Derby Weekend - Part 1

Last weekend was the 132nd running of the Kentucky Derby. It is the fifth one in a row I've been to. As the weekend wrapped up, Brad, Tim and I realized that we'd all be writing basically the same thing on our blogs since we spent the whole weekend together. Thus an idea was born to share the story telling. What follows is three parts of the weekend, told from three view points, on three different blogs.

Tim and Brad are both from New Albany, Indiana which is right across the border from Louisville. It's great because it gives me a free place to stay for the derby and for gambling at Caesar's casino. Friday night we all went to the bar down the road called SportsTime. We drank some beer and spent some time handicapping the races.

Here I'm tallying up all the losing bets I'm going to make the next day. Brad shows his serious side.


Tim and his lovely wife Melissa.


We didn't stay out too late because we had to get up early so our plan for getting into the derby would work. In the past, Brad worked on the backside of the track at the only restaurant. He still knew all the people there so he was able to get our names put on a list. He also was able to have some cases of beer taken in the night before so we wouldn't have to pay exorbitant event prices. On our way to the gate we talked about what we were going to say to the security people. I was thinking we were going to act like we were working at the restaurant, but then what if they asked me questions about it. I was a little worried.

We first tried to enter gate 5, but security told us it was for cars only. We went on to gate 6. It was wide open. There were two guys in camo off to the side having a conversation. All four of us just walked in like we were headed somewhere important. They apparently don't go on duty at gate 6 until 11am. Thank you Department of Homeland Security.

Our first priority was to find the best place to sit for the races. For starters we staked out a nice place on the bleachers. But right up on the track was a box seating area. Tim ventured down and staked his claim. He found some folding chairs in the box. They were a little beat up. There was dirt on the seats and the bottoms were ripped out, yet Tim bragged that they were an amazing find at the derby. He claimed that later in the day he'd be laughing at us because he'd have a seat and we'd be standing. Tim convinced me to carry one of the chairs around even after his leaked yellow water on him that Brad called "horse piss" (we were walking by the stables at the time).

Eventually we made our way to the patio outside the restaurant. It was a good thing we carried those folding chairs because there was only a restaurant full of nice padded ones. :)

Matt, Brad, Tim and Me on the patio.


The patio ended up being a pretty nice place to hang out...

For the rest of this sentence and part 2 of "Derby Weekend" click on the link.