LOUISVILLE, Ky. – I came here over the weekend for a little horse race they hold every year. It was a bucket list trip that I've been hoping to take for more than 40 years.
We dressed up. We drank mint juleps. We bet on the horses. We lost (most of) our money.
In fact, one of the things I learned during my day at Churchill Downs was I'm far better at drinking mint juleps than I am betting on the horses. I did win a few bets, but I walked away a bigger loser than a winner. But I had fun, and that's what matters, right?
The Kentucky Derby has truly been a dream destination for me. My grandmother went a couple of times when I was in high school, and we often talked about her trips. We decided that we'd go to the Derby – just the two of us – the year after I graduated from high school. She even commemorated the pledge by giving me a set of four sterling silver mint julep cups for my high school graduation. (I'm old. The drinking age was 18 back in the day.)
Unfortunately, we never made it. She was diagnosed with throat cancer several weeks after my high school graduation.
That doesn't mean my grandmother and I don't still have a Kentucky Derby connection. Usually on Derby Day, I have three or four friends come over to watch the race, and I toast my grandmother on the first julep of the day.
This year's trip was a spur-of-the-moment fluke. A buddy in Asheville, North Carolina, had one of his suppliers offer him free tickets to the infield at Churchill Downs. He called and asked if I wanted to go. Of course, I did.
Fortunately, thanks to limited capacity at Churchill Downs, there were still hotel rooms available in Louisville. We passed up the $1,000-a-night room at the Hotel Distil for a $149-a-night room at the Louisville Marriott.
We came up on Thursday so we could spend Friday touring distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. And we found a nice steakhouse for dinner on Friday night.
We were at Churchill Downs an hour before the gates opened so we could walk around the get the lay of the land. A lot of folks don't know this, but there are 14 races on Derby Day. The Kentucky Derby is the 12th race of the day.
The first race of the day was at 10:30 a.m., about the time we had our first Mint Julep. In this regard, a day at Churchill Downs is a lot like a day of tailgating in Athens, except I was dressed much nicer than I am when I go to a football game.
I bet a couple of bucks on five or six of the 11 races before the races, and I won a couple of those bets, not enough to retire, but plenty for another mint julep or a burger.
I had decided to bet $100 on the Derby, and I spread that across several different bets. I won back a small part of my money. To be honest, it wasn't the worst way I've blown a hundred bucks in my life. But I understand now when people say, "Don't bet on the ponies."
It was a dream come true. I'm glad I was able to make it work. And I can't wait to go back.
I just wish my grandmother could have been there.
