Well, not really. The
Kentucky Derby was a month and a half ago. But I did get out to
Churchill Downs today while I was
in Lousville for a Tablet PC class. I figured if I got that close and didn't get some photos for Sandy, I was a fool. You just shouldn't pass up opportunities like that. And besides, our anniversary is only a week away, and this was a shopping opportunity I wouldn't normally have.
I hoped to get on the road early, and the
Kentucky Derby Museum opens at 9 a.m. The races today didn't start until 1:15, and I wanted to be long gone by then. But I decided to sleep in, and then had to check out, and then had to take care of some FAXing and mailing before I hit the road. By the time I reached Churchill Downs, it was the start of the first race. So I decided to see more than the museum. Again, you just shouldn't pass up opportunities like that.
Here are some photos of my Churchill Downs experience.
Some enterprising locals tried to sell me parking at $5 per day on their street, but I found free parking at the Downs. But it was a bit of a walk on a hot Kentucky afternoon.
Finally, I got up near the stands.
I really like the architecture of the back side of the stands. It's a nice blend of function and style.
Here's a plaque, commemorating the Derby:
KENTUCKY DERBY
Referred to as "The Run for the Roses," the first Kentucky Derby was run on this track, May 17, 1875. Black jockey Oliver Lewis rode H. P. McGrath's Aristides to victory. The 1 1/4 mi. race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds is the oldest continuously run stakes race in America, "greatest two minutes in sports," and the first jewel in racing's Triple Crown.
This statue stands behind the plaque shown above.
From this angle, the horse statue appears to me to be laughing.
Anyone who thinks horses have no humor has never met a horse. Every horse person has been laughed at by a horse who slipped away or otherwise eluded them on a fine sunny day when the horse would rather play games than ride.
Finally, some real live horses!
Another thing every horse person knows is that horses are skittish. They're very easily spooked by the unfamiliar. After all, they evolved as a prey species, and they evolved one of the classic prey survival strategies: run like the wind at the first sign of trouble. Sandy likes to tell how a horse can spook at a blade of grass that the horse has passed every day for a month, simply because the grass moved funny that day. So it's important to familiarize horses with new situations before you put them under stress in those situations. These Schooling Stalls are places where trainers bring young horses on race day, simply so the horses can get used to the crowds and the track and the whole experience.
And yes, I was sure to ask permission before I snapped these pictures. I didn't want to interfere with a training regimen.
This is the tunnel that leads from the horse barns to the track.
The pedestrian path crosses the horse path; but when horses are coming through, a gatekeeper (the gentleman in the vest and hat) closes off the gates. Note that the riders in this picture aren't wearing any colors. That's because these horses aren't racing today, either. They're more horses-in-training, getting used to the experience of riding onto the track and back under tack.
Here was my first look at the track itself.
I was amazed both at how close to the track they let you get, and at how many open seats there were right at the front. Only later did I realize that:
- The seats right out front are out in the bright sunlight. It gets hot out there.
- You can't see the whole track from those seats, only the home stretch.
The shaded seats higher up are
much more popular. But since I was there to get horse pictures for Sandy, that was fine with me. The closer, the better!
This tower-like structure sits right in the center of the oval track.
Here are yet more horses-in-training, being walked out to the starting gate and back to get used to a track surrounded by people.
A lot of the horses were walked out before I got there. Here they're starting to walk back.
Yes, that's a lot of horse pictures. Why do you think I was there?
And here's one of the student horses we last saw in the tunnel, now riding the track. They all gathered near the tunnel entry, and some rode out to the starting gate and back.
Now we see some colors: the competitors are entering the track. Here horse number 1 seems to be conferring with the student horses.
Horse number 3 emerges from the tunnel.
I figured I couldn't get the
whole Churchill Downs experience without placing a bet. But there were some problems with this plan:
- I don't believe in gambling. It's not a moral thing, or anything like that; I just know that really smart statisticians and accountants are paid very well to make sure the house wins. I know that if you look at gambling as anything but recreation, you're in for a big disappointment.
- I'll change that opinion slightly, however, in contests where individual skill can come into play. Face-to-face poker, for example, isn't gambling in the hands of a skilled player. And for those who really know the horses and the tracks, I'll concede that horse racing may not be gambling.
