The Kentucky Derby

Today is the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. The first race of the Triple Crown. Another Connell tradition we have is watching it together as a family and betting on it! A couple of days before the race I will look for the racing silks in the newspaper. If I can't find them there I look online. It looks like a full field of horses this year. Sometime today each kid will pick their favorite horse (or silk colors). They will draw a shirt on a piece of paper and then color it in to look like the horse they have chosen. Then we each toss a quarter into a pot. About 5 o'clock we will turn the TV on to listen to all the prerace hype. There is always some really inspirational story about a jockey or a horse. We enjoy watching all the pageantry. The big hats. We watch the horses parade down the track to the starting gate. The horses are all geared up, prancing around. We help the kids figure out which horse is theirs and get the number for them to watch for. It is always a little exciting watching the horses load into the gate. (I think I wanted to be a jockey when I was younger :) There is usually one or two that balk and give the handlers some trouble. Then you just wait. And finally the gate goes up. We sit glued to the TV trying to figure out who is who. In the beginning it is so hard because they are all grouped together. Then around the second or third turn they start to separate. We all are yelling and screaming especially if one of us is winning. It is so unpredictable. We have watched races that were runaways and ones where you didn't know who was going to win until the very end. Always the most exciting two minutes in sports! If one of us has picked the horse that wins, you get to keep the quarters that were in the pot. If no one wins, we leave the money in the pot until the next race and then add more to it. After the Derby there is the Preakness and the Belmont . . .