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Saturday, May 3, 2008

Louisville Impressions - Part 12




Last night there was a spectacular sunset. This came on the heels of an afternoon of downpours and the running of the Oaks on a very muddy track.

During the night it poured again, around 4:30 AM. Fortunately it stopped before sunrise.
Today was Derby Day. The city was like a ghost town. Almost everything was closed after 2:00 PM. Did find one coffee shop open on Market St., stopped in for an iced tea.

I was home in time to watch the Derby from the time the jockeys mounted through the end of the race. My pick, Denis of Cork, came in third – not bad at all. The winner was Big Brown, one of the favorites. I guess it is rare for a horse that starts in the 20th gate to win, but this is exactly what happened. His trainer or owner, in fact, picked that gate on purpose so he wouldn’t be tangled up in the mess on the inside of the track.

The very sad news was that the second place horse, the only filly – Eight Belles – fell just after the end of the race. They determined she had 2 broken ankles, so had to put her down. This was just the most shocking news. It’s just such accidents as this that make me think about whether we should allow racing of any animals for our entertainment; I’m not sure this is what the universe intended.

Bob Neumeyer(sp), a.k.a. Neumy, was interviewing jockeys and owners after the race – seemed strange to see this Boston sports guy here on TV in Louisville. Wasn’t he on WBZ? You Bostonians please feel free to comment.

So the city will be back to normal tomorrow, now that all the Derby Festival events are over.

Peace to all, Judi

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I heard about the horse and was so very sad about it. I agree that using animals for our own benefit of entertainment is just not right. It is like we put them in the shackles you talked about in your last post. I do not openly speak against it or anything but I really never watch animal racing (horse, dog, etc). I hope that little horsey spirit is smiling now :)

Maine-y-ac said...

Neumy is still a Boston Sports Reporter, but does national telecasts for horse racing. I do believe it's WBZ.