The Kentucky Derby …
… begins in a few minutes.
Here’s a thread for talking about it, if that’s your thing.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
… begins in a few minutes.
Here’s a thread for talking about it, if that’s your thing.
I know nothing about horses, but it was exciting, with a horse rearing up and falling over before it got to the gate (fortunately not hurting the jockey), and a very long shot winning.
Cazart! One can read Hunter S. Thompson’s maniacal piece on the Kentucky Derby for free. Here he is, gaslighting a Derby fan before the race. Perhaps not for everyone.
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I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. “There’s going to be trouble,” I said. “My assignment is to take pictures of the riot.”
“What riot?”
I hesitated, twirling the ice in my drink. “At the track. On Derby Day. The Black Panthers.” I stared at him again. “Don’t you read the newspapers?”
The grin on his face had collapsed. “What the hell are you talkin about?”
“Well … maybe I shouldn’t be telling you … ” I shrugged. “But hell, everybody seems to know. The cops and the National Guard have been getting ready for six weeks. They have 20,000 troops on alert at Fort Knox. They warned us — all the press and photographers — to wear helmets and special vests like flak jackets. We were told to expect shooting … ”
“No!” he shouted; his hands flew up and hovered momentarily between us, as if to ward off the words he was hearing. Then he hacked his fist on the bar. “Those sons of bitches! God Almighty! The Kentucky Derby!” He kept shaking his head. “No! Jesus! That’s almost too bad to believe!” Now he seemed to be jagging on the stool, and when he looked up his eyes were misty. “Why? Why here? Don’t they respect anything?”
I shrugged again. “It’s not just the Panthers. The FBI says busloads of white crazies are coming in from all over the country — to mix with the crowd and attack all at once, from every direction. They’ll be dressed like everybody else. You know — coats and ties and all that. But when the trouble starts … well, that’s why the cops are so worried.”
He sat for a moment, looking hurt and confused and not quite able to digest all this terrible news. Then he cried out: “Oh … Jesus! What in the name of God is happening in this country? Where can you get away from it?”
—Hunter S. Thompson, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved” (1970)
https://www.sensitiveskinmagazine.com/hunter-s-thompson-the-kentucky-derby-is-decadent-and-depraved/
@ huxley > The Thompson piece is a hoot, but when you pair it with Neo’s earlier post today about the Press not getting their wake-up call…. it’s also kind of scary, to see how easy it is to stampede people who don’t take time to verify the stories they are being fed.
Or who are making up the stories and doing the feeding.
The con men ye shall have always with you.
Kentucky Derby 2026 (FULL RACE) | NBC Sports – Full Video
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2026/05/kentucky-derby-2026-full-race-nbc.html
Winning trainer Cherie Devaux is largely responsible for saving the career of turf filly/mare champion Lady Eli. The horse stepped on a nail in 2015 and developed acute laminitis. It eventually returned to racing over a year later, and won several stakes before retiring to the breeding shed.
@ Mike Plaiss – I was cheering for Further Ado once he started moving up near the top of the list, but alas, it was not to be!
Great race. Golden Tempo and Renegade had an amazing surge in the last tenth of a mile. Still about 3 seconds slower than Secretariat’s record.
A pleasant memory is the sound of Heywood Hale Broun’s voice over the radio. He used to cover the Kentucky Derby.
Chic Anderson’s calls in the 1973 races are the stuff of legend. Up there with Al Michaels and the “Miracle on Ice.”
Well, I suspected a horse might win the thing.
Don’t understand at all; I bet $ 100 on Tea Biscuit only to find out that Lou Costello was the jockey.
Lost my money.