Always Bet on the Long Shot

'Cause it's more fun anyway and sometimes you win.

Country House's win in the 2019 Kentucky Derby will be remembered throughout history for a number of reasons.

The first thing people will talk about is the finish. Maximum Security was declared the winner initially, but Country House eventually was named the victor after an objection led to a disqualification.

But people will also remember Country House's long odds. The Bill Mott-trained colt was a 65-1 long shot at post time, among the longest odds in the race.

And in the immortal words of a soaked Infield attendee, "It's not a real Derby unless it rains."

And Fear Prevails: Tightened Security for Derby and Oaks

The Boston bombing suspects have been caught, in a law enforcement tour de force that must give second thoughts to any potential copycats, but Kentucky officials are letting terror win anyway.


Gregory A. Hall at the Courier:

Churchill Downs is tightening its security policies for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks in response to the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 180.

The new policies expand the list of items banned from the track, including coolers and purses larger than 12 inches.

The track’s guidelines were revised after the bombings and bring back some of the restrictions imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Those policies had been relaxed since the 2002 Derby and Oaks.

Additionally, the track is asking anyone who sees something suspicious to report it to law enforcement or track officials.

“We want fans to have a wonderful and unforgettable Oaks and Derby Days, but we hope they will remember these words: ‘If you see something, say something,’ ” track President Kevin Flanery said in a statement.

The resumption of the cooler ban is the biggest change, although coolers will be sold along with ice in the infield. Coolers were first banned in 2002, before being allowed again in 2009.

“I know it was a pretty welcome change when coolers were allowed back in there, but again given what happened here in the past week ... that one was kind of the first one on the table” to be reconsidered, Churchill spokesman John Asher said. He added that Churchill will work to have coolers and ice on sale at prices that are close to what’s available regularly at stores.

A record 165,307 attended last year’s Derby and 112,552 people attended the Oaks, two of the biggest days of horse racing annually in the United States.

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Earlier this week, Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad encouraged people not to avoid Thunder Over Louisville on Saturday because of the Boston bombings.

“It would be a mistake to let an event, no matter how tragic, keep us from enjoying these events,” Conrad said. Regarding Thunder, he said, “No one can guarantee your safety. But I can tell you we have a good plan.”

 Right. Don't let security risks stop you from spending money to further enrich corporate America, but do surrender your Fourth Amendment rights at the cash register.

From Boston to Churchill, With Terror

Very glad to see Derby officials are not panicking in the wake of the Boston bombings, although security is likely to be a nightmare.

Because of course the goal of the bombers is exactly that: cause panic and over-reaction that disrupts society, sets people against each other and undermines confidence in the community protection of self-government.

From the Courier:

It’s too soon to say whether the explosions at the Boston Marathon will result in security changes for the Kentucky Derby and Derby Festival — but Thunder over Louisville will go on as planned, officials said Monday.

“We will huddle with our many law enforcement partners” over the coming days to review security plans for the May 4 event, said Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher. “That’s something we do every year, especially since 2002.”


About 450 law enforcement personnel from local, state and federal agencies provided security at Churchill Downs on Derby Day last year, officials said then.


The Thunder Over Louisville fireworks and airshow, which draws hundreds of thousands of spectators to the banks of the Ohio River each year, will continue as scheduled Saturday, officials of the Kentucky Derby Festival said during a Monday news conference in the wake of the Boston explosions.


Festival Chief Executive Officer Mike Berry said the same is true for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and Mini-Marathon scheduled for April 27. Those events are expected to draw 17,000 race participants and about 40,000 spectators, Festival Vice President Matt Gibson said.

McConnell's Sequester Diminishes Derby

That would be the same made-up, completely unnecessary sequester created to address a fake crisis about a deficit non-problem, the same sequester that could and should be cancelled with a simple congressional vote, but won't be because Mitch McConnell wants these unnecessary budget cuts to become permanent.

From the AP:

The Kentucky Derby Festival says military aircraft won't be a part of this year's air show at Thunder Over Louisville due to federal budget cuts.

Organizers of the event told The Courier-Journal (cjky.it/10iMAhd) on Friday that fighter jets, bombers and attack helicopters that have thrilled crowds in the past have been grounded from air shows due to spending cuts.

The show, however, will go on.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/30/2580238/military-aircraft-cut-from-louisville.html#storylink=cpy

How It All Started: The Improbable History of the Kentucky Derby

Amy Wilson tells the story:

It started out lucky, then it stumbled and had no chance. Then, out of the blue, a regional horse race in May, run with ordinary horses and staged a really long way from the big-money stables, suddenly became the most important horse race in America.

How do you explain that?

And while we're at it, how did that race become even bigger than a horse race? How did it get to be an event that is not just a horse race but a spring rite, an American holiday and a party excuse?

Was it money? Luck? Geography? Hype? A confluence of stupid choices by some men and smart ones by others? Was it destiny?

