I think winter has finally ran out of snow and ice. This is the first year that I can remember that we didn’t cut the grass by the end of March. The daffodils are just coming out and the forsythia are blooming in Louisville which means it will be another week before they show their yellow blossoms on the farm.
There are only two weeks (April
12th) left of racing at
Oaklawn Park. It is still a good place to claim a horse as many of the trainers will go to tracks with lower purse money (Lone Star, Louisiana Downs and Prairie Meadows) so they will be running their horses to try and win a race with higher purse money. There has been over 300 horses claimed at
Oaklawn so far this meet. I guarantee they “shook” for over 200 of them. I saw more than one “shake” with over 10 claims in for one horse, and they weren’t all bottom claiming.
Keeneland opens Friday which is really the first day of spring in Kentucky. They run their little 15 day meet prior to Churchill opening on April
26th. Derby fever is upon us. The Derby Festival and all its events begin April
12th with Thunder Over Louisville. There are events daily all the way through the Derby. If you have never been, you should put it on your bucket list and come.
Churchill has a new screen on the backstretch so everyone in Louisville can see everything. So if you are staying downtown, you can watch the races from down there. The bottom of the screen is 80 feet off the ground, and it is 170 feet wide by 90 feet tall. (Talk about over kill.) The third floor however still has those 1980 box TV’s (with only half working properly).
The Derby Field will get more muddled in the next couple of weeks. Some dropping to the wayside and others stepping up. Getting interesting!
