Derby Weather a Factor

It’s time for the most exciting 2 minutes in sports as the eyes of the world gaze upon Louisville. Forgive me if I sound sentimental, but Derby Day is the one day a year we can all boast we are Kentuckians!

After a nearly perfect day for the Pegasus Parade on Thursday when the “sun shone brightly on my old Kentucky Home”, the weather for the Kentucky Oaks and the card at Churchill Downs (C.D.) on Friday turned nasty. An inch of rain soaked the Downs and made for a muddy track as showers and thunderstorms rumbled thru the Lower Ohio Valley.

More showers are a sure bet overnight and thru the first half of Saturday, so the morning warm-up jaunt around the track for Derby favorite Big Brown and pole sitter Cool Coal Man will be a muddy one.

Since those overnight and early Saturday showers will be exiting Louisville for our region before noon, it looks like much of the afternoon 11 race card will be rain free. Given that C.D. has a state of the art subterranean drying system, it appears likely the track will be fast by the 6:05 post time.

Still, I believe another round of showers will be close by to C.D. late tomorrow afternoon so if you are heading to the Derby and will be on the infield (where I hear the partying is bizarre and the sights unbelievable), it is possible it will rain again before the end of the day’s festivities.

Morning temperatures will start in the 60s(in the rain) and stay there as gusty winds follow the morning showers and add a cool feel to the air by post time. That's when the NBC cameras will spotlight the sun playing a game of peek-a-boo behind passing clouds in between the twin spiers. Said a more shic way, the ladies will flaunt their prize headgear and the trumpeter will call the horses to the post with a pretty sky overhead.

So have a Mint Julep on me and if you are looking for a horse besides the favorite to bet on, ‘Z Fortune’ has a name worth considering and is my long shot pick for to wear the garland of roses at the 134th Kentucky Derby!

P.S. Fond farewell to Kimmie Burcham, our Webmaster, who made all my blogs look better for the last year!