whose winning campaign had resulted in the creation of a state lottery and a soft-spoken coal miner whose winning ticket made him the state's first lottery millionaire.
"I guess it was a blessing in disguise," Danny L. Hurley, 57, of Hazard, said of the money, "'cause I don't know what I'd done without it."
Hurley and his wife, Gloria, stood hand-in-hand after the race on that uncustomarily cold, rainy Derby Day, more than a little shocked at their good fortune. Danny Hurley had first won a trip to the Derby from a scratch-off ticket in Kentucky's first lottery game, called the Kentucky Derby DreamStakes. Finalists were randomly matched with horses in the Derby and Hurley got Sunday Silence. When Sunday Silence went into the history books, so did Hurley.
The then 37-year-old driller with Lost Mountain Mining took the top prize, $1 million, which was subsequently sent in installments of $50,000 a year for 20 years. He continued to work, and Gloria continued to be a stay-at-home wife and mother.
The final check came last May, but for the Hurleys, the time around Derby will always be a special anniversary. When a reporter called looking for an interview, "my wife was talking about it that day," Danny Hurley said, "about it's coming up pretty close to the time."
The checks arrived like clockwork, he said.
"They was never late," he said. "It come in May, around Derby time."
The Hurleys didn't splurge, he said, except for one thing. The day they won the game, Gloria Hurley told reporters she wanted a Cadillac. Her husband went right out and bought her one.
"We just kind of lived pretty much normal, other than the Cadillac," he laughed. "It was a good car. We kept it a long time. We don't have it now. We're back to a Chevrolet now."
The mortgage on their house was paid off when they won the lottery, Danny Hurley said. And when he had to stop working about eight years ago for health reasons, the lottery winnings were a lifesaver.
"We've saved some," he said. "We're doing pretty good and feel blessed, you know."
He said he was grateful for people who gave him sound investment advice, particularly a local banker, and for the lottery employees, who were always courteous.
"People even anonymously wrote and made suggestions about not to overdo it because it wouldn't last long, and they was right about that," he said.
It was then-Gov. Wallace Wilkinson who successfully campaigned to begin a lottery in Kentucky.
It launched April 4, 1989, said Larry Newby, director of research for the Kentucky Lottery since its inception.
On that date, Kentucky came out with two scratch-off games at the same time, "which had never been done before in the lottery industry," Newby said. The games were Beginners Luck and the Kentucky Derby DreamStakes.
Newby was one of several lottery staff members who attended the Derby in 1989 to help make sure all the winners had smooth-sailing throughout the day.
"We wanted to make certain nobody got lost, nobody got out of whack, that sort of thing," he said. "A lot of people had never been to the Derby, and as you know, it can get kind of crazy."
Everything went smoothly, Newby said, and he remembered Danny Hurley.
"The man was just terribly gracious, and really humble," he said. "His wife at the time was equal to him."
Newby said that since those first two scratch-off games, Kentucky has had 935 different games during the past 20 years.
The lottery has also paid out $6.8 billion in prizes and returned almost $3 billion to the state, mostly for education programs. Ticket sales have surpassed $11.3 billion.
Danny Hurley said he still occasionally buys a lottery ticket, and winning the DreamStakes turned him into a horse racing fan - he loves watching the races on television, and gets out to Churchill Downs and Keeneland when he can.
But he and his wife always think about that day in 1989 when Sunday Silence and the lottery changed their lives forever.
"It went by real fast," Danny Hurley said. "And then, another way, it seems like a long time."
A little bit like the fastest two minutes in sports.
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