The weather forecast for Louisville tomorrow is partly cloudy, a high of 83 degrees and a 10 percent chance of rain.
Sounds like a perfect day for a Kentucky Derby.
The only problem is the Derby isn’t being run today. It’s been scheduled for the first Saturday in September…but there’s even doubt about that.
This will be only the second time since the Derby was first run in 1875 that the Derby will not have been run on the first Saturday in May. The only other time was 1945, when the U.S. government had put a temporary ban on horse racing because of World War II.
Patty and I had planned on going to Louisville for the Derby this year — and we still might — but today we’ll be in Brookside. Not a bad alternative, but, darn!, I hate to see that great tradition disrupted.
I suspect I’m going to be feeling pretty wistful today, and I can only imagine what the emotions are going to be like among Louisvillians. In an ordinary year, they would be culminating two weeks of Derby-related events with “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” the Run for the Roses, in the late afternoon.
I’ve been to quite a few derbies since 1981, and it’s true what Kentucky author and humorist Irvin S. Cobb once said…
“Until you go to Kentucky and with your own eyes behold the Derby, you ain’t never been nowhere and you ain’t seen nothin!”
When Cobb said that, he had in mind, I’m sure, that the best part of the Derby is not the race but the atmosphere — the tidal wave of joy, excitement and energy that comes from an assembly of 150,000 people, all primed to cut loose and have fun and most dressed in the fanciest and most creative outfits they could come up with.
I don’t know what September is going to bring or how long it will take for the Derby to return to what it was, but I’m sure grateful for my Louisville roots and for the good times I’ve had at Churchill Downs on past first Saturdays of May.
On this would-be Derby Day, then, let me show you some of the happy moments Patty, Brooks, Charlie and I have had at past derbies.
At Derby 143 in 2017 — the last Derby I attended — I ran into a guy named Tom, from Indiana, who was wearing the very same hat I had. I’ve still got that hat — straw, by Goorin Bros. It’s good for at least one more Derby.
Derby 140 in 2014 was the last time Patty and I went to the Derby together. When she owned a garment manufacturing business, which she sold last year, spring was her busiest time of year. (She looks just as good now as she did then!)
Here are Brooks and Patty at Derby 137 in 2011. It was the only year all four of us went to a Derby. I bought five single tickets — two in the same box, the others scattered — outside the track, and we rotated in and out of the box all day.
Again from 2011…That’s Charlie on the right and his friend Patrick Schell, who traveled from Oklahoma for the occasion. Charlie had told Patrick, “Come on up; my Dad will get us tickets.” It was a challenge, but I did.
Last but not least, here’s a photo my friend Marcie Blakeney of Louisville sent me a year or two ago. I’m pretty sure it was from Derby 112 in 1986, after I had just turned 40. Marcie’s husband at the time, John Blakeney, had gotten us tickets through the company he worked for, Brown-Forman distillery in Louisville. They were the best seats I’ve ever had for the Derby — third-floor grandstand, just beyond the finish line. A lot has changed since then: Among others, I lost my hair, and Marcie and John got divorced. But I’ll tell you this — Marcie is still beautiful!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
My late husband’s sisters spent a lot of time in Lexington, Kentucky. I don’t remember them talking about the Derby, but I do remember a lot of talk about what they wore to Keeneland. It was a time to get decked out in an fancy outfit they wouldn’t wear any other time or place.
Peg, that other track and that other city in Kentucky are nice, but their names cannot be written or spoken in the same paragraph with the words Louisville, Churchill Downs and Kentucky Derby.
Jim,
Hi. Today is a beautiful day here in Louisville! It would have been absolutely perfect for Derby. We’ve had such terrible luck with the weather for years, we were due for a good day, well here it is! Sunny, low humidity, clean air, all the flowers are blooming, no storm has pulled the flowers away.
Irvin S. Cobb is correct. Anyone who knows me, knows I love going to the Derby. It is special, unique event. You can explain it, share pictures but there is nothing like taking someone to Derby especially for the first time, teaching them how to read the racing form. Of course, first timers to the track always win. When I took a friend from work several years ago, Sandy won every race that day except Derby! Which is reasonable given a 20 horse field!
As I have gotten older and recovered from cancer I never miss the Derby. I watched from the couch and promised myself if I was going to recover I would be going to Derby! You don’t know when you won’t be able to go and you’ll be glad you went while you could. I figured the day I wouldn’t be able to go is when I was too old and sick to go. Not that we would have a highly contagious virus that could infect the majority of the patrons before we would leave the premises! Everyone is squeezed into every conceivable space to see the race, folks yelling at the top of their lungs. Goodness knows how much regular germs we have been exposed to each year.
Last year was extra special with Henry and Martha here. It was cool and raining all day long, of course! I have some great pictures and of course that year was full of controversy with the race.
As for the best seats you’ve sat in…You and Patty should have sat in the Clubhouse section 317 (the Bashford Manor box) Row B many years ago when the four of us tried to go together on a cool rainy day. Instead you all ended up at home after searching for seats. Instead Mom and I sat in the seats you bought thinking you could find another two. You could not find another ticket period, nothing. Before I am dead, I will be paying for you two to sit on the finish line. That is a promise I want to keep. That year taught me how nice it is to be on the finish line with a great view. Now that Patty is retired we can plan ahead and I will get you “the best seats you’ve ever sat in!”
