KENTUCKY DERBY 2008

The big day finally arrived, but before I unleash my insanely well documented day I have to give a shout out to our amazing friends. First off I have to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Josh and Tiffany for offering Derby tickets to us. I have been in love with the Kentucky Derby far before we moved to the Bluegrass State. This really was a dream come true and something that I didn't think would happen while we were living in Kentucky. My only wish was that your Oaks Day could have been as sunny. I'm so sorry you all nearly drowned in the downpour. What true friends you are to then watch our boys so we could go the next day. Thank you to Todd and Kristi for watching our girls. Brynn cried when Kristi left that night and Kaitlyn only asked her for help with her strollers during dinner. How quickly Mom is forgotten (and I didn't mind one bit!) What a blessing to have such FOREVER FRIENDS. We love you guys!!!

Now to what all of you have been waiting for.... The 134th Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky!!! (Brace yourself, this could take a while!)

PRE-RACE PHOTOS

The Chicas! Kristi, Me, Marcie, Tiffany and Kim

While Kristi and Tiffany attended the Oaks on Friday, we all had to pose for a hat picture. Kristi is wearing Tiffany's hat she wore to the Derby last year and Tiffany is in what she wore to Oaks.The Derby Gang: Alcorns, Jackson and Shreeves
Jim and Marcie flew out from Utah. It was so wonderful to spend the day with them and catch up. Marcie and I talked at top speed all day! Rich was shocked when he realized it had been 5 years since they lived near us in Louisville.Rich and I drove from Lexington, KY (Note that I cannot get any closer to Rich in the photos. The brim hit his shoulder. Big hats are tricky to manuever!)Kim and Steve live in LaGrange, Kentucky. They have only lived in Kentucky for 3 months. We teased them that is was a false reality to have so easily gotten tickets to the big race!Tiffany and Josh

