I'm petrified of horses. When I was a baby, just walking a bit, one sneezed on me, and I was traumatized, apparently thinking the big critter had exploded.

However, I love watching the Kentucky Derby. What I know about horse racing and odds-making can be written on the head of a pin, but I love seeing A) how many celebrities there are in the crowd; B) how outrageous the ladies' hats will get, C)listening to "My Old Kentucky Home" (like our state song "Tennessee Waltz," a tearjerker), and D)watching the horses and their jockeys walk to the starting gates. The silks! The colors! The flowers!

So today, here I am, parked in front of the TV, with the race still nearly forty-five minutes away. I know the favorite to win is called Big Brown, and his current odds are at five to two.

Generally speaking, I tend to root for fillies and geldings--because the fillies show such heart running against stallions, and geldings--uh, well, they have special problems.

But we can't forget arguably the greatest horse of all the ones who have run the Derby: the immortal Secretariat.



He has held an unbroken record track time of one minute fifty nine and two fifths seconds since 1973. I've seen records set by humans that I thought would never fall--the main one being baseball's Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record, broken by Cal Ripken Jr.--but I don't expect to see Secretariat's record fall--

But then, the race isn't over yet.

And on that shallow attempt at profundity, fair thee well.



Update: Big Brown won with a time of two minutes one and four fifths seconds. Unfortunately, the second place finisher, the lone filly in the race, Eight Bells, broke both front ankles at the end of the race and had to be euthanized on the spot. I cannot help but think of Barbaro and the valiant fight he put up after breaking a leg in last year's Preakness--Rest in peace, little girl. You gave it your all. Literally.