Probably the most famous thing about Kentucky is Churchill Downs in Louisville, home of the world famous Kentucky Derby horse race.  Today we visited the Kentucky Derby Museum and toured the Churchill Downs racetrack.

Entrance, with life-size bronze of Barbaro. He won the Kentucky Derby in 2006, and then shattered his leg two weeks later at Preakness. He died from his injuries and was cremated. His remains were interred in front of Churchill Downs so people could pay their respects without paying an entry fee.

No races were on, so we nearly had the place to ourselves.  The museum is neat … I especially liked their collection of wild hats.  It’s a Kentucky Derby tradition for ladies to wear outrageous hats, and every year a winner is selected to be displayed in the museum.  They even had the hat Queen Elizabeth wore when she attended a few years ago.

Our tour guide told us the tradition of dressing up for the Derby dated back to the very beginning, when the minimum bet on a race was $5.  That meant only the richest people could attend.  After nearly going bankrupt and a change in management, the new owner of Churchill Downs reduced the minimum bet to $2, which opened up horse racing to a whole new class of spectator.  The non-wealthy, though, associated horse racing with being rich and fancy, so they went to a great effort to dress up when they went.

We got to meet a great horse, Mine That Bird, the 2009 winner.  I’ve never seen a cleaner horse. He didn’t have a speck of dust on his coat, nor a spot of mud on his hooves.  In fact, he was wearing fancy hoof booties.  Then he yawned and we got a look at his sparkling white teeth.  Somebody has clearly been providing him with dental services.  He also had a very professional looking haircut on his mane and tail.

He’s retired now and a gelding, so the rest of his life he will be pampered and shown off to tourists.  (The best non-gelded winners get to become studs and earn more making babies than they did winning races.  Even as a gelding who only earned money racing, Mine That Bird earned over $2,250,000 in purses by the time he was 5 years old.)

The guide told us that in the earlier days of the Derby, it was usually the best horse that won.  They allowed up to 20 horses to run in the Derby, but a lot of them dropped out if they knew they couldn’t beat another horse, so the number of horses that actually ran was much fewer than 20.  Nowadays, horses aren’t withdrawn.  The Derby race always has 20 horses, which means that now the winner is the best jockey rather than the best horse.  The best horse has a much greater chance of getting stuck behind others in the pack due to lousy jockeying.  The best jockeys are able to maneuver well and get their horse into a good position.  (During normal races, they limit the number of horses to no more than 14 for this reason.)

The entry fee for a regular Joe to attend the Kentucky Derby is $60 for a spot in the infield, where if you are lucky you can possibly peek through the slats of a fence and maybe see a flash of horse race by.  However, they hold races three days a week at Churchill Downs — 11 races each day — and entry is only $3 for a great, front row seat and a full day’s worth of entertainment.  They create a festive atmosphere, serve hot dogs and beer, etc. and have things for kids to do, too.  The guide said it’s a popular family activity.

The next race day is Friday and we desperately wanted to attend, but Adam has to be in Oklahoma City for meetings on Friday.  We decided that next fall we can drive back up here to Louisville and spend a day at the races.  Adam’s meetings yesterday went really well, so he’ll have opportunities to come to Louisville for business quite a bit in the future.

The kids’ favorite part of the museum – a video game simulating the race. They needed to bounce up and down, quickly but in pace, to win.

Theatre with a 360 degree screen showing off the Derby history and majesty.

Paddock for the horses just before their races. The three stalls on the end are called the “schooling stalls” for horses new to Churchill Downs and the crowds it draws. They don’t race, but are able to acclimate themselves for future races.

The best seats are up top on “Millionaire’s Row.” The higher up your seat, the better you can see the entire track. A bird’s eye view is best.

The track is a meticulously managed bed of sand 14 inches deep.

Footnote:  As predicted, I’ve already had to confiscate 2 of the 3 mini baseball bats.  Holden smacked Isabella “accidentally” while he was “pretending” to hit her with it and was immediately forced to turn his bat over to me for the duration of the trip.  Within minutes, Isabella smacked him back. Even though he got in trouble, her sense of justice wasn’t satisfied and she needed to mete out her own punishment.  When I held my hand out and said, “Geez, Isabella, what did you think was going to happen?” she squared her jaw, looked me straight in the eye as she forked over her bat and said, “It was totally worth it.“