Nevertheless, I was really excited to watch the Derby! It's something so different from what I'm used to and something I've never really experienced before. Though I do think it's funny how I lived in places before that are deeply invested in horse racing (Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong and the Santa Anita Racetrack in LA) and never really gave a second thought to it, but plant me in Kentucky and BAM, I'm suddenly fascinated by the whole thing.
I thought Derby Day would be like the Olympics where there's a quarter-final, semi-final, and final...you know, multiple races leading up to the final race. But no, the Derby lasts for two minutes. Two minutes! And the whole day leads up to those two minutes. With NBC's wall to wall coverage (gotta love NBC), the day is filled with dramatic packages on the horses and their trainers and their owners and lots of history about the Derby and history about Churchill Downs, the racetrack. And then all attention shifts to that two-minute horse race and then it's over!
I think I'm going to start watching movies like "Seabiscuit" and "Secretariat", which is coming out later this year, so I can better understand the whole deal with horse racing. All I know right now is that there's an owner (who invests the money into a horse), the trainer (who trains the horse, duh), and the jockey (who rides the horse). And every person plays a critical part in getting a horse into a prestigious race like the Kentucky Derby, though there's also the Triple Crown, which I think is a horse winning the three most prestigious horse races.
Anyway, just thought I would share those couple minutes where I was utterly fascinated by the Derby:
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