The Kentucky Derby is called the Run for the Roses because some unnamed sports writer called it that decades ago and it stuck. My daughter wanted to see it, and well, it’s a bucket list item anyway, so we flew down to Louisville. (She lucked out and was able to buy tickets a year in advance.)
There are a few things I’m going to share with you that I didn’t know about the Kentucky Derby.
First, the ‘Kentucky Derby’ is actually only one race of many, each less than two minutes, but there are two days worth of races. (In fact, there are even more races during the week before as well.) We watched a race every hour on Friday and Saturday. The races run roughly on the hour, plus or minus, and many of the races have a name. All these races build up to the race that is the actual Kentucky Derby on Saturday evening around 7 p.m. (And there are another couple races after that one as well as the lights go on.)
The horses were amazing. Unlike the work horse or recreational horses I have seen, these horses were definitely bred to race, with their long legs and sleek, efficient bodies. You could see they just wanted to run and were full of energy. Not an ounce of fat on them.
The venue, Churchill Downs, actually has two parallel race tracks, which I didn’t know. One is turf or grass and one is dirt (or this year, mud because of the rain). Many (but not all) races started at the left end of the track and finished on the right end so that the fans got to see the horses twice during each race in some cases. The finished line always remained the same, but again, I didn’t know this, but the starting line was moved for every race. They have a big John Deere tractor that tows the starting gate (which is a big ass contraption on wheels) around the track and then a bunch of workers set up the starting gate at a different spot every hour before the next race.
What surprised me was that there was no rhyme or reason as to why one horse won or didn’t win. The winners were rarely the ‘favored’ horse; those only won a couple races. And they weren’t the horses with the most overall lifetime cash winnings either. What I also observed was that the winning horse was usually not the horse that was in the lead during most of the race, but rather the winner would come from behind, sometimes quite far behind, in the last few seconds and surge ahead just before the finish line, to win. You could never predict who would win. I won the first two races that I bet on ($2), but then lost every race after that! Who knew? Purses ranged from a few hundred thousand to up to $5 million for the Kentucky Derby race.
After sitting there race after race, I asked myself why don’t they just run all the races closer together within a shorter window of time? But then I realized, I’m not a gambler… (yes, I did bet a few times – $2 or $5 just to have skin in the game) and Churchill Downs wants to provide plenty of time for their customers to go inside and place their bets – and get liquored up. Or maybe it was the other way around – get liquored up and then place their bets!
In fact, the venue is very smart. Once you paid for your ticket and you’re inside, all the liquor is free! Food too, and non-alcoholic beverages. All included. This makes the lines really short since no one has to pay for anything. Super smart. And amazingly, I did not see anyone hammered, or ‘over served.’ Everyone seemed to hold their alcohol well; no one was stumbling around drunk. The guys handing out the mint juleps and margaritas were even having a little fun – calling out, “alcoholics, alcoholics, are there any alcoholics here?” People were laughing at that one, and it actually hurt the ‘sales’, because no one wanted to admit to that one by taking a drink!
Which brings me to another point. Everyone at the derby was friendly and polite and courteous; the employees, the customers, everyone was one big happy family. (Unlike the left in Madison, which is constantly attacking someone and spreading hate and anger, the derby was a refreshing change.)
Maybe people behavior better when they dress up. And oh boy, were they dressed up. The women’s hats were amazing, the men’s suites were creative and well, different would be an understatement. It’s almost an opportunity to let your wild side have a little fun, wearing crazy prints and patterns, but all tastefully done. Many couples had complementary outfits. Quite entertaining. I do think people like to get dressed up once in awhile – especially now a days when work and every event is casual, even dining out has become too casual. And yes, I think when people are dressed up they’re more likely to be well behaved.
Interestingly given the cost of a ticket, there were a lot of young adults here. More than I would have thoughts.
I will also say that the city, Louisville, was super well organized. Holy crap. They nailed it. They had the hotel shuttles dropping people off at the convention center, where they transferred to buses that expressed them to Churchill Downs; no stopping for traffic lights! There were probably 1,000 police (and deputized national guard members) and hundreds of police cars blocking off streets and providing an express zone for the buses. Car drivers could park at parking lots a mile away and walk in as well.
Even at the airport on the way home the city had add extra police to direct traffic and others inside to direct fliers to security, moving everything along efficiently and without stress.
All in all, an interesting weekend and a new experience. While many people make it an annual pilgrimage, I’ve crossed this one off my list and probably don’t need to go again, like many others. And that’s okay. Then someone else can go and experience the Run for the Roses.
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