Derby day

The run for the roses is the most exciting two minutes in horse racing.  The closest I ever got to the famous race was when the family visited Churchill Downs one year when we visited grandparents in Louisville during Dad's three week annual vacation.  Back in those childhood days, touring the race track only meant seeing beautiful horses and hearing comments about them. 

As years passed, I understood the importance of the race and that it was the first of three races to determine the winner of the Triple Crown.  As I watch the pre-race hoopla on TV, I try to pick one of the horses on parade that I think will win.  Of course I take note of the hats the women wear, and check the colors the famous jockeys are wearing.  When the band plays My Old Kentucky Home and the TV cameras pan the spectators singing the song, my heart skips a beat because that's my song, having been born in Louisville.

Tradition has it that the race has an official drink, the Mint Julep.  That and the famous blanket of roses that's put on the winning horse as soon as the race is over.  Some of the winning horses have become legends and stories told about them for years.  Perhaps todays winner will become one of those unforgettable horses that we will remember for years.