Talk Derby To Me....

It is heralded as 'The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports' and often referred to as 'The Run for the Roses." For unprecedented 135 years, millions have watched across the world as the finest three year old thoroughbred horses from across the globe race a mile and a quarter in the most historic venue in horse racing history: The Kentucky Derby.

One might have thought I have been out of the Derby loop since moving to Lexington, but that has not been the case. Many Derby horses were bred, born, trained and stabled right here in Lexington. In fact, every horse running in Derby 135 was auctioned in the yearling sale held at Keeneland Race Track, which is located here in Lexington. Prestigious and well known horse farms dot the landscape creating beautiful landmarks across the area. They are places you would long to call home, and yet they are there for one reason, and one reason only- thoroughbred racing horses. I have come to love Lexington just as much as Louisville and appreciate its own rightful place in the Derby Legacy.

While I will not be as fortunate to be seated in the grandstand to watch with my own eyes as history is being made, like I was last year, I am a Derby Girl forever. I loved it as a child, and the wonderment, thrill and anticipation has continued to grow as an adult. It must be why we ended up Kentucky nearly a decade ago. I was born with a Bluegrass heart, even though my roots are and forever will be in the far away west.

Tonight we will head west, just a bit, to get a taste of all the action Derby brings with it. It's been a rough year for our family to make new Derby memories. For the second time in eight years we were not found among the nearly 1 million people lining the river front in Louisville to take in the 'Largest Firework Show in North America'- Thunder Over Louisville. We did not attend the Balloon Glow or any other Derby Festival Events. That is why tonight is something I have been longing for, well, for years actually.

Who would believe when I said our main reason for going and final destination would be found in a grocery store? A place where I once bought milk, bread and cereal when I taught school in Middletown. But today it is something so much more. Magical even. And I can't wait to get there.

We will be going to the only Kroger store in the world that has a unique place in Derby history. Here we will watch as over 400 carefully selected and hand picked roses are sewn onto the 'Garland of Roses'. From 4 PM until 11 PM each flower will be carefully attached so when the blanket is placed over the winning horse's back tomorrow evening, it will be as perfect as its victory. They also have the Kentucky Derby trophy on display.

Yes, I am beyond excited to take it all in!

I also have been reading up on the big race today. I loved this quote from ESPN.com written by a local sports writer .

"I just want everybody to understand what trainer Jack Van Berg meant when he told me, "At the Kentucky Derby, you can throw all the records out the window, because it's just a matter of who the star shines on that particular day."

He was exactly right, because when you come down to it, the Kentucky Derby really is about fate and luck and the gods of racing. Anything can happen when you put 20 young horses into a starting gate and ask them to run a mile and a quarter for the first time in their lives."

-Billy Reed: Sports writer who has covered the Kentucky Derby for 43 years.

That is exactly what the Derby is and what makes it so entertaining and enjoyable- the uncertainty of it all. It is unpredictable, unstable and that is what makes it so exciting to watch. You never can be 100% certain about the will happen in a race.

Twenty horses will be called to the Post tomorrow. Twenty jockeys will be living their dream. Twenty owners will be holding their breath. And in all honesty, there really are twenty possible winners.

Here's a bit about each of those horses- found from ESPN.com.

Friesan Fire, the Louisiana Derby winner, is trained by Larry Jones. Jones also trained Eight Belles, the filly that last year finished a gallant second in the Kentucky Derby and then collapsed with fractures to both front legs and had to be euthanized, right on the track. Jones finished second in 2007 with Hard Spun.

Trainer Tom McCarthy, 75, a retired high school principal and resident of Louisville, is trying to win the Derby with the only horse he has, Blue Grass Stakes winner General Quarters, whom McCarthy also owns.

Bill Mott, a Hall of Fame trainer, is trying to win his first Derby with Hold Me Back, the Blue Grass runner-up, and he is competing against a horse he used to train, Pioneerof the Nile, who has won four straight races, including the Santa Anita Derby, since moving to trainer Bob Baffert.

Todd Pletcher, who has sent out more horses (21) than any trainer without winning the Derby, has three shots this year with Advice, Dunkirk, and Join in the Dance. He will try to avoid having the last-place finisher for the fourth straight year.

Dunkirk, the Florida Derby runner-up, is trying to become the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Derby without having started as a 2-year-old.

The WinStar Farm of owners Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt has three runners in Advice, Hold Me Back, and Mr. Hot Stuff, and they will give track announcer Mark Johnson, calling his first Derby, fits by lining up in adjacent stalls with similar silks.

Eoin Harty used to train Desert Party, the United Emirates Derby runner-up, who is now part of the powerful Godolphin Racing operation, which has had committed millions of dollars and numerous horses to a thus-far failed attempt to win the Derby by prepping their horses during the winter in Dubai. Godolphin also sends out Regal Ransom, who upset his stablemate in the UAE Derby.

Jenny Craig, the weight-loss icon, owns Chocolate Candy, a name not often considered part of anyone's diet plan.

Trainers Kelly Breen (Atomic Rain and West Side Bernie), Tim Ice (Summer Bird), Derek Ryan (Musket Man), Gary Stute (Papa Clem), Bennie Woolley Jr. (Mine That Bird), and McCarthy will try to win the Derby in their first attempt, which has happened in the Derby five of the last six years.

Trainers D. Wayne Lukas (Flying Private) and Nick Zito (Nowhere to Hide), both multiple Derby winners and members of the Hall of Fame, will try to add to their haul with improbable long shots.

Yet the horse they all have to beat is I Want Revenge, who is the morning-line favorite based on impressive victories in Wood Memorial and Gotham Stakes.

I Want Revenge is trained by Jeff Mullins, a controversial figure who seems cut from central casting to play the bad guy. Mullins is good at what he does, having won several training titles in Southern California. He is disarmingly genial and ruggedly handsome, yet has received several medication violations that have clouded his reputation.

I Want Revenge will be ridden by Joe Talamo, 19, who is trying to become the first teen jockey to win the Derby with his first mount in 30 years.

The field for the Derby is double-loaded into the starting gate, meaning posts 1 and 11 will go in first, then 2 and 12, with 10 and 20 the last to enter.

If all 20 horses start, the Derby purse will be $2,202,200, and the winner's share will be $1,442,200.

UPDATE 5/2/09: The No. 13 post position did prove unlucky after all for likely betting favorite I Want Revenge in today's 135th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Trainer Jeff Mullins scratched the colt this morning, because of a problem in his left front ankle.

"The biggest dream is to get here, but the biggest nightmare is to get to race day and have to scratch," Mullins said at a 9 a.m. press conference.

X-rays and ultrasound examinations did not show any bony injury to the ankle, but two veterinarians concurred that there was an inflammation in the soft tissue above and below the ankle.

All that is left is to wait and see what happens when the gates finally swing open.

And those beloved words ring loud and clear: "And They're Off!!"

Go Baby Go!!