Every now and then we forsake our various pickup trucks and take a chartered bus on our tours. Today is such a day; we are going into Louisville, to Churchill Downs…
We are here during Derby Week (Kentucky Derby will be Saturday…), so the museum and grandstands are all relatively busy. On a normal race day they only have about 5,000 people in attendance. Today there were about 20,000, and on Derby Day there will be 160,000 people here!
We entered into the stables area and had breakfast in a restaurant overlooking the back stretch. Daily workouts are going on, and we watched the horses coming and going, as well as the various folks grooming the track. We had a guide to whom we could ask questions and who told us about what was going on.
Eventually we entered the main gates; we tried to get another group photo, and we spent some time in the Museum and on a short tour which brought us out adjacent to the track at the finish line…
Our seats for this afternoon’s races are on the third level, waaayyyyy down at the end of these grandstands…
And they’re off! We watched seven races. In most races, the lead changes several times along the home stretch as the horses approach the finish line. Eventually, one usually pulls away from the pack and wins, as we see here…
We were able to see the track workers set up the starting gates, and other exciting things going on between races…
Most races are on the dirt track…
Today one race was on turf…
It was fun, but it was also a tiring day. We were grateful to be able to sit back and doze on the return trip…
We arrived back at the campground in time to make some Old Fashioneds for Happy Hours; BBQ pulled-pork sliders were on the menu tonight; an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 
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