Kentucky Derby Today, May 4, 2019, 6:30ish

mso489 · May 4, 2019

This is a sad low point for horse racing with over 20 horse "breakdowns" (deaths) at Santa Anita in a few months and a decades-long general down trend in track attendance, so the Kentucky Derby is a festival with some dark clouds. In fact, the track will apparently be sloppy with rain, so the odds may be adjusted slightly toward the "mudders," horses that run well on a wet muddy track. Omaha Beach, which had been the favorite, scratched (withdrew from the race). You can get updates on odds on current horses online, of course. I'm a total zip-know-nothing on horse racing, but I like Roadster. For neophytes, remember, the horse professionals usually place their bets at the very last minute so as to skew the betting in their favor, so the odds you see aren't those in the final accounting. I hope to have a mint julep, or a bourbon anyway, but I'm not sure that will go with Day-Quil. Ask you wife to put on her craziest bonnet, or your husband to put on his derby, top hat, or other head gear, and see what happens. It's said the regulars are doing a lot of praying for the wellbeing of the horses these days. Any injuries or deaths on the track today would be felt as the judgment of heaven.

tbradsim1 · May 4, 2019

I like WIN,WIN,WIN, good odds.

acidpox · May 4, 2019

I'm from Kentucky and derby is basically a state wide holiday, anyone passing through or in Kentucky be safe on the roads there will be drunk drivers and lots of cops out today. So far I'm down about 75 bucks lol.

bnichols23 · May 4, 2019

Locals don't do Derby if they can get out of it. We lived 10 minutes from the Downs &never went. On th' 'lectrical teevy is better. Got it on down here in SC, naturally. Took a break to do a bowl in my new Winslow Crown. Great pipe; one of the best draws I've experienced. Rain off/on here too; from the look of the Louisville dky I agree with Tom. Probably going to be an early mudder's day.
Bill

ashdigger · May 4, 2019

Locals don't do Derby if they can get out of it

Probably like living in Vegas. I rarely go to the Strip or Downtown.

brian64 · May 4, 2019

Great day to reflect on Hunter Thompson's illuminating commentary on the Derby:

“The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved”
By Hunter S. Thompson

From Scanlan’s, June 1970
Excerpt:
Later Friday afternoon, we went out on the balcony of the press box and I tried to describe the difference between what we had seen today and what would be happening tomorrow. This was the first time I’d been to a Derby in 10 years, but before that, when I lived in Louisville, I used to go every year. Now, looking down from the press box, I pointed to the huge grassy meadow enclosed by the track. “That whole thing,” I said, “will be jammed with people; fifty thousand or so, and most of them staggering drunk. It’s a fantastic scene — thousands of people fainting, crying, copulating, trampling each other and fighting with broken whiskey bottles. We’ll have to spend some time out there, but it’s hard to move around, too many bodies.”
“Is it safe out there? Will we ever come back?”
“Sure,” I said. “We’ll just have to be careful not to step on anybody’s stomach and start a fight.” I shrugged. “Hell, this clubhouse scene right below us will be almost as bad as the infield. Thousands of raving, stumbling drunks, getting angrier and angrier as they lose more and more money. By midafternoon they’ll be guzzling mint juleps with both hands and vomiting on each other between races. The whole place will be jammed with bodies, shoulder to shoulder. It’s hard to move around. The aisles will be slick with vomit; people falling down and grabbing at your legs to keep from being stomped. Drunks pissing on themselves in the betting lines. Dropping handfuls of money and fighting to stoop over and pick it up.”
He looked so nervous that I laughed. “I’m just kidding,” I said. “Don’t worry. At the first hint of trouble I’ll start Macing everybody I can reach.”
http://grantland.com/features/looking-back-hunter-s-thompson-classic-story-kentucky-derby/

mso489 · May 4, 2019

The Derby finish was a little strange. The first horse across the finish line, Maximum Security, was disqualified for straying too far off the rail into other lanes in the stretch, and eventually after much reviewing of video, the stewards declared Country House the winner with 65-1 odds. Brad's Win-Win-Win came in 10th, and my Roadster 16th. Despite the officiated finish, it was a classic muddy track, wet and deep. All the horses walked away from the race, as did jockeys, so that made it a good day. Why anyone would put big money on a 65-1 horse, I don't know, but those who did will be buying some nice new vehicles or long vacations. As someone said before the steward decision was made, "If this was a weekday claiming race, the front-runner would be disqualified." And so he was.

ashdigger · May 4, 2019

Maximum Security, was disqualified for straying too far off the rail into other lanes

It's a safety issue. It was as originally raised by jockeys according to what I read.
One of the horses almost clipped hooves with Maximum Security and that could have led to an epic disaster.

kcghost · May 4, 2019

It was a real b.s. decision. Worthy of politically correct society.

acidpox · May 4, 2019

All said and done, I came out 15 dollars ahead on the day.

