Derby fans show loyalty to royalty
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For a few exciting moments, Queen Elizabeth II was just like every other racing fan Saturday at Churchill Downs – watching the horses running in the 133rd Kentucky Derby.
The queen, an avid horse enthusiast, got her first look at Churchill Downs, a racing icon best known for its twin spires and hospitality on Derby Day when mint juleps flow and fancy hats are in fashion.
The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived a little more than two hours before the Derby, the first leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown. They went immediately to a private suite where the queen had a finish-line vantage point on a balcony to watch Street Sense pull away with the win.
The British monarch, on a six-day trip to the United States, was among 156,635 fans on hand, the third-largest crowd in Derby history.
“She took extremely close interest in the horses,” but didn’t place any bets, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said, on customary condition of anonymity.
The queen wore a fine wool coat of lime green, with a matching silk dress in a small floral print and a lime green hat with a fuchsia trim. She was accompanied by Will Farish, a former ambassador to Britain, as she entered the suite to a round of applause.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Erica Fencil, a college student from San Diego who found herself in the same suite. “I can’t believe I’m in the same room with her.”
Good track for trainer
Despite slate gray skies that had soaked Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, the rain held off during the undercard leading to the Derby.
Still, the track remained a little soggy from the deluge, though the mixture of sand and clay was rated “good” by track officials.
The last Derby to be run on a good track was 1990, when Unbridled won for trainer Carl Nafzger, who won it again this time with Street Sense.
Horses pass drug tests
All 20 horses entered in the race were cleared by the state’s racing authority after prerace tests for performance-enhancing drugs.
“I believe it’s the first time in the United States a race of this magnitude has had a full field tested for EPO,” said John Veitch, Kentucky Horse Racing Authority chief steward.
The surprise screening for blood-doping agents such as erythropoietin, or EPO, and darbepoietin was done Wednesday.
Fourth time’s no charm
Security guard Lasonia Scott’s lucky streak ended at three.
Scott guarded the barns of each of the last three Derby winners – Smarty Jones, Giacomo, and Barbaro. This year she guarded horses in barn 41: second-place Hard Spun, Stormello, Bwana Bull, Storm in May and Imawildandcrazyguy.
Scott, who has worked at the barns for nine years, said she didn’t know she had the lucky streak until recently someone told her of her good fortune.
Wassup, your majesty?
Churchill Downs rolled out the red carpet and lined it with rose petals for celebrities.
Jenny McCarthy, the actress and 1994 Playboy Playmate of the Year, said it was her first Derby appearance, and she hoped to meet another visitor – the queen.
“I’m scared of what to say to her, though. There are so many rules,” McCarthy said. “Yo! Wassup. That probably isn’t appropriate.”