The brief: Put together a dummies' guide to the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown series.
Quite easy, really, given my experience of the Kentucky Derby consists of watching it on a Sunday morning in recent years, usually when I was at work at Trackside - and not much more than that.
So, where do we start? The Kentucky Derby is an obvious place to kick into it.
KENTUCKY DERBY
The 1-mile race (2000m to us) has a few taglines, such as ''the fastest two minutes in sport'' - clearly they've never seen the Botswanan Cheetah Derby - and the Run For The Roses, due to the garland of roses placed over the winner.
This year will be the 139th running or ''renewal'' (as it is proudly proclaimed on the Kentucky Derby website) of the Derby, after it came into being in 1875.
It is comfortably the biggest race on the United States racing calendar, attracting crowds of more than 165,000 to Churchill Downs last year.
If you want to replicate at least one part of the Derby atmosphere at home on Sunday, make yourself a mint julep (bourbon, mint and sugar syrup), although some people have rules about drinking before midday on a Sunday.
Who to back on Sunday
There are usually 20 horses in the Kentucky Derby, but if you want a a favoured horse with savvy connections, Verrazano could be your man. Or colt, more precisely.
His trainer, Todd Pletcher, won the 2010 Derby with Super Saver, while jockey John Velazquez sat aboard Animal Kingdom to win the 2011 edition. Coolmore's John Magnier is also in the ownership.
Pletcher has four starters in total in the Derby, including Revolutionary, who will be teamed up with three-time Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel.
Will Take Charge has an impressive-sounding name, although his trainer's name is pretty snazzy as well - D. Wayne Lukas. His training record is excellent, too, winning the Derby four times. The handy thing about Will Take Charge is the white blaze on his nose, making him easy to spot in the running.
PREAKNESS STAKES
The Preakness Stakes, held at Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Maryland, is the second leg of the Triple Crown, run over 9 furlongs (or 1900m).
Kentucky Derby winners in recent years have come to the Preakness looking to keep their hopes of a Triple Crown alive, including I'll Have Another last year and Big Brown in 2008.
Traditionally, the Preakness is run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, as many horses from the Derby line up in the Preakness and they need to rest their sore joints in between. That's the other key difference to our racing - all three races are held on dirt surfaces, rather than the traditional grass or turf we have in Australasia.
BELMONT STAKES
We come finally to the last leg of the Triple Crown, a1 mile (2400m) race which has broken the hearts of crown hopefuls since Affirmed completed the hat trick in 1978.
Big Brown's failure in the 2008 Belmont Stakes was perhaps the most alarming and memorable in recent times, as jockey Kent Desormeaux pulled the horse up at the top of the home stretch. A dislodged shoe is thought to have been the problem, but once again the Triple Crown honour roll remains the domain of Affirmed, Secretariat and nine other horses stretching back to Sir Barton in 1919. This year's edition will be held on Sunday, June 10 (New Zealand time).
• TAB TV (Sky Channel 63) will cover the Kentucky Derby from 10am on Sunday morning, featuring comprehensive coverage from American network NBC.
American racing
Triple Crown winners
• 1919 Sir Barton
• 1930 Gallant Fox
• 1935 Omaha
• 1937 War Admiral
• 1941 Whirlaway
• 1943 Count Fleet
• 1946 Assault
• 1948 Citation
• 1973 Secretariat
• 1977 Seattle Slew
• 1978 Affirmed
