updated 6:46 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Each spring, the Kentucky Derby conjures images of powerful thoroughbreds, mint juleps and — fast food?

Yum Brands Inc. — the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut — became the first named sponsor of the Derby at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, striking a five year-deal with the Triple Crown race. The deal begins with this year’s race on May 6.

Yum will display its logo beneath the famed twin spires at Churchill Downs, on a sign above the starting gate, on billboards around the track and even on the jackets of pony riders who escort horses during the post parade.

“You’ll see very discreet signage,” said Tom Meeker, president of Churchill Downs Inc., the track’s parent company. “It won’t look like a baseball stadium.”

The race will be referred to as the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum Brands.

Terms of the five-year deal weren’t disclosed. Yum also will receive six 30-second TV ads on NBC’s Derby broadcast and two 30-second commercials on ESPN and ESPN2 during their coverage.

Meeker acknowledged that Yum’s role as a “presenting sponsor” of the Derby had raised concerns about corporate influence treading on the “Run for the Roses.”

“I know many of you said, ‘It’s going to be the Yum Kentucky Derby?”’ Meeker said at a news conference. “I want to tell you something about that — that’s not the case.”

Meeker said the partnership combines two Kentucky icons — the Derby and KFC. He said both companies share goals to expand business globally.

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Yum officials had considered having KFC become the Derby sponsor, but Yum chairman and chief executive David Novak said, “We felt it was time for us to begin to build awareness of the Yum corporate name.”

Yum, with nearly 34,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and territories, also is the parent of Long John Silver’s and A&W restaurants.

For Churchill, it was the latest change at the historic track. Churchill received a facelift as part of a $121 million project that took more than three years and reworked the grandstand, including Millionaire’s Row. The renovations were finished in time for the 2005 Derby.

Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day, who retired last year as the all-time winningest jockey at Churchill, supports the deal.

“It will take some getting used to, obviously.” Day said. “I know there will be the naysayers, ‘They’re watering it down’ or whatever they want to say about it. But, personally, I think it’s good.”

The Derby, the first leg of racing’s Triple Crown, carries a $2 million purse. The deal will not affect the Derby’s purse, which was doubled last year, but a portion of the sponsorship’s revenues will go to race purses during the track’s spring and fall racing meets.

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