Run for the Roses

May 6, 2006. It was a beautiful spring day in Kentucky. The morning dew was just beginning to lift, the sun was shining bright, and the air was refreshingly crisp as we headed to Winstar Farm in our finest Saturday attire. Matt and I were looking good as we awaited our departure to Louisville, KY to experience our first ever Kentucky Derby.

After about an hour of waiting around we were off. Matt and I, and 3 of his co-workers (Brian, Jamie and Belinda) piled into Brian's honda accord and took off on a death defying hour and a half journey to Churchill downs. Brian's driving was nothing short of exhilerating. The closest thing to a roller coaster I think I will experienced during my pregnancy. Needless to say we made it to Louisville in good time. We then wasted about an hour trying to figure how to get to our VIP parking lot since the road you have to take to get there was closed off. Come to find out that the VIP parking pass was our ticket onto roads forbidden to commoners. Finally we made it. Had no troubles parking the car and only had to walk a few feet to our special VIP entrance. We walked right in as others stared with jealousy that we were allowed to enter through the barricaded doors. As we moved toward our trackside box seats we saw all the famous attractions of the track including the Twin Spires and the paddock. Our seats were truely unbeatable. We were under the shade and had a great view of the track right by the finish line.

The first few races were fun to watch. Matt spent most of his time learning how to read all that jibberish they print in the program so he could know what he was doing when he placed bets. I stuck with my method of reading all the names first and then checking out how many races the horse had been in its life and how many times it had come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. My method is easy and sometimes reliable, but that was not the case on Derby Day. The first few races I placed bets only in my head. For at least three or four consecutive races the horse I had pretend money on came in dead last. If it was a game of picking who was going to loose I would be a rich woman.

The hours passed by rather quickly. We decided to get some over priced chicken strips and fries for lunch and then Matt spent his time taking in as much information as he could to become a better gambler and discovering he has a taste for mint juleps while I took in the scene. It was fascinating. The people, the horses, and the hats...all the extravagant hats. There was everything from Baseball Caps with select horses names to 3 ft. diameter renditions of the track itself. I'd have to say the one I got the biggest kick out of was worn by a lady sitting fairly close to us. To me it looked like she had wrapped toilet paper around her head and had someone pee on it.

My favorite part of the day without a doubt was the actual Derby race. A bit of history here...Matt works at Winstar Farm which is why we got to go to Derby at all and why we had such VIP status. Winstar had two horses running in the Derby...Bluegrass Cat, who actually stands on their farm, and Sharp Humor, who I think is the offspring of Distorted Humor, another horse that stands at Winstar...Don't quote me on that Sharp Humor info though, I don't know if that info is entirely accurate. So I was partial to Bluegrass Cat from the beginning because I like his name and he had come in the money in 3 out of 4 races he'd recently run. I ventured to the neverending betting line where I stood for 45 minutes waiting to bet soley on Bluegrass Cat. While I was standing there a guy asked me when my baby was due. I told him September and he suggested I bet on the #9 horse. I didn't have a program with me so I had no idea who the nine was or what it's running history was like. I decided to wing it. I bet $10 on Bluegrass Cat to show and $10 on #9 to show. Both horses had 30-1 odds so if they both came in the money I would have made a little. I bought some nachos and ventured back to my seat in time to watch the horses enter the track before being loaded into the starting gate. I discovered then that the #9 horse was infact Sharp Humor. I accidently bet in favor for both Winstar horses. Just as soon as the reached the starting gate they were off running, with all their might, for the roses. Sharp Humor lagged behind early and Bluegrass Cat did show up until about the final turn, but when he came around that corner the anxiety turned into excitement as he pulled into second place and pushed hard for first. Although he didn't make it into the desired number 1 spot I was thrilled with second because not only was it great for Matt's farm, I had just won quite a bit of money at my first Kentucky Derby. And my trend of picking the loser wasn't harmed too badly...Sharp humor came into second to last.

I must say it was a great day at the track. We made it safely home despite Brian's lack of consideration for passengers in his vehicle and reckless tendencies. When we got back to Lexington, we went to Matt's brother's for a Derby party they were having and as sort of a pre-birthday celebration for Matt. His birthday was May 7th, the day after Derby. It turned out to be a fun weekend and I am thankful to have experienced the Derby in the high class style that we did and have so many pictures to share (Thanks again Shan and Charles).