The Run for the Roses (Part I).....

If it feels like my entries have been sports heavy as of late, it’s not a coincidence. The seven-week corridor from mid-March (the start of the NCAA tournament) to the first Saturday in May (the KY Derby) is my favorite stretch of the sporting year. Sandwiched in between those two marquee events are The Masters & the start of the baseball season - when even Cubs’ fans can feign optimism.

Life springs eternal.

Amidst this annual passageway, one moment stands apart. A zenith that brings me chills time and time again. That moment occurs on the first Saturday of May when twenty horses walk onto the track for the Kentucky Derby, and 150,000 fans stand in unison as the Louisville Marching Band strikes up, My Old Kentucky Home.

If you’ve ever been a resident of Kentucky, had ties to the Bluegrass state, or longed to own a t-shirt that says, “Gettin’ Lucky in Kentucky,” this is your moment in the sun.

For me the song’s significance is a literal one: I lived in Louisville until I was ten years-old, before moving just across the river to Floyds Knobs, IN (hence the Chowder). Churchill Downs has always been an unofficial tertiary home.

Normally, I’m a couple mint juleps in by the time the horses arrive for My Old Kentucky Home (recipe for the julep: ice, sugar, sprigs of mint, water, Early Times KY bourbon -- heavy on the ET). Believe me when I tell you that a little Kentucky bourbon adds to the moment’s grandeur.

As Stephen Foster’s composition flows from the band, a sea of flower dresses on southern belles will rise in unison; party-goers in the infield will take a moment’s pause from the debauchery of the day; and the most athletic three year-old horses in the world will take one last gallop in preparation for the greatest two minutes in sports.

If I could allow myself to be encapsulated in a place and time, this would be it.

The Derby has come along way since 1875. Artisides won that inaugural affair. Since then the tradition has been renewed every year on the first Saturday in May. The horses have gone to the post in the face of weather and war, depression and floods. Not once in 132 years has there been a spring without a Derby.

Ancient names like Cannonade and Sir Barton, Gallant Fox and Whirlaway: all victorious on racing’s greatest stage.

Three fillies have been first to the wire: Regret, Genuine Risk, and Winning Colors. The last of which, Winning Colors, bested the boys in 1988 -- leading every step of the way.

It’s amazing how often champions come in pairs. Who is Navritalova without Evert, Nicklaus without Palmer, Ali without Frazier? Stardom means raising the bar and triumphing over illustrious competitors, not merely one or the other.

So it is with horse racing as well.

Storied rivalries like Swaps and Nashua, Secretariat and Sham, Affirmed and Alydar (with their mythical Belmont duel), and most recently Sunday Silence and Easy Goer – all part of the Triple Crown’s lore.

For my money I’ll take Sunday Silence, forever the underdog (also earns brownie points for racing after 1985). Easy Goer had the pedigree and the talent, but Sunday Silence outranked him in heart. Their Breeder’s Cup Classic will be etched in racing's memory forever: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cKR3_shx7p4). Anecdotally, on a scale of 1 to 10, I’m giving NBC announcer Tom Durkin a 14 for his call of that race. Do yourself a favor: click on that link.

These legendary thoroughbreds will always be linked to the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs. Still, above all else, I think it's the people – and their fairytale relationships with these champions – which make the Derby so alluring and unique.

The Derby is about Penny Tweedy and her love affair with Secretariat, a horse she & her husband won via a coin flip before the champion colt was ever born: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretariat).

The Derby is about Pat Day, Churchill Downs all-time leading jockey, and his 1992 Derby mount Little E. Tee. Day was 0-for-10 in the Derby coming into 1992, and Little E. Tee was an unknown longshot at odds of 18-1. Together they roared home in front to the delight of the hometown crowd -- easily defeating the heralded two year-old champion Arazi.

The Derby is about ten partners from Sackets Harbor, New York (population 1,386) who pooled $5,000 each to start a horse racing stable and ended up with a nobody horse turned Derby champion, named Funny Cide.

Finally, the Derby is about Frances Genter who brought her first horse to the Derby seventeen years ago at the ripe age of 90. Genter had been in horse racing for years, but was never close to having a Derby entrant. Unbridled was her first and only shot.

Mrs. Genter was frail and could barely hear when she made it to Churchill Downs on that Derby day. Unbridled’s trainer, Carl Nafzger, stood next to Genter and called the race for her. ABC wisely put a microphone on Nafzger, allowing viewers to share in their moment: “Here he comes, Mrs. Genter!…He’s taking the lead Mrs. Genter!…Mrs. Genter, you’re going to win the Kentucky Derby!...You’re Going to win the Kentucky Derby!...I love you, Mrs. Genter!”

If that doesn’t choke you up, I don’t know what will.

All the more special because at the Derby it’s one and done. 3-year-olds only: a horse is too old at age four. One chance for the winner’s circle, one chance for the blanket of roses, one chance to hit the wire first before 150,000 screaming fans.

Perhaps this entry is overly sentimental. It has been known to happen. Regardless, my romanticizing comes with a request: tune into NBC’s coverage of the Derby and catch horse racing fever (Go Baby, Go!). We desperately need more fans.

Riverboat gambling and slot machines loom as ominous threats to the Sport of Kings. Perhaps not in Kentucky, but in other states around the country, where horse racing is more than a century old (Pimlico, Maryland -- host to the Preakness -- being the perfect example). Without a new generation of enthusiasts, blackjack and triple sevens may carry the day. I can’t let that happen – not without a rallying cry. We’re talking about 135 years of legacy, the long revered Sport of Kings, and my old Kentucky home.

Kings, queens (Elizabeth II is coming this year), families, and fans. Owners, trainers, jockeys, and stable hands. There’s room for everyone under the thoroughbred tent, especially newcomers.

Don’t be shy, you can say it out loud, “Go Baby, Go!”

(Editorial note from the Chowder: there will be at least three entries this week. It's Derby week, and I'll be trackside for most of it. Expect a look into Derby week happenings and notes from a gambler's underbelly on Wednesday. An entry with commentary on every horse in the race will follow on Thursday or Friday -- complete with trifecta wheels aimed at retirement.

Beyond this week, I've got enough ammunition to warrant multiple entries a week for awhile. I will attempt to post on Monday and Thursday but will acknowledge a potential caveat: my Derby winnings could justify a one-way ticket to Argentina. In pondering that possibility I can only say: Go Baby, Go.)