Derby Day

From zero to 40 miles an hour in three strides is how fast a Kentucky Derby thoroughbred can accelerate.  We learned that yesterday at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

After we bought our tickets, we entered the museum though a green gates like the ones where the horses start the race.  Immediately,  racing horses and their jockeys were thundering right at us on a huge monitor.  

There was an exhibit where you can watch any race since 1918 on a large screen; we saw Willie Shoemaker ride Ferdinand from last to first place and right up the middle of the pack.   We also saw a 360 degree video presentation that told a race horse’s story from birth to Derby Day three years later, as only three-year-olds run the Derby.

We also saw wild dresses, fancy suits and outrageous hats worn by actual Derby goers; got a chance to place bets (Jim won $12.60; I came up with zero); learned about mint juleps; and Jim rode in a simulated Derby race.  There was a special exhibit featuring 4’11”, 95-pound Willie Shoemaker, who was a jockey for four decades and rode a Derby winner four times --including once when he was 54, making him the oldest jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby.  We also heard about the biggest error of Shoemaker’s Derby career: In 1957,  he misjudged the finish line, stood up in the saddle (signaling the horse the race is over) and came in second.  (Per the exhibit, the horse’s owner gave Shoemaker a Cadillac to make him feel better.)  Shoemaker rode in over 40,000 races and came in first 8,833 times.

Later, we went to the Bluegrass Brewery in downtown Louisville.  Jim recommends their American Pale Ale and is working on a brew pub post for our blog.

A sculpture of Barbaro and jockey Edgar Prado in front of Churchill Downs.  Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby in 2006, but shattered his leg two weeks later in the Preakness.  He went through six operations but eventually had to be put down.

Jim trying out his jockey skills.

Bev and her horse at the gate.

Jim doing research for his promised beer post on our blog.

Louisville, Kentucky as seen from the Indiana side of the Ohio River.