Sunday, November 17, 2013

How I fell in love with the Kentucky Derby

I'd love to tell you that I've been watching the Derby since I was 4 years old or my grandfather trained racehorses but quite honestly, my first memory of watching the Derby was in 2000.  I was at a friend's house in college (college was University of Missouri,  house was the legendary 1609) and someone turned it on.  We watched them sing My Old Kentucky Home and I loved seeing the hats and the celebrities. But I was a bit let down by the actual race- it really IS only two minutes long!  It was so cool watching the horses- I wanted it to last a little longer.
Fast forward to 2008, my aunt and uncle, who go to the Derby every year,  called and asked if my husband and I wanted to go with them. I like going to Fairmount Park, the dumpy little track near St. Louis and it seemed like a great opportunity so we did the math on what it would cost and agreed to go! I bought a dress and hat, Mark bought a seersucker suit and we were off to the races! Oh, we had a ball!  The people watching was outstanding!  I felt like a million bucks in my dress and hat! Mark was absolutely dashing in his seersucker! We didn't win any money (and spent a ton) but we had a blast. We were bitten by the Derby bug.
We went in 2009 to see Mine That Bird come from behind. We saw Animal Kingdom win in 2011. We witnessed I'll Have Another's victory in 2012. We braved the rain in 2013 to see Orb win the roses. We cannot wait to see who wins in 2014!
As for 2010, we had to take that year off to have a baby. He was due May 5th but since I have gigantic babies and he was to arrive via c-section, we got to choose his birthday. We went with April 29th so his birthday would never interfere with future Kentucky Derby trips. Two days after having a baby, I wrote down my bets and sent Mark across the river to an off track betting place. We don't mess around when it comes to the Kentucky Derby!

No comments:

Post a Comment