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Pegasus Parade
Grand Marshall, Muhammad AliThe subject line, for those Aussies out there, is the name of the song sung at the Kentucky Derby and is certainly not a reflection of the age of the lovely house of Barbara and George Beury in which I am staying! This may become a theme of my 6 months but I love this place! George and Barbara, in particular, have been exceptional hosts and the many people I have met from both Louisville and out of town (Florida, Ohio, New England) have made my stay here something to cherish for a long time.
An unexpected highlight of these 4+ days was meeting Muhammad Ali at the Muhammad Ali Centre in downtown Louisville. What I should say is that I had my photo taken with him. Unfortunately, he is in a poor state of health - does not speak, walks poorly, and seems to be lacking any spark. Still, it was a treat for me to see him and tour the centre/museum opened in his honour.
Muhammad Ali was the main highlight of the annual Pegasus Parade (for the Melburnians - like Moomba just much bigger). There were marching bands, horses of all sizes and breeds, giant helium
filled toys (eg, Kermit the Frog, Garfield), very colorful floats and some seriously B-grade celebrities including some guy from ‘The Young & the Restless’.
Also visited the Kentucky Derby Museum. Whilst the museum was great, the atmosphere in the vicinity of Churchill Downs (the home of the Derby) was something I have never experienced before. There were vendors set up on Thursday afternoon, kids outside trying to sell parking space in their driveways, military police, and plenty of RV’s settling in for the weekend. This puts a whole new light on the racing car park experience don’t you think?
On Friday, Barbara & I visited the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. It was lovely. We saw a parade of breeds, a horse museum, and the memorial/gravesite of Man O’War. There was also a lovely sculpture of Secretariat, the Derby race record holder.
We also drove past ‘The Red Mile’, the oldest harness track in the area and named for the color of its dirt track, ‘Keeneland’, the other famous gallops track, and stopped in at the Woodford Reserve Distillery for a tipple of bourbon and some bourbon candy.
I have been dining on other local delicacies
Kentucky Derby
The eventual winner, Barbaro, parading before the big race here too. For lunch on Friday, it was the Kentucky Hot Brown (although Barbara assures me that it was not up to scratch). Basically it is toast covered in turkey (and in this case ham) and a mornay sauce with bacon criss-crossed over it.
Yesterday I had a mint julep (Derby drink of bourbon, ice, mint) and Derby Pie (chocolate, nuts, etc).
The Derby was sensational. There were over 157,000 people there and it was a true event/circus and not just a horse race. The fashions were interesting, some great hats and elegant dresses, some not so. After consultation with several locals, I decided to spend my day in ‘The Paddock’ which is the parade ring at the back of the grandstand at Churchill Downs. This way, at least I got to see some horses. The infield, the only other public area, is a huge party with very limited track visibility. I went to the infield for about 10 minutes which was more than enough to snap some sights and get out of there. I spent the first 4 races of a 12 race card standing beside the fence to the parade ring. After that, I wandered and
Kentucky Derby
Me with one of the Churchill Downs twin spires behind me finally sat down on the ground against a wall in a tucked away part of the paddock. There I met John, Bruce, Mary and Don. I spent the rest of the day with them and it was fun. Whilst they were having success on the punt before I joined them and Mary did get a huge trifecta while I was there, I failed to back a winner for the whole day! Lucky I didn’t bet my life savings at the track in order to finance this trip!
After race 11, we were finally able to access the track and saw race 12 from one of the boxes in the upper level. Bruce and I managed to pinch a few Derby glasses, some ‘reserved signs’ and a small bunch of roses. .
The sights leaving the track were very similar to those seen on Derby, Cup and Oaks day at Flemington. Plenty of wobbly people, girls with shoes in hand…you know the look.
Today I went to early morning track work at Keeneland. It was not as busy on the track as I expected. Maybe a few trainers decided
to start late today after a big Derby day yesterday? After an hour or so, I wandered into the track bistro. I had breakfast with the track riders and grooms and quite a few townsfolk in for a cheap meal. This should be set up at Flemington for the public!
I must also mention my driving adventures. Having not driven on the wrong side of the road since 2002, and never before without a navigator beside me, I took quite some time to get out of Louisville airport on Wednesday evening. As expected, I was fine on the open road, although the tendency to drift right was there. Intersections were an entirely different matter. I would have liked a recording of my monologue whilst driving. ‘Think right, think right’, ‘Left turn is wide’ etc. Three days later, I am pleased that I am not coming home immediately. I would now not like to try and drive on the left side of the road anytime soon.
Finally, I would like to share my new dream. When I win tattslotto, I have decided to buy a stud farm in Kentucky. Rolling green hills, white horse fencing for miles, quality thoroughbreds
Kentucky Derby
Don & Mary with Mary's trifecta winnings and friendly locals - what more could I ever want?
Leaving for the Big Apple tomorrow morning........
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Dermot
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Muhammad Ali
Wow - meeting the grestest Boxer, perhaps the Greatest sports person of the 20th Centruy - don't wash until you return, I want to touch the person that touched Muhammad Ali - The Greatest - where's the photo? Rgs Dermot