Final Turn : churchill downs

Storm Song - By Linda Dougherty

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:41:00 GMT

Aug. 4 started out innocently enough, as my two daughters and I planned to drive to Churchill Downs to see the Kentucky Derby Museum, part of our week-long vacation in the Bluegrass.

It turned out to be an adventure that could have been featured as an episode on the Weather Channel’s Storm Stories, and will no doubt be vividly remembered by all three of us for years to come.

As we got in the car to drive from our Lexington hotel to Louisville, Ky., about 7 a.m., I looked up at an overcast sky and asked my older daughter, Kaitlyn, what the television forecast was.

“They said to bring your umbrella,” she said.

That turned out to be the understatement of the year. About halfway to the Derby City on I-64, a light rain began falling. Suddenly, the skies turned from gray to nearly black, illuminated by jagged bolts of lightning striking around us. As the rain’s intensity increased, it became more difficult to see the road and the cars in front of us.

After we finally reached Louisville at 9 a.m., pea-sized hail pelted the windshield. Cars were pulling off to the side of the road, but I was so close to Churchill I decided to keep moving. Turning onto Central Avenue, I passed through some large puddles, but never did I imagine they were just the precursor of the flood to come.

Once in the Derby Museum’s parking lot, I told Katie and my younger daughter, Devon, that we were going to sit and wait until the rain subsided before we dashed inside. But about 9:30, I noticed that cars attempting to navigate Central Avenue were getting stuck in high water, and the water was quickly rising to where we were parked.

“I’m moving to higher ground,” I said, and started to drive back toward Gate 17. As the water sloshed up on the hood of my car, I thought maybe I had waited too long. The covered entranceway in front of Gate 17 was completely underwater, so I steered past and found an elevated spot in the next lot.

With cars and trucks unable to get through the rising tide at both ends of the parking area, and the torrential rain continuing, we decided to make a run for the building. We sloshed through shin-deep water; drenched and inside Gate 17, a Churchill Downs employee informed us the roads surrounding the track were flooded and barricaded by Louisville police.

As my daughters had never been to Churchill before, we wandered into the grandstand and saw an amazing sight—the entire main track had been transformed into a raging red river, complete with a current that flowed clockwise. The water was halfway up the inner rail; the turf course was also partially underwater. The water had risen past the first two rows of seats. Down at the betting windows near the Gate 17 entrance, water seeped into the grandstand, and the paddock was submerged.

Linda Dougherty Photo

Soon after, we met a security guard named Laurie whose own car was flooded in the parking lot. She escorted us to the employee cafeteria, where we met a stranded taxi driver and watched TVG. Laurie later returned and said management wanted us, and about 15 patrons left in the Derby Museum, to stay in the jockeys’ room, where they planned to serve us lunch.

To my daughters’ delight, Laurie led us through the old catacombs of the Churchill grandstand, past the management offices, and up into the jocks' room. There, she brought the sodden museum patrons dry clothes (Derby 135 shirts!) and blankets, and put our wet socks and shoes in a dryer. Within minutes, a large group of Churchill employees—including members of management, office staff, and maintenance workers—set up tables and brought in enough food and soda to feed an army, an amazing display of teamwork and cooperation. Hours later, when several streets reopened, a police officer led us back to Taylor Boulevard.

It goes without saying that those Churchill employees treated us like royalty in the face of very difficult circumstances. While my daughters never got to visit the Derby Museum, they did get to see a part of the historic facility few people are privy to and no doubt learned an important lesson about the importance of compassion—and extraordinary customer service.

Linda Dougherty is a Blood-Horse correspondent who lives in Philadelphia, Pa.

Decadent Derby - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:09:00 GMT

(Originally published in the May 2, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)

One of Louisville’s favorite sons, the legendary (and late) Hunter S. Thompson, added his own flair to the art of news reporting and journalism in the 1970s with his “Gonzo” brand of writing. His books, essays, and columns continue to be must reading for those of us of a certain vintage.

One of his first major published pieces was a magazine article titled “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved,” a first-person narrative that chronicles his alcohol-soaked exploits in and around Churchill Downs at the 1970 Run for the Roses. And after 39 years, the story holds up remarkably well.

Thompson’s wild and wooly weekend in Louisville, full of fear and loathing and liberal doses of the “management’s Scotch,” is a rollicking tale not of the race, but of the event.

“And unlike most of the others in the press box, we didn’t give a hoot in hell what was happening on the track. We had come there to watch the real beasts perform.”

Thompson could capture the pop culture of his day in a paragraph. He was at his best when he was able to take a caricature of a stereotype and gallop it out another eighth of a mile past the finish.

While the actual results of the race are whittled down to a paragraph near the end of the piece, Thompson does note that jockey Diane Crump was about to make history as the first female rider to make the Derby field.

Churchill Downs and the Derby have come a long way since then.

The article, while once likely a sore spot for many top-level managers at Churchill Downs, now has a new home, proudly displayed on the kentuckyderby.com Web site. Shocking.

Marketing, branding, and corporate sponsorships have taken a lot of the individuality out of not only the Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, but all major sporting events in this country, from college football bowl games, to the World Series, to events like the Indy 500 and New York City Marathon.

“The grim reaper comes early in this league…” Thompson’s words carry an even heavier air in this era. While Thompson swilled a “double Old Fitz on ice” in 1970, today Woodford Reserve is a corporate and race sponsor.

