09.05.20
Posted in Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby, Thoroughbred Racing at 7:59 pm by Thomas
It was certainly a surreal day at Churchill Downs today for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby. The weather could not have been better and the track was certainly fast so maybe its appropriate that Authentic, ridden by John Velazquez at 8 to 1 odds won the race convincingly in a time of 2 minutes 0.61 seconds over Tiz The Law.
It marks trainer Bob Baffert’s 6th Derby win though the day wasn’t without incident for him with one of his other horses, Thousand Words scratched after he reared up and went over backward in the paddock stalled and hit his head which is an automatic scratch by track vets. Then after the race, while they were putting the Roses on Authentic he spun and knocked Bob Baffert to the ground, but it is 2020 what can you expect.
Permalink
05.01.14
Posted in Kentucky, Kentucky Derby, Louisville, Rolex Kentucky 3 Day Event, Thoroughbred Racing at 9:10 pm by Thomas
I am not sure there is a bigger week in Kentucky that defines us as the Horse Capitol of the World like the 10 days from the start of Rolex through Saturday’s Kentucky Derby this year. There are a number of interesting factoids in regards to these two events. The Rolex Three-Day Event takes 4 days from Start to Finish, the Kentucky Derby is decided in 2 minutes plus or minus a few seconds. Both events are consider a leg of the Triple Crown in their respective sports. A number of successful Rolex horses are Thoroughbreds that started out as race horses and transitioned to Eventing. Generally Jockeys are short and only weighing about 100 pounds, Eventers tend to run the gambit on body size, William Fox-Pitt who won this year’s Rolex is something like 6′ 5″. The Rolex is in Lexington, The Derby in Louisville, two cities defined by Horses and Basketball both with a taste for Bourbon. Both events draw big crowds with significant economic impact both locally and on a State basis. The Derby does beat the Rolex in the area of TV coverage, 4 days of Rolex are turned into 1 hour of TV a week after the fact, where as the 2 minutes of the Derby equals many hours of live coverage across several channels. The obvious difference is that you can’t bet on the Rolex, well technically I guess you could, but who would want to, and if you do, you probably need to seek help. Another thing they have in common is that men and women compete equally and women are certainly a force to be reckoned with in the horse world, maybe more so there then anywhere else in business. I am sure that last sentence will draw some comments and I don’t have any scientific studies to back that up but feel pretty good about the validity of that statement. All of this is to make the point that we are The Horse Capitol of the World and that is a pretty cool thing, especially this time of the year.
Kentucky Colonel
Thomas P. Demond
KyWEGO
Permalink
04.30.13
Posted in Kentucky Derby, Rolex Kentucky 3 Day Event at 10:33 pm by Thomas
It’s amazing that we are at the end of April and we are still getting bouts of pretty cool weather for this time of year, especially compared to what we had this time last year. I made all 4 days of the Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event and Cross Country day was actually chilly at points, though I think that was a good thing for the horses, certainly better then temps in the 80’s.
The good news has been we have had no hard freezes like we did several years ago after having a month of near 80 degree weather, that was devastating to the foliage at the time. Pastures are coming back strong, especially Bluegrass which loves the warm days and cool nights. Also we have been getting abundant rain which will help to mediate any potential drought concerns for this summer should the weather finally turn hot.
As for the Kentucky Derby, the weather is expected to be cool and rainy which should make for an interesting race, and with the track sloppy Normandy Invasion could be the one to beat.
Permalink
AbitaNet Corporation