Derby Day 2012!

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Yesterday marked the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.  A nice gathering of people assembled at Bourbon Steak for the big race and it filled up even more as we got closer to post time.  Everyone dressed their Derby best and there were some really impressive hats worn by the ladies, keeping with tradition that dates back to the 1800s.  I think I can safely say that everyone had a great time.

The Mint Julep in all it's glory

The mint juleps prepared by the bar staff were cool and refreshing and they tasted great!  This year they even stepped up their game and got some legit julep cups, courtesy of Woodford Reserve.  At $5 it was an easy decision to enjoy one if you hadn't tried them before.  It also made it an easy decision to enjoy 10 if you had tried them before.  Fried green tomatoes and buffalo oysters were passed around and those were good as well.

The Derby Day trophy and prize for best hat

Earlier in the day, I had gotten my arts n crafts on and created some prizes for the person with the winning horse and for best hat (the trophy box wrapped in tinfoil contained a stainless steel Churchill Downs julep cup) The numbers 1 through 20 were distributed to the first 20 people who showed and that was their corresponding horse in the race.  The horses went to post and a few minutes later it was all over.  In the end, it was the #19 horse, I'll Have Another (10:1 odds), that crossed the finish line first and won the Kentucky Derby.  It was the first time in Derby history that a horse starting from the #19 post won the race.

Winner of the race prize with #19 I'll Have Another

Winner for Best Hat

My horse was the #5 Dullahann who finished 3rd.  I also had an exacta and trifecta bet going but the winner busted both of those since I didn't have him on either ticket.  It's kind of inexcusable not to have a horse named "I'll Have Another" on my ticket.  The payout on a $2 trifecta was $3065.60.  That woulda been nice!

A big thanks to GM John Riccardo and all of the staff at Bourbon Steak for being the host bar for the Kentucky Derby for the past two years.  I'm looking forward to doing it again next year...if I'm not at the Derby in person!!