To stay current with the times, selling major sporting events requires something edgier. The pomp, pageantry, and color of Thoroughbred racing isn’t going to bring people to the track these days.

Today’s Churchill Downs and Derby has been positioned a lot differently. Not only can you go to the infield and have a good time, you can hang with Churchill Downs’ “Chief Party Officer.”

We’ll likely catch up with Churchill’s second CPO, Nick “Rinickulous” Ferrara, during some backstretch hijinks during Derby week, but it’s doubtful he, or last year’s representative, Tim “Stymie” Snyder, could sprint the first six furlongs with Thompson.

Readers of The Blood-Horse are the insiders to this greatest of games played outdoors. At some point this week, we need to take a moment or two and step back and accept the Derby for what it is to the general public: a rite of spring; a long week’s party that just happens to have a two-minute Thoroughbred race at the end of it. Most patrons today would think My Morning Jacket is the best rock band to come out of the Derby city, not something they left at home on their way to watch the workouts.

We’ve been witness to a few things over the last decade in Louisville. During Derby week, we’ve chatted with all walks of life from grade I winner Penny Chenery to bottom-level claimer O.J. Simpson. We’ve marveled at the regal Barbaro, been smitten by the pint-sized Smarty Jones, and been stunned by longshots like Charismatic and Giacomo. We’ve seen thousand-dollar Mint Juleps (and talked with those who drank them), giant inflatable Juleps, and colleagues beaned with a full bottle of Budweiser in the parking lot nearing the end of what had to be a two-day bender for a group of guys in an RV.

Decadent and depraved? You bet.

And just like the final line of Where the Buffalo Roam, a film based on Thompson’s life starring Bill Murray, “It never got weird enough for me.”

Well…ask us again May 3.

Telling Time - by Evan Hammonds

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:38:00 GMT

It’s amazing that six weeks can go by so quickly, yet also seem like an eternity.

Was it just last month, or was it last year when we saw Big Brown bound past us on the Churchill Downs backstretch during a chilly morning in Louisville? Was it just a few weeks ago, or was it a couple of months ago that we witnessed a coronation off the Northern Parkway in Baltimore? We’re certain about June 7 on Long Island, witnessing the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) in sticky, steamy Elmont, N.Y.

This year’s Triple Crown run had more twists than a New York pretzel, and was twice as salty.

When looking back over the ’08 run by Big Brown, here’s hoping the industry will have moved forward on a couple of horse health-related issues.

First, with the tragic breakdown of Eight Belles following her dazzling runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), industry leaders must not lose sight of the need to take steps to make our sport safer for its participants. Just as the breeding industry came together back in the spring of 2001 to unravel the mysteries of mare reproductive loss syndrome, the key is communication. We must share all information, good and bad, for the betterment of the sport. The newly formed Thoroughbred Safety Committee is a good start. So, too, are the conversations and research that must continue regarding synthetic track surfaces.

The issue of steroids in racehorses must be addressed, promptly, and on a national level. I can imagine few in the game who would like to see more trainers and owners interviewed on national television discussing the pros and cons of Winstrol.

Big Brown’s disappointing run in the Belmont, for the umpteenth time giving fans a handful of feathers instead of a Triple Crown winner, teaches us just how special it is to win the Triple Crown. We don’t want to hear any talk about changing the span between races. It’s supposed to be hard to win it.

While the five weeks puts three demanding races very close together, the three weeks between the Preakness (gr. I) and Belmont can slow to a crawl. As this season’s Belmont approached, and with Big Brown’s quarter crack getting better ratings than “American Idol,” one could almost watch the bloom come off the rose of Team Brown at Barn 2 at Belmont.

The finale was the colt’s five-furlong work June 3, a minute flat, followed by a six-furlong gallop out in 1:14 2⁄5. The drill left more than a few raised eyebrows. A 14-second eighth before the Belmont? Galloping out?

Secretariat wouldn’t have done that. Big Red worked a mile in 1:34 4⁄5, then blew out a half-mile the Wednesday before the Belmont in :46 3⁄5.<->Seattle Slew worked six furlongs in 1:11 3⁄5 the Tuesday before his Belmont, and blew out three furlongs in :35 4⁄5 the morning of the race.

Big Brown, in front of a curious crowd the morning of June 6, galloped slooowly around the Belmont Park oval and then headed back to the barn. It was at that point it became questionable as to how much juice was left in the lemon. We found out the next day.
A reflective Kent Desormeaux, who 10 years ago had come within the shadow of the wire of winning the Triple Crown with Real Quiet, addressed the media following Big Brown’s defeat.

“For him it was a slow pace,” he said. “When I got outside going into the first turn, I said, ‘That’s it; the race is over.’ ”

He, like the rest of us, was confident.

“Then, when I asked him to engage, I was done. I had no horse. Fortunately, there are no popped tires; he’s just out of gas.”
He then paid the Triple Crown phenomenon quite a compliment.

“The end result is I can’t fathom what kind of freaks those 11 Triple Crown winners were,” the Hall of Fame jockey said. “It’s unfathomable to me. I won the Derby with some pressure, I won the Preakness in an armchair ride, and for whatever reason he wasn’t resilient enough today. This is unknown to me because he’s supposed to be a mile-and-a-half-horse; he’s supposed to be a distance horse.
“With that being said, these occasions for me have only made me realize how awesome those horses were.”
That’s why we’ll be back next spring.