. . . with Joe & Elaine as they travel the USA and the World.
Weather: perfect – 70’s, sunny, low humidity
Camaraderie: Wonderful with lots of friends
Gambling: The Oaks/Derby Futility Saga continues. I am now 0 for 52 races on Oaks and Derby Day for 2013 and 2014. We were close several times, losing photos in the last step. Time to quit?
Here are some pictures:
Weather beautiful in the morning, but cloudy and very cool in the afternoon. No rain. Our new Oaks/Derby parking spot was excellent.
A great time was had in the box (which was Derby Central). Coors Light was flowing liberally.
Gambling-wise? Another disaster.
Last year: 0 for 12 on Oaks Day.
This year: 0 for 12 Oaks Day.
BLAH!
We had dinner at Carrabba’s and hit the sack early.
Thursday was a nice day. Mostly sunny but very cool and windy. Looks kike Oaks Day will be rain free but chilly. Derby Day looks perfect.
One winner Thursday in seven bets, but it paid $18.00, so a winning day.
Dinner was at DelFriscos, a Louisville institution that now seems well past its prime. steak was good. Service was atrocious. Good to spend time with Lee and John Lutes.
Had a good night’s sleep and now ready for Oaks Day!
The flight from Phoenix to Indianapolis was uneventful and on-time. We picked up our rental car and headed for Louisville in the RAIN! Does it always rain here? But it was mostly drizzle and had stopped by nightfall. Actually the forecast for the next four days is amazingly good with just a 10% chance of rain. That’ll work!
We got to Louisville and headed straight for Shenanigan’s Irish Grille for some food. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast at Zinc Bistro at the airport in Phoenix. What a nice addition that is to the airport culinary scene! At Shenanigan’s we met up with good friend Eddie, the owner. He sat and ate with us as we enjoyed delicious burgers. Then, well fed and very tired, we proceeded to the Springhill Suites for a good night’s rest.
Wednesday morning we had to head to Eddie’s house so I could pick up my cell phone that I had left on the table at dinner. (Yes, brain dead!) We spent a few minutes with Eddie and Dee and then headed for Churchill Downs. We sat outside, mostly in the sun, and enjoyed the weather and three winners to make the first day at the track a winning one.
Back to the hotel for a shower and clean up, and then we walked to the nearby Limestone Restaurant where we were meeting Eddie and Dee as well as Brooke and Judy for dinner. Brooke is a former WHAS-TV reporter, now a drug rep for Glaxo, while Judy is someone I worked with at New England Life was back in the mid seventies. She has been in Louisville for a long time. Dinner was magnificent. The drinks and wine flowed, and a good time was had by all.
Two weeks from Tuesday on April 29th we will leave for our annual Kentucky Derby adventure. We will fly from Phoenix to Indianapolis on Southwest Airlines. “Why Indianapolis?”, you ask. Well, 1) Louisville Airport is a madhouse during Derby week; 2) Southwest’s non-stops to Louisville are at inconvenient times (e.g., leaving Louisville at 7 AM Sunday morning is tough after a long Derby Saturday); 3) It costs way less to fly to either Nashville or Indianapolis. We have used Nashville in the past, but the non-stops to Indianapolis are at very convenient times and Indianapolis is even closer (an hour and forty-five minute drive) to Louisville than Nashville (three hour drive).
We will once again be staying at the Marriott Springhill Suites on Hurstbourne Parkway. It’s very nice. We’ll drive in Tuesday late afternoon after landing at Indianapolis. Tuesday night is free (Carrabba’s?). Wednesday night we are having dinner with our friends Eddie and Dee (who own Shenanigan’s Irish Grille), Brooke (originally from Winthrop, MA, now a drug rep for Glaxo Smith Klein, and formerly a reporter at WHAS-TV who interviewed me four or five years running on live TV at the Derby), and Judy (an old friend who I worked with at New England Life in Boston in the early 1970’s before she moved to Louisville). By tradition dinner will be at Limestone, conveniently located just a few steps from the hotel – no drinking and driving!
Thursday night we will have dinner with John and Lee, dear friends met many many years ago at Churchill Downs. Last year we had dinner with them at Ruth Chris at a table between Wayne Lukas and his party on one side and Todd Pletcher and his party on the other. (Racing fans will know who they are.) This year we will be meeting them at Del Frisco’s Steak House, a Louisville institution to which I have never been. (It’s NOT part of the well known Del Frisco’s Grille and Double Eagle Steak House chain.) I doubt that Wayne and Todd will be bracketing us this year.
Friday is Kentucky Oaks day, in Louisville as big an event (almost) as the Derby. Schools are closed in the county on Oaks Day. And Saturday is Derby Day. Both days we will be at the track at 9 AM – first post at 10 AM. We will not get out of the track until after 6 PM, well worn out. Dinner will be just the two of us somewhere quiet.
Handicapping the Derby is the most daunting task in horse racing. Picking the winner from twenty horses running a mile and a quarter for the first time in their young lives is incredibly difficult. Overall I’ve done very well at it. Last year, not so much. I didn’t have the Derby winner. In fact I didn’t have a single winner in three days of racing at Churchill Downs. 0 for 34. This year can’t help but be better. Over the years I have done remarkably well on the Derby although it seems I was better before the new millennium started in 2000.. My winners include:
So who will win in 2014? I’m strongly leaning toward a repeat of 1981 when Wood Memorial winner Pleasant Colony won for me. This year Wicked Strong won the Wood. He’s a good story for Boston fans. Read about it here. He’s a solid closer in a field that will be loaded with speed. And he should be a decent price. He’s my early pick.
After the big day we may meet Judy again for brunch on Sunday before driving back to Indianapolis for a late afternoon flight back to PHX.