Everyone looks great in those photos! These photos are a window into your life when you see them year after year. Our smiles, clothes. Makes you realize you need to get out and live each day. But for now living is staying at home, only going out when you have to. We will get through this, patience is the smart decision. Show me how to post pictures and I will share some great shots.
I miss seeing you and Patty and sharing our post-Derby dinner together.
Love you all!
Kim
You captured a lot there, Kim, and you are so right about each Derby Day being an extra special milestone in most Kentuckians’ lives.
The specific Derby you wrote about — 1997, when Silver Charm won (giving trainer Bob Baffert his first Derby win) — is one of my most memorable derbies for the very circumstances you described.
It was cold as hell, and tickets were very scarce that day. If I remember correctly, that was the day I walked you, your Mom (Jan) and Patty all the way around the track grounds from the main entrance on Central Avenue (where we couldn’t find tickets) to the entrance on Longfield. Tickets were scarce there, too, but I finally was able to buy those third-floor tickets from a guy and his wife for $75 each. (They’d now go for probably a couple of grand each.)
I told you and Jan to go on in, that I’d find two others in short order. You reluctantly went on…but I never saw another ticket for sale. Patty and I finally gave up and went over to Bill Russell’s house and watched on TV with him and his wife Denise.
…You don’t owe me a thing, Kim. That’s a priceless memory for me. And the fact that you and Jan got to sit in those seats — a row or two from Bob Baffert and see Silver Charm win — that’s a memory for you and Jan to cherish for the rest of your lives.
Love you always!
I’ve never watched a Derby at Churchill Downs but I have been to the track (fall of 1984 or 1985). What is the name of that drink that is associated with the race? I’ll have to see if my uncle can mix one up tomorrow in observance of the Derby that wasn’t held (at least on the first Saturday in May) and his oldest son’s birthday…”AND, THEY’RE OFF!”
Why, it’s the Mint Julep, Rick…You combine a couple of mint leaves with powdered sugar and a little water in the bottom of a glass; grind that together with a pestle; fill the glass with crushed ice; fill almost to the top with high-grade Kentucky bourbon; top off with a splash of water and a mint sprig to tickle your nostril and make it look official; and, voila!, you’ve got your Kentucky Derby beverage.
No water on the top, Jim. Fill it to the brim with prime KY bourbon!
JimmyC. I loved the picture of you and Marcie and your comments. I don’t remember getting you the tickets or being at the Derby with you. Guess a lot of those years and events were lost in my stupor of alcohol!!!
I remember gloating over our good fortune to be on the third floor and referring to those “in steerage” down below.
Yes, John, you were there and you got the tickets. I believe I drove us home because everyone else was impaired and I had quit drinking a few years earlier.
Surely you remember Jim sassing a cop on the drive home. He was probably the only sober driver leaving the track that day and probably wanted the cop to know that he was cold sober. I was afraid he’d get us all thrown in jail! However the cop had seen it all and was SO PATIENT with us all. Bless them!!
I remember that clear as day, Marcie…We came upon a cop who had gotten out of his car to talk to someone in the car in front of us. We had to wait behind them. Feeling cheeky — and probably wanting to impress my passengers — I honked the horn. With a look of disbelief, the officer turned and looked at me and then slowly began walking toward our car. That knocked the shit-eating grin off my face. I thought, “Oh, oh, that was really stupid.”
When he got to the window, though, he said something like, “Look, I’m dealing with a situation up here…Can’t you just be patient for a minute or two?” Of course, I assented. I don’t remember if I apologized, but I certainly should have.
Like you, I was amazed at his forbearance and patience. Yes…wherever he is today, bless him!
Yes, now I do remember. There was a cop car in front of us at a stop sign and he didn’t pull out fast enough to satisfy Fitz, so he started honking the horn and yelling, “Let’s go buddy” or something similar.
You are SO SWEET! I’m sure missing Derby this year. It’s a rite of spring, not a gateway to fall. I’m hoping the Delayed Derby is uniquely fun. See you then — brunch at my house!!
Thank you, Jim. Much appreciated. Looking forward to my first Mint Julep and my next visit to Kentucky, where the women are beautiful and the horses are fast … or is it the other way around? Cheers!
Cheeky devil, indeed. I recall a certain ex-relative asking an Officer of the Law if he didn’t have anything better to do, when stopped for a minor traffic infraction.
Sounds like a sure way to get at least two tickets…
Jim, thanks for the post. I’m not much of a horse racing fan, but my roots to Kentucky are deep. My great grandfather was a cashier at the Derby, I think appointed by Happy Chandler.The Shrouts migrated from Kentucky to Missouri. But the Derby was always destination tv to hear the playing and singing of Steven Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home.” My mother sang it to me as a lullaby 70 years ago to get me to sleep and reminder to her of her home state as we were living in Massachusetts at the time.. My family sang it at her internment in 2006 in Salem Cemetery on highway 24 in Eastern Jackson County. So the singing of the song at the Derby always brings tears to my eyes and deep remembrances. I really missed the annual ritual.