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luciabAh, Kentucky. No place like it. There is such a sense of place here, especially on Derby Day. Well, DUH.
It’s been years since I’ve been in-state for the event; most years lately I’ve been at Crown Tourney. And of course I am quite interested in the outcome of that contest, too, but Kentucky on Derby Day…. Well.
There is an entire section in the Lexington paper (and the Derby isn’t even IN Lexington, but in Louisville) about the Derby. There are stories about the bugler, (“My dad is the bugler at Churchill Down!” announced his son to his kindergarten class. And what does your mother do? The teacher asked. “Oh, she’s just a doctor,”) the caterers, and the jockeys. There is a two page four-color centerfold spread of photos from a big party in Louisville last night attended by people like Jennifer Love Hewitt, Serena Williams, Peyton Manning, Ludacris, Ciara, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Tommy Lee, and where the jam session included Travis Tritt, Kip Brooks of ZZ Top, and Michael McDonald. That? Pshaw. That is just a bunch of second string players; the people who used to give the really good parties, with A-list celebs, are dead now, or have quit giving parties. There used to be two sets—one very proper and genteel, the other… well, the fab hostess of the other Big Party hired streakers the year that was popular. Guess which was more fun? Not that I was ever invited, of course. Not even paid to streak, for that matter. Heh.
Oh, yeah, and there are several pages in the Derby section about the race, too. Lots of analysis (very fast group of horses this year but the field is WAY too big) and a two page spread with race track stats that most people at the track today will have no idea how to read. As far as race track denizens go, I expect the Derby is like New Years Eve to an alcoholic-- when all the amateurs have a go at it.
I know I haven’t yet conveyed the proper intensity. See if this helps. Both of the two local papers feature articles about local schools which had “Derbies” in which the little kids raced hobby horses and wore hats they’d made, because what’s the Derby without hats? “Teachers hope students learn something about Kentucky heritage through such events,” the journalist noted gravely.
There. If that doesn’t give you an idea, I don’t know what else to tell you.
It’s been years since I’ve been in-state for the event; most years lately I’ve been at Crown Tourney. And of course I am quite interested in the outcome of that contest, too, but Kentucky on Derby Day…. Well.
There is an entire section in the Lexington paper (and the Derby isn’t even IN Lexington, but in Louisville) about the Derby. There are stories about the bugler, (“My dad is the bugler at Churchill Down!” announced his son to his kindergarten class. And what does your mother do? The teacher asked. “Oh, she’s just a doctor,”) the caterers, and the jockeys. There is a two page four-color centerfold spread of photos from a big party in Louisville last night attended by people like Jennifer Love Hewitt, Serena Williams, Peyton Manning, Ludacris, Ciara, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Tommy Lee, and where the jam session included Travis Tritt, Kip Brooks of ZZ Top, and Michael McDonald. That? Pshaw. That is just a bunch of second string players; the people who used to give the really good parties, with A-list celebs, are dead now, or have quit giving parties. There used to be two sets—one very proper and genteel, the other… well, the fab hostess of the other Big Party hired streakers the year that was popular. Guess which was more fun? Not that I was ever invited, of course. Not even paid to streak, for that matter. Heh.
Oh, yeah, and there are several pages in the Derby section about the race, too. Lots of analysis (very fast group of horses this year but the field is WAY too big) and a two page spread with race track stats that most people at the track today will have no idea how to read. As far as race track denizens go, I expect the Derby is like New Years Eve to an alcoholic-- when all the amateurs have a go at it.
I know I haven’t yet conveyed the proper intensity. See if this helps. Both of the two local papers feature articles about local schools which had “Derbies” in which the little kids raced hobby horses and wore hats they’d made, because what’s the Derby without hats? “Teachers hope students learn something about Kentucky heritage through such events,” the journalist noted gravely.
There. If that doesn’t give you an idea, I don’t know what else to tell you.
