And Down The Stretch They Go!

Yesterday was the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby and was won by American Pharaoh.   This was the 2nd Kentucky Derby win in a row for the jockey, Victor Espinoza, which is quite an achievement.  Last year, I drove down to Red and Jerry's, a bar and betting parlor on South Santa Fe Boulevard, to watch the race, but found out that the restaurant had a cover charge and was sold out.  An auditorium was available next door where you could watch the race, but it still had a cover charge and did not look very appealing, and so I went home and watched the race on television, which I did this year as well.  Years ago my parents would have Kentucky Derby parties, where everyone would throw money in a pot and draw the names of two horses out of a hat, with the person with the winning horse getting the money.  As I recall, that was a lot of fun, which is probably why I have a special place in my heart for the Derby.  That and seeing so many women around town wearing hats and bonnets, which is such an unusual sight in this day and age.  Of course, the Kentucky Derby is the class of the horse world.  Alistair Cooke once wrote about how horse people would always talk about the lineage of the winning horses  - out of April Dancer, by Geronimo, out of Miss Daisy, by Citation, etc.  He often wished that some day the winner would turn out to be "out of Texas, by truck."  One can always hope.