Horse Blog

The theme of today's blog is horses. I'm usually not that into horses, or animals in general for that matter. I was at a couple of places that were cool, though. Kentucky is, or at least Kentucky claims it is, the horse racing capital of the world. In northern Kentucky, the bluegrass area, you can drive past these huge horse farms. By the way, I haven't witnessed it, but they say it's called the bluegrass because in the spring the grass has these blue buds that come up. The grass really isn't blue, but the fields look like that.

Yesterday I was at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. On the actually derby day you can stand in the infield for $40. That's cheaper than I would have thought. Even at that price I don't have a desire to do that. But during September they have horse racing on the weekends. Ever half hour there is a race. The entrance is, get this, $3. What a deal. Parking was an exorbitant $10, but I just parked on the street and walked an extra $100 yard. Of course, they make their money on suckers betting. I didn't want to, didn't know how, and didn't want to embarass myself by asking. "Excuse me, but how do you place a wager on one of your horses." I would have looked like I just got off the boat. But I did pretend bet. They had the odds posted before each race. I went with the favorite each time. I "won" every time. If I had bet $1 each time, I would have won $11!!! Big money. Of course if you don't go with the odds-on-favorite (I don't know exactly what that phrase means) and they win, you would get a lot more money, but you would have the self esteem that comes with winning every time like I did.

A few weeks ago I went to the Kentucky Horse Park. It is a working horse farm where they train

them to race, but its also a tourist place, too. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was no $3. It had the graves of Man o' War and War Admiral. It turns out winning horses get well-tended graves with statues. Losers become glue. That seems unfair. It also is like a retirement home for horses. I got to get up close to Funny Cide (pictured). Although I didn't recognize him, as all horses look alike to me, I remember the year he won the Kentucky Derby. He just hangs out, roaming the fields, eating, and siring children his owners hope will also be fast. Not a bad life.