Everyone in Louisville should spend a half-hour listening to Churchill Downs VP John Asher, a walking, talking encyclopedia of Derby past and present.
It’d be a great way to get Derby-ready, a condition now affecting the 50 people attending this morning’s “Ville Voice Breakfast of Champions” at Toast on Market.
The race is just 58 days away, but Asher’s already picked a favorite to win the race. That would be Old Fashioned, trained by Larry Jones, who saddled the filly Eight Belles last year. That was the horse who finished second, but had to be destroyed on the track. Asher thinks Jones will be the big story this year, and wonders if his other Derby contender, Friesan Fire, will be the ‘other horse’ who could win the race.
But Asher isn’t just a handicapper (in fact, he jokes that he wants his ashes spread at the eighth pole, where most of his Derby picks fade), but he’s a historian and ambassador. So here’s some highlights from his morning talk:
- The Derby is the longest continuously running sports event in America at 135 years. Guess what is second? Right, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
- For the first time, a international entry is guaranteed a spot in this year’s race. The winner of the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes in London will get an automatic entry.
- It’s the 60th anniversary of Col. Matt Winn’s death. Winn, who operated the business from the early 1900s through his death, picked the first Saturday in May based on the odds of good weather.
- A Barbaro statue is going up at the track.
- The new entertainment group, headed by Steve Sexton, will create an “enormous bar” in the infield with a VIP area.
- Churchill Downs is hiring a new president. No word on when that will happen.
- The bankruptcy of Magna Entertainment puts several tracks around the U.S. in jeopardy. Without saying “I told you so” Asher said the competitor paid too much for many properties during its growth stage.
- Asher said he’s not too confident that Kentucky legislators will embrace casino gambling, at least until it becomes more successful in places like New York and starts hurting Kentucky tracks.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Fire Abramson // Mar 10, 2009 at 3:58 am
That’s ok John. We can still go to Indiana to gamble and we can take our dollars out of state to do our gambling. I’m sure that we can find a way to do this considering Horseshoe is only about 20 to 30 minute drive from the Central part of the city. Not to mention that Belterra is only an hour away.
2 Fire Abramson // Mar 10, 2009 at 4:01 am
Churchill Downs just like the city of Louisville somehow thinks its the only place to be when Derby week is in existence or any sort of other activity such as racing or gambling. I’m sure the people in Indiana would be more than happy to have your money in their state coffers since Kentucky won’t