The Kentucky Derby - 2009

Yesterday we watched the Kentucky Derby with some good friends from Nebraska. It was especially enjoyable because it was the first time we've seen them in almost six months and we had a blast remembering the years that we lived next door to each other in Omaha.

Jack & Terry loved going to "the track" which meant Aksarben...the racetrack in Omaha. Incidentally, Aksarben is Nebraska spelled backwards. Yeah, it really is.

They remembered a lot of the trainers and owners and horses that they followed. They had a burning desire to buy a race horse in a claiming race. I think back then you could claim a horse for about $500 so we're not talking Derby material here. But those two rascals REALLY wanted a race horse. Luckily, both were just a shade too sensible to actually do it.

Yesterday, we were pulling for a horse named General Quarters, a gray horse with a heartwarming story.

Tom McCarthy, a 75 year old former high school principal purchased General Quarters for $20,000 in a claiming race which was also General Quarter's very fist race. Obviously you can't get a horse for $500, anymore!

Tom McCarthy only has the one horse and he and General Quarters travel the racing circuit. He's won more than $600,000, so far which is a pretty darned good ROI, if you think about it. Just the one horse...amazing!

General Quarters was a 20 to 1 shot, yesterday and those really aren't awful odds. We were hopeful.

Well, Mine That Bird (at 50 to 1 odds) came flying from behind to win the Derby. It was amazing to watch him sail past all of the other horses on the inside of the track. And jockey Calvin Borel, a colorful character in his own right, was ecstatic! It was fun watching him ride to the winner's circle.

Seems that it's another rags to riches story. The owner, a cowboy named Chip Woolley, bought Mine That Bird for $9,500. The purse for the Kentucky Derby was more than 2 million dollars. I don't know how they divey that up between the four top horses but it's certainly not peanuts.

Do you know how many horses have won the Triple Crown? The answer to that and more great horsey trivia is documented at this Squidoo lens. Including how horses were brought to the Americas and man's first (creepy) relationship with horses.