Hungry Enough to Eat a Horse? Try One of These Derby Winners  
BY ALECIA SWASY
Special to The Wall Street Journal, 1987

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Forget about that horse race Saturday. The real Kentucky Derby contest this year is between a pair of desserts.
    
Derby-Pie, a chocolate-walnut dish made here since the early 1950s by Kern's Kitchen Inc., has tradition on its side. Described as a giant chocolate-chip cookie in a pie shell, it is the dessert of choice among patrons of the restaurant at Churchill Downs, where the race is held. Keith Biagi, the chef there, says he has ordered enough to make 5,000 slices.
    
Upstart Rival
    
But some sweet teeth may find satisfaction elsewhere. Pegasus Pie, a chocolate-pecan confection made by Mrs. Smith's Frozen Foods Co., in Pottstown, Pa., has grabbed the endorsement as official pastry of the Kentucky Derby Festival, a week-long celebration held before the race.
    
"I wouldn't mind so much if it was a company down the street making the pies," says Sheila Rupp, vice president of Kern's. "But it's a Pennsylvania company taking away our business."
    
Kern's is used to dealing with frisky competitors, who often borrow the trademark name for their own versions of the pie. Whenever an imitator is discovered, "a polite letter asking them to kindly stop" is mailed, says Robert Donald, the Rupps' attorney. "If they don't," he adds, "we let the law take its course." Kern's has two infringement lawsuits pending in federal court here.
    
In the case of Pegasus Pie, however, such legal action isn't an option, Mr. Donald points out. Mrs. Smith's, whose officials remain unruffled about the pie rivalry, derived the name from the Derby's winged-horse logo.
    
For their part, Derby Festival officials say the endorsement isn't much of a coup for the Pennsylvania pie. "We have 254 corporate sponsors and 22 official products," notes Daniel Mangeot, the festival committee's executive director. Counting on Loyalty
    
Alan Rupp, the president of Kern's, says he didn't even bother asking for the festival's endorsement, figuring it would cost too much (Mr. Mangeot won't disclose how much Mrs. Smith's paid). Instead, the company is counting on loyal fans who want what it calls "a slice of Kentucky history." A new Kern's radio commercial is also trying to convince chocolate lovers that there's "only one Derby-Pie."
    
Chef Biagi, for one, agrees. He says that he enjoys it, but only if it's served warm with a glass of milk. "It's really sweet," he warns. "Your body almost crystallizes as you eat it."