OFF TO THE RACES!Kristi took the girls in our van to her home and we waved good bye to the boys at the Madsens home. My stomach had butterflies when Josh handed me the packet of tickets. These really are 'Golden Tickets'! We were in the Grandstand Bleachers Section 223 Row B Seats 32-37I couldn't stop smiling as we walked to Churchill Downs.Gate 3: Infield Entrance. They really should say: Welcome to Hell. Only you and 80,000 of your smelliest, dirties, drunkest best friends to share the day with.The infield crowd is a rough bunch. It had a look of Coney Island to me.Getting closerChurchill Downs!We passed through security where one guy teased me for taking a photo. So I snapped one of him as well.Checking inThe ticket guy that ripped our tickets.Here we are getting our grandstand wristbands. It was like I was back at EFY.Our seats were in front of the Jockey Club Suites. You can see Millionaire's Row on the far left side of the photo. The rain had stopped, the clouds had parted, but it was really windy. I had to keep a hand on my hat at all times. It would have helped if I didn't have such a small head! The hat was too large and kept tilting over one eye giving me a Jessica Rabbit look. Not cute!The entrance to the infield was directly in front of us. It was fun to watch people come in and out and have a clear view of the track.A view of the infield. People were packed in like sardines.Race # 7 was run on the grass.Hugh Hefner and his girlfriends attended the race.We had great seats that were in between the starting gate and the finishing post.Mint Juleps- had to pass since they are basically watered down Bourbon shots.The Twin Spires of Churchill Downs.The complete list of Derby winners.Camera in the paddock area.The paddock. This is where the horses are saddled and the jockey mount them. The owners are close by on the grass.This horses ran in race #9. Race #10: The Run for the Roses! The place was packed with a total of 157,770 people in attendance. It's the second largest derby crowd ever.The University of Louisville band played My Old Kentucky Home. I sang it loud and proud and video taped the whole thing!Here they come: the 20 horses in order walking in a slow processional. I was nearly hyperventilating from excitement. Post positions and odds as of May 1st. 1. Cool Coal Man - 50/1 2 Tale of Ekati - 25/1 3. Anak Nakal - 100/ . Court Vision - 20/1 5. Eight Belles - 16/1 6. Z Fortune - 12/1 7. Big Truck - 25/1 8. Visionaire - 20/1 9. Pyro - 7/1 10. Colonel John - 4/1 11. Z Humor - 50/1 12. Smooth Air - 25/1 13. Bob Black Jack - 50/1 14. Monba - 25/1 15. Adriano - 20/1 16. Denis of Cork - 14/1 17. Cowboy Cal - 50/1 18. Recapturetheglory - 25/1 19. Gayego - 25/1 20. Big Brown - 4/1 The horses took a few minutes to warm up on the track. They load the horses in the starting gate.GO BABY GO!!! Big Brown dominated the field down the stretch and won by 4 3/4 lengths, followed by the filly 8 Belles and Denis of Cork taking third. Right after the race ended, I noticed the equine ambulance and thought that was odd. Seconds later there were whispers that something was wrong with the filly. I heard someone say she had broken her front ankle. My heart skipped a beat. Rich called Josh and he told him that 8 Belles had broken both ankles. A moment later the man behind us said they had put her down. I was shocked. It was such a sudden and tragic twist to this otherwise perfect day. Here you had just watched her gracefully run down the homestretch and take second place in the greatest horse race even run and now she is dead. It was difficult to grasp since it all happened out of our view. It was hard to celebrate. It knocked the winds out of the sails. What a loss. It's all I could think about on the drive home.Big Brown the winner of the 134th Kentucky Derby. I took $20 cash to the track. We spent $5 on a program and then I had to decide how to divide up the rest to bet on the races. I put a $2 bet on race #8 for Hystericalady to win. She took third. I placed a $2 bet on Race #9 for Einstein to win. He did and I won $6.40. Which means how I'm up $2.40. (Big spender I know. When I placed my two $2 bets the lady at the window started to laugh. I guess many don't bring as much 'green' as me on Derby day.) For the Derby I put $5 on Colonel John to win, $2 for Big Brown (per my Josh's request), $3 for Pyro to show and $3 for Monba to show. We only won on Josh's bet. Big Brown paid out $6.80 on a $2 bet to win. The line to cash in your stub was a mile long, so we kept the paper as a memory and gave Josh $2 for picking the winner. I found out online tonight that the total wagering from all sources on the Kentucky Derby race, which includes on-track and off-track wagers was $114,557,364. Now that's a few dollars! $100,000 dollars of the total was from Big Brown's trainer betting that his throughbred would win. He had a VERY good day indeed! FYI: Big Brown is named after UPS which owns the horse and whose headquarters are located in Louisville. How fitting!

DERBY FASHIONS

We all know it's about the HATS!!! I found mine at Dillard's. I loved the wide brim, slanted top and feathers and that I could wear something black that I already owned.Marcie looked darling in her black and white.Kim had a 1920's flapper look. It was really fun.Tiffany made this herself! Perfect.Kristi models Tiffany's from last year. Shake your tassels honey!These ladies went for a group look. They told me they come every year. Some hats were tame.Some were bright.Some matched the clothes.Some were small Others were largeSome were embellishedSome had feathers
A few were enormousThis one reminded me of a watermelon. I must have been hungry.Some were loud Others nearly made you go blind from their fluorescent huesSome screamed for attention While others made you hope they only pull out the entire outfit on the first Saturday of May.

But there can only be a few WINNERS and these guys took top prize!Reminicent of the Godfather movie.Mint Julep anyone?Now here's a real jockey!And this guy only says, "Show me the money baby!"And yes, they were part of the infield.

ONLY IN KENTUCKY
We passed these guys on I-64 and thought they were headed our way. We were right. They were corraling the infield crowd as they left the track.This guy went for over the top glam.

And this is just plain STUPID! Looks like they had a few Mint Juleps BEFORE they headed to the track!

Happy Derby #134!!!!