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Todd n Tyler

Bickham heads to the Kentucky Derby

Bickham heads to the Kentucky Derby

Bickham heads to the Kentucky Derby

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Oh, the Kentucky Derby. I made my second consecutive trip to Churchill Downs this year to watch the annual Run For The Roses. If you haven’t been before… add it to your list. Whether you like watching the ponies run or not, it’s a great time.

Both trips I have made to Churchill… History has been made (and I’m not just talking the history of adding another horse’s name to the winner list). Last year for my first trip they got a RECORD amount of rainfall. I think it was something like 3.1 inches throughout the day. Most will tell you to expect rain at some point on Derby Day… but that trip it rained the ENTIRE day. On top of that (as hard as this is to believe), it was the first year that rain was falling at the start of the actual race. How’s that for a history making trip? Well, not so fast!

This year for the first ever time, the horse that was the first to cross the finish line was disqualified and taken down from the top spot and pushed all the way down to 17th. There are a ton of different opinions on whether or not the correct decision was made. My own opinion is there was no intent on the jockey’s part to interfere, so a total disqualification seems a bit drastic. Then again… when a car accident occurs, no driver usually has the intent of creating an accident, but whoever is at fault still has to deal with the consequences. Take a look at NBC Sports explanation below and you can form your own opinion, but even they say Maximum Security (the disqualified horse) was the best horse on the track that day. By the way… the owners of Maximum Security? Gary and Mary West… from Omaha (though they live in California now).

One other fun Omaha tidbit from my Derby trip. The hat I wore last year to the rain soaked derby was obviously pretty water logged after that trip. Expecting rain again this year I brought it (along with a couple others) for this trip. I wore it Thursday evening when we hit a Louisville bar called The Third Street Dive. A gentleman who was going to the Derby Saturday and didn’t have a hat said he wanted to make me an offer for it. We started the bidding, and I eventually sold it to him (probably for less than I should have… but… you know… booze and all clouds your judgement). That gentleman? Also from the Omaha area. Small world!

 

-Bickham

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