Bodemeister (6) led the whole way in 2012 until being overtaken by little-heralded I'll Have Another at the finish. Note cameras!
Today is the day for the #1 sporting event of the year in America!* The Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Don't forget.
...If the weather holds, that is. I know you must get tired of hearing me gas on about Midwestern weather, but I find this remarkable:
Four days ago: All-time record high temperature for the day in our fair city (Milwaukee): 85°F, which beat the 84°F recorded in 1910.
Two days ago: All-time record high snowfall for the State of Wisconsin in the month of May.
So as I was saying. The Derby—Louisville being not too far south of us and within the strange loop the jetstream's been making lately—might come under the pall of volatile weather. If not, television coverage starts on NBC at 4:00 p.m. Central Time, and the race is at something like 5:26. Recall that I have a bad memory for numbers. If you just want to watch the horses run for the roses, tune in at 5:15 or so and you won't miss it.
Here's I'll Have Another's late upset from last year.
Mike
*Two-minute sporting event. I keep forgetting to add "two-minute" in there.
UPDATE: What a lovely run in the mud! I picked Verrazano, who finished 15 1/2 lengths back after keeping up with an overly fast early pace—which keeps my record for picking winners fully intact!
Congratulations to Orb, first-time winning jockey Joel Rosario, and first time winning trainer "Shug" McGaughey. The owners, first cousins Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills Phipps, despite being among the bluest of blue bloods in horse racing, have also never won a Derby before. (The two are great-grandsons of Carnegie Steel magnate Henry Phipps; both inherited famous stables.)
I love the pomp and ceremony, suffused with a sense of celebration—of Spring, of tradition, of the magnificent animals. Nice to visit that world briefly every year. Hope you caught it.
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In case no one has yet pointed it out, they have some new restrictions for 2013. New items on the prohibited list include “Camcorders; Cameras with detachable lenses, or equipped with a lens that is 6” or longer; Tripods”.
See Read This Before You Head to the Track! and remember, “Patrons are reminded: ‘If you see something, say something.’”.
(They also disallow backpacks, camera bags, etc., but the Web page indicates that those were already on the prohibited list, not new for 2013.)
Posted by: Gary Brown | Saturday, 04 May 2013 at 12:24 PM
Likely will be a wet track this year. Cool and wet is what the weather folks are calling for. Put your money on a mudder.
Cheers
Posted by: JackS | Saturday, 04 May 2013 at 01:26 PM
I noticed that binoculars are listed twice as allowable items What is the hazard in bringing a camera with a removable lens?
Posted by: Kent Anderson | Saturday, 04 May 2013 at 04:07 PM
The camera restrictions aren't about "hazard", they're about controlling publicity rights.
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Sunday, 05 May 2013 at 06:35 PM