Horses and Mint Juleps

Ok... so maybe I didn't have a mint julep, but we did see lots of horses!

We've had several visitors since living here in horse country, USA - Louisville, KY. And the one place everyone has to go of course (other than Louisville Slugger Field) is Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. It's crazy... Matt got me into horse racing while we were still dating when my heart was stolen and then broken by my love, Barbaro. I'm sure you've heard of him, if not, we need to talk...

Anyway, so Daddy and Marie came for a little visit back at the end of June - yeah, yeah, I'm behind in my blogging - and we had a blast watching the horses and placing our well educated bets!

Daddy and Matt were all kinds of serious placing their bets. The looked and number of wins, history on dirt tracks, history on turf, jockey wins and losses, etc. Marie and I? Wow... that one sure is pretty! I would like $2 on him, please...


And, let me just sidetrack here a minute and say, doesn't my husband look handsome in his "Churchill Downs" outfit? Matt was very proud of himself for putting this together. And I was proud of him as well... he was coordinated from the white scally (hat) I bought him in Savannah, to the plaid shorts, to the Ralph Lauren shoes! Niiice... :-)


Anyway, I can definitely see how this can become an addition to people! It's so much fun - especially when you win! We went in agreeing to place $2 bets only. But I can tell you, we did see a few people who were pretty darn upset over some loses. I think they probably put more then $2 down on their bets. We heard some pretty interesting words...






Anywho... like I mentioned before, I picked the pretty horses.... and sometimes it actually worked out for me! Here is a picture of my first win ever at Churchill Downs.... and then getting my $4.80 win money! Too bad she didn't have change and I had to pay her 20 cents so she could give me a 5?!


So we definitely had a fun, hot day at the race track. Next step is to actually learn what the odds mean!!


Oh - and here's a fun little pic from our first visit to Churchill Down a couple months ago... just thought you might find it interesting. We took a little tour of Churchill Downs when Matt's family came down. When we were down by the track, I was on the lookout to let Matt know when the tour guide's back was turned... I emptied out an Aleve bottle I had in my purse and Matt took just a small little sample of dirt from the track. So we have Derby Dirt! Kinda cool now that there's talk of changing to synthetic since Eight Belles had to be put down after the Derby this year... but let's not talk about that... too emotional.

So if you're interested in a fun day at the track, give me and Matt a shout... we'll go with you!