Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/283499
4.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 1 3 TIME TO BRING OUT GRANDMA'S STERLING- SILVER CUPS. 3 4 8 7 RACING FORM $ KEEP YOUR DIGNITY — OCCASIONALLY. NATIVE HABITAT Beting Window, Paddock, ATM, Horseshoe Casino T H E D E G E N E R A T E G A M B L E R NUMBERS ON THE BRAIN A LITTLE HOARSE (from cheering and jeering) NO MORAL COMPASS INTESTINAL FORTITUDE STUBBY PENCIL TOE FATTY BANK ROLL INKY FINGERS MONOCLE (or Money-cle) RACING FORM (heart belongs to beting) 8 TIP 7 TIP 9 TIP GET TICKETS FOR THE BEST NEW SEAT IN THE HOUSE. A clubhouse box is nice, but the best place to see the Kentucky Derby might be the new grandstand terrace — a quarter-mile from the fnish line. Way up at the top of the stretch, there's long been some rows of bleacher seats at ground level, but for the 140th Derby Churchill Downs has added an extension of the grandstand above and a roofop garden patio behind. "This is the frst new construction in this part of the track since 1953," says John Asher, vice president of communications at Churchill. The bleacher seats remain, but a 2,400-seat extension of the grandstand above is slight- ly curved to ofer a new downstretch vista. Seats cost a surprisingly reasonable $300 or so, especially considering a general admiss- son/infeld ticket runs about $50. The patio behind will include a covered pavilion and new concession areas — as well as always- welcome new bathroom facilities. But it's the view that's special. Grand- stand terrace patrons will be right at the start of the Kentucky Derby. They're of! A minute and half later, the feld has circled the track and comes back to you around the fnal turn, charging into the stretch with 1,234½ feet to go. It's at that point so many Derbies are decided, when the best of the leaders shake of their front-end rivals, and those that are coming on come on. It's where Bill Shoemaker drove Ferdinand through a tiny gap between horses and into the clear to capture the 1986 Derby, and where Barbaro rolled to the front in 2006 to assert command in one of the most power- ful performances in Derby history. A year ago, Orb was circling the feld on the out- side, on the way to Derby immortality. – Bill Doolitle Aka "The Boat." 10-25.indd 13 3/19/14 5:16 PM