Derby Turds: An Artist Is Selling Kentucky Derby Winner Silver Charm's Poop for $200

Kentuckians take their horse racing pretty seriously—so seriously, in fact, that one local artist is hoping to sell the poop of a Kentucky Derby winner for $200 a pop. As the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, Coleman Larkin collected the feces of Silver Charm, the 1997 winner of the world-famous race, and preserved these “meadow muffins” in 16-ounce Mason jars filled with clear epoxy resin.

The goods are being marketed as “Derby Turds,” and part of the proceeds will benefit Old Friends Farm, the Georgetown, Kentucky-based home for retired Thoroughbreds where Silver Charm now resides. In case counterfeit caca is a concern, each jar comes with a tag to prove that the poo did indeed come from a champion horse.

For what it's worth, Silver Charm was one of the most popular race horses of the late 20th century, according to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 2007. He also won the 1997 Preakness Stakes and nearly secured the Triple Crown, but ended up losing the Belmont Stakes.

Larkin said in a statement that preserving the poop is a labor-intensive process. “The most difficult step is probably the one where I have to ask the type of people that own million-dollar Thoroughbreds if I can please have some horse turds to put in jars,” he said.

So what exactly is one supposed to do with a jar full of horse droppings? Kentucky for Kentucky, the outlet that’s selling a limited supply of Derby Turds online and in its Lexington store, has a few suggestions: “Put it on the mantle in your Old Kentucky Home and be whisked away to a sophisticated world of mint juleps and seersucker every time you see it. Set one on your windowsill and let the sunlight sparkle upon this exquisite specimen of equine excrement. Or plop one in your fluorescent dungeon of an office as the perfect metaphor for your life of neverending horseshit.”

[h/t Associated Press]