- But I'm not one of those people who knows the horses and the tracks. Heck, I barely know most of our horses.
So any bet I placed was guaranteed to lose. Just guaranteed, unless just random chance played a factor. How then to make the bet interesting? Well, I could've picked the favorite, and that would be the safe bet. But it wouldn't have been a
fun bet. No, if I wanted a fun bet, there was only one way to go: bet on the longest shot in the race. And that was number 6, Angel Love, whose odds were 22-1 when I placed my bet. Here Angel emerges from the tunnel.
Horse number 7 enters the track.
Horse number 8 prepares for the race.
The competitors head to the starting gate.
And there goes Angel!
And they're off!
And as the center field monitor shows, Angel Love held a strong second place all the way into the back stretch. Not bad for a horse whose odds have climbed to 65-1, eh?
And here they come around the final turn.
Angel Love has fallen back to third place. That would still pay an impressive $1,275 on a $2 bet; and on my $10 bet, well, you can understand how someone might get excited by this sport, right?
But no, Angel Love doesn't have what it takes for the long haul, and finishes sixth. Still, it was exciting there for a minute or so.
Oh, well, off to the museum. The entry is a set of starting gates.
Here's a statue of a horse with the blanket of roses.
Here's a display of Derby cups.
Here's a display of silks (i.e., uniforms) worn by Derby jockeys.
A display on the ideal conformation of a Thoroughbred.
Note the correct spelling: conformation. This is often misspelled as "confirmation", as if a show judge is confirming that the horse looks good. (The same term and the same misspelling also occur in dog shows.) What the judge is actually assessing is whether the horse correctly
conforms to ideal standards for the breed.
A display of the grain that a yearling might eat in one day of training.
Common training equipment.
Model of a horse barn.
I wish I could build Sandy a barn like that; and if I did, she'd find the horses to fill it.
An example of a saddle and tack.
Man, those are light, tiny saddles!
A display on jockeys as athletes.
Without even reading it, I can tell you what it says: that jockeys use more and different muscle groups than any other sport, and that jockeys are uniquely fit compared to other athletes. How do I know it says that? Because that's what devotees say about
every sport I've ever looked into: fencing, swimming, soccer, martial arts, you name it. They can't all be the most fit, of course. Maybe bowlers and archers don't try to sell this line, but it seems like every other kind of athlete does.
A display of common veterinarian tools.
A display of common farrier tools.
A display of common grooming tools.
This little mechanical ride lets you experience trying to stay in the stirrups on a moving horse for the duration of a Derby.
No, I didn't try it.
I thought Sandy would like this horse banner.
The museum has more than its share of stubby-legged horses. It seems kinda sick to me...
This one is Pat Day's exercise horse. Pat Day, for those who don't recognize the name (like me), is
a Hall of Fame jockey. I can't really tell if he's that much better or more famous than other jockeys, except for one thing: he's the only one with his own walk-through room at the Kentucky Derby Museum (including a Pat Day cut-out that you can stand with to get your picture taken). I assume that means he's a pretty big thing among jockeys.
And apparently,
exercise horses are big business.
A harness racing cart. I didn't know they did harness racing at the Downs.
A starting gate display, complete with a mock horse in the gate.
Note: yet another stubby-legged horse...
Yes, folks, there really is an International Horeshoeing Hall of Fame.
It's about the size of a walk-in closet, and it's on the second floor of the museum.
But just because it's small, doesn't mean it's not serious. A thrown shoe can cripple a very expensive race horse and end its career. Bad feet can be lethal for a horse. The very wealthy owners have great respect for good farriers.
And if you think the farriers get a tiny space, well, the veterinarians get only a wall —
inside the International Horeshoeing Hall of Fame.
Still, their names are up there.
These banners of past Derby winners hang over a multimedia theater on the first floor.
Like many another city, Louisville has done the giant animal art craze; and of course, in Louisville the animal chosen was horses. (I guess the horses aren't giant; but some city, I forget which one, was infested with giant rabbits.) This piece, called "Aristides" after the first Derby winner, is painted with a wrap-around scene of Churchill Downs itself. I thought that was pretty clever.
Finally, it was time to hit the road.
Every time I see a sea of cars like this, I'm reminded of what
the great man once
said: "Everybody remember where we parked."
