Wishing Every Day Were Derby Day

The Kentucky Derby – it is more then big hats, lavish sundresses, twenty horses, endless bets and mint juleps galore. It is the one event in the United States where your salary, profession, and social status mean the least because regardless of who you are or where you’re from everyone relates to the joys of a little booze, warm weather, and an opportunity to win big! Couple that with friendly southern hospitality and strangers eagerness to know one another and you have a modern day Woodstock event.

And so this past weekend my mother and I traveled for our second trip to the great Derby and once again it did not disappoint. Here are a few highlights:

Where else do people fancy big hats with feathers and lace in all shades and colors? And I can’t forget to mention my most favorite one – the horse-head hat that made almost every local Kentucky news channel (please take a look)!

The Derby of course has most dress up in their Sunday’s best but these two guys had a different idea about style and attention getting:

What about meeting the winning Jockey who rode Big Brown in the 2008 Kentucky Derby? Yep, that is me and Jockey Kent Desormeaux.



To add to my collection of famous meetings I could not pass up the opportunity to meet Jockey Edgar Prado, who rode the winning and late Barbaro.

You can’t help but notice nor forget the people you meet at the Derby that help to make your experience so memorable. Here is Apple and I – her and her boyfriend (who was quite a bit older I must add) sat in our box on race day. She wore a beautiful, and of course, big hat, that was cocked sideways and pinned on her head. But her dress was the eye stopper, hat or no hat. It was bright satin green and gathered in front – it screamed antique, Great Gatsby wear. Unfortunately for Apple with every move, applause, or quick step to the bathroom the dress ripped, ripped, and ripped some more! By the end of the day she was simply wearing material hanging on by literal threads kept together with a few close-pins!

And where else to meet the interesting faces that makeup the Derby crowd? The hotel bar of course! So as I sit between my mother and a handsome pilot who has solicited her counseling services free of charge, I beg the bartender (who we’ll call “G”) to lighten the mood with more appropriate conversation that can be understood while under the influence of alcohol. What I heard I almost did not believe as “G” pulls up his right arm sleeve and shows me several bandages wrapped around his bicep pointing to where his almost ex-wife shot him two weeks prior! Yes, you read that correctly. Dressed in garbage bags and perched outside the ally of his window she waited to get an opportunity to call him a bastard and cock her pistol (she is pissed that he has moved on and she hasn’t). “G” was hit and began to run. He said, “Just like in the movies, after a few steps I fell” while she continued to shoot. With the shots running loud neighbors phoned the police and his almost ex-wife now sits behind bars charged with attempted murder! For sure, an unforgettable story.

And for my mother's sake I must add a picture of my feet. Yes, my feet! The day before the Derby is called the Kentucky Oaks - and oh how I had such a cute outfit with adorable shoes that once rained on, caused my feet some serious pain! So I went "MacGyver" and created an invention that allowed me to at least walk the rest of the day throughout the track (I must admit my mom was quite embarrassed - but I wasn't!).

The flat lands, green grass, warm welcome, offbeat encounters and memorable personal stories are all small touches that make a huge event and a short weekend filled with memories of a lifetime.

If only every day were a Derby day…