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The Last Kentucky Derby
I was born and raised in Kentucky. And I don’t like the Derby. Sure, pre-pandemic, I used to run the Derby Festival Mini Marathon and loved the gentle tour of one of my favorite parks, but the actual Derby I never much cared for. Except for the last one.
2019 was the last time they ran the Derby in its usual fashion — on the first Saturday in May with crowds in the stands at Churchill Downs. It was also the first time in a long time that I actually sat down to watch the race.
Here’s what you may not know if you aren’t from Kentucky or if you don’t hang out at horse races — the actual Kentucky Derby is one short race that comes after a full day of races. Before the big famous run, there are lots of smaller, less famous runs on the same day. Television coverage of the Derby also includes a number of those races, and if you aren’t really following the Derby horses, it’s kind of hard to tell them apart.
In May 2019, I was hanging out at Mama P’s house on Derby Day. By that time, it was clear that Mama P had some kind of cognitive decline, and she didn’t come out of her room very much. All her friends and family knew that she couldn’t be alone in the house, and I was in the house with her that evening. She still loved to have visitors, and she enjoyed watching some TV. Mama P wanted to watch the Derby.