mso489 · May 4, 2019

I don't see a p.c. issue exactly, since the racing community, which is hardly made up of the starry-eyed, is the constituency that would have watched the videos repeatedly and raised holy hell. The public, like me, just assumes the first horse wins. It's the horse track pros who want it done to the letter. However, unless Country House goes on to win the Triple Crown, this will put another dent in next year's TV audience. People won't watch sports where they feel the result has to be adjudicated.

madox07 · May 5, 2019

I used to watch the races every year when I was in the states ... actually working in a gambling den when I was in college, horse betting was quite a thing whenever the Kentucky Derby came around each year. It's a pity it has fallen out of favor.

mikethompson · May 5, 2019

Funny Bill and I were just talking about The derby the other day. My claim to fame is that the company my dad works for supplies the turf covers for the track.

pappymac · May 5, 2019

The replay I watched on TV clearly showed Maximum Security moving off the rail and into another lane, so the right call was made. It would have been another travesty if the officials would have let the race stand.
As for living in the area of a big event and not going, I do that practically every year. I've live about 28 miles from New Orleans and today is the last day of Jazzfest - a big, eight day music festival spread over two weeks - and I've never been to one. In fact, I haven't been to a downtown New Orleans Mardi Gras parade in about 20 years.

mso489 · May 5, 2019

Funny about crowds; when you're young you feel you may find something of yourself in crowds, but after a certain age you realize you won't, and aren't drawn to them. About the Derby, I think they made the right call, but this is not a good time for a major race requiring reassessment. This will not boost the sport.

mso489 · May 5, 2019

As an afterthought, if you've never been to a horse track, I'd recommend it, while the sport still has some of its tradition and ceremony. The older tracks are often most impressive. I didn't even attend until i was in my sixties but was so lucky as to be courting my wife (how's that for old timey) who knew the track at Saratoga Springs "racing under the elms," which is among the most beautiful tracks in the country. There's a ritual and rhythm to the races. I'm afraid most of the urban tracks have gone to digitalized betting "windows," but some still have human bet takers. I made a second trip to Belmont, the track that runs the last race in the Triple Crown. Don't go broke. I'm enough of a kid, I could have been happy just seeing the animals in their glory. But it's an experience that may not be as available in years to come. Like the tobacco auctions I could have seen, that were everywhere in North Carolina, that are just about defunct. See it while you can, a piece of history. Harness racing is generally thought to be less authentically a race, so take that under advisement; at one point in history it was competitive and a major spectator event.

bnichols23 · May 6, 2019

“The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved”

Said like it's a bad thing..... }

I didn't have any skin in the game, so no axe to grind either way, & I openly admit up front that I don't have steward qualifications. I *have* seen a lot of races where there was much worse crowding on the last turn that could affect the result & that wasn't called. It comes with the sport. It *was* a little close, though. Even not being qualified, though, I do feel that which*ever* way the call went, if it takes 3 *experts* 25 minutes & repeated-repeat-repeat views to come to a conclusion, I'd say the odds of either call being wrong are pretty good. Just me, but the main thing I'm glad about is no injuries.

hoosierpipeguy · May 6, 2019

The rules are very clear and Maximum Security clearly violated the rules. And for no logical reason. He drifted out 3 or 4 lanes. It caused a chain reaction behind him that could have been catastrophic. It would have been an absolute travesty had the rules officials ignored it.

bnichols23 · May 7, 2019

Actually the objection was raised by the jockey, so not a question of the stewards ignoring it, & if it were really that clear-cut the stewards would've determined it instantly & not taken 20+ minutes on repeated views from repeated angles. I've seen much more egregious occurrences over a bunch of years (even actual deliberate hard fouls) that weren't sustained. MS's jockey probably thought he had enough clearance & let the horse have his head. With that kind of mud I agree it was risky, but obviously not too much so or there'd have been a Turn 1 NASCAR bang-up.
I understand MS's owner appealed to the racing commission, but I doubt he'll get anywhere with it, since the regs are that right or wrong, decision of the stewards is final & not subject to appeal. He can take it to the courts, but who knows whether he'd get any traction there. Me, as noted, though I've got a lot of years following the ponies, I didn't have anything at all on the race, so no preference as to a winner either way. One thing for sure -- the bookies surely didn't care much for a favorite like MD's odds going to 65-1 payouts. A lotttt of people lost a major chunk of coins on that one.

B

mso489 · May 7, 2019

I have a primitive attachment to the idea that the horse that gets to the finish line first wins, but the tape is pretty plain. The horse is, as the jockey said, a baby, and as it sprinted toward the finish it moved over to avoid a puddle and into the oncoming traffic, and a lot of nifty jockeying and quick reflexes by the horses kept it from being a pile of broken bones. It was a Derby, but it sure wasn't pretty, and it's not bringing back many horse race newcomers and casual TV viewers for another look next year. People watch a race, not a race followed by a frantic discussion in the basement by a group of middle aged officials.

Kentucky Derby Today, May 4, 2019, 6:30ish

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