A heap of yesses and a maybe.

Mostly, though, it was a man with the improbably promising name of Winn, who rode in on a horse named Regret.

Read the whole thing.

Yes, We Have A Sense of Humor About the Derby

Oldest and most important horse race in the world, most exciting two minutes in sports, blah, blah, blah.

It's not really Derby season until the Running of the Rodents.

It took a little persuading, but once Burrhus Frederic decided to break from the starting gate, the gray and white rat circled the oval and finished first in the 38th annual Running of the Rodents, held Thursday at Spalding University.

“She likes small spaces, so we knew that our biggest barrier was getting her out of the starting gate,” said Lacy Ford, one of several graduate students from Spalding’s Applied Behavioral Analysis Student Organization who helped trained the rat.

Burrhus Frederick beat out seven other rats in the featured race — the Spalding Derby — a tradition at the university for nearly four decades.

“It started as a stress reliever for students and also as a science project, and it really caught on and it’s now kind of the unofficial start to the (Kentucky) Derby,” said Audrey Cecil, director of civic involvement.

The event pits teams of Spalding students, staff and faculty against one another to train their rats to race around a .024 furlong track. The races celebrate the end of the “rat race” of finals week and conclude a week of events, such as a cereal-eating contest and a “Rat Hat” contest.

This year's theme for race day was “HistoRATS” and featured historic competitors named Florence RATingale, RATicus Finch, Ginghis RAT and SocRATes, among others.

Before racing got under way, a parade with floats and decorated vehicles took place along Third and Fourth streets in downtown Louisville. The teams then walked to the Spalding University Center Building for the race.

Churchill Downs bugler Steve Buttleman played “My Old Kentucky Home” to kick off the races. He also played the signature call to post before each of the five races.

Read the whole thing.

Conway the Winner in Real Horserace

UPDATE Below



If you're looking for non-political signs that the U.S. Senate primary in Kentucky might defy the polls and produce the Conway-Grayson race everyone was predicting last summer, here it is.

Stately Victor, with 40-1 odds, and jockey Alan Garcia won Saturday's Grade I Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

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The winning payoff of $82.20 was the largest in Blue Grass Stakes history, exceeding the $72.80 for Dust Commander in 1970.

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The U.S. Senate Democratic primary isn't the only race involving Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, is co-owner of Stately Victor.

Stately Victor, who ran sixth in the Dixiana Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in the fall, is also owned by Conway's father, Thomas Conway. They named the horse after Jack Conway's best friend, Victor Perrone, who was killed in a car accident at age 23.

Winning the Blue Grass Stakes, especially at the longest winning odds in history, qualifies Stately Victor for the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

The primary election is May 18.

UPDATE: Eric Crawford has a terrific feature here.

That's not a hat; THIS is a HAT

Big story in Frankfort is that Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear has chosen her Derby Hat.

Stop laughing. This is Genuine Big News, and I'm going to tell you why. First, because it's going to be raffled off and the proceeds given to the Kentucky Breast Cancer Coalition.

But more importantly, because it is the Official Kentucky Derby Hat of the Kentucky First Lady.


The tradition of the Derby Hat is sacred in Kentucky. Every year on the first Saturday in May, at the Kentucky Derby, ladies - and if you're wearing a Derby Hat, you're a lady, regardless - compete to display the biggest, fanciest, most Derby-specific, most unusual, most sophisticated, mostest-of-the-mostest Derby Hat of them all. Real Kentucky ladies would not be caught dead at the Derby without a Derby Hat.

Derby Hats get the bulk of television coverage of the Derby, which on Louisville and Lexington television stations begins around 9 a.m. on Saturday and continues non-stop for more than 9 hours until after the two-minute race, which is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. and is always at least half an hour late.

But that's OK, because there are always more hats to be filmed, even if no horses can be found. The ratio of Derby Hats to Derby Horses is about 1,000 to one, both at Churchill Downs and on the television coverage.

This year, the recession is causing great consternation among Derby Hat aficionados, who fear that ladies may cut back on Derby Hat expenditures.

This article explains.

It's an AP story so the fuckers won't let me copy any of it, but I encourage you to click on it because it includes a Derby Hat slide show that is not to be missed. They range from sedate through splendiferous, past spectacular and well into un-fucking-believable.

Meanwhile, Page One Kentucky is keeping the Derby Hat tradition hot with a plea for Derby-goers to donate their hats for charity.

Are you important? Maybe an elected official? A celebrity of some sort here in the Bluegrass? Maybe you’re married to a celebrity/pseudo-celebrity or know one?

Then you should buy and/or design (it can be goofy, don’t worry) a hat for the Kentucky Derby and give it to us when you’re finished. Why?

Because we want to auction them off– on the internets– to benefit the Exploited Children’s Help Organization.

And no, nine days out this is not remotely close to the peak of Kentucky Derby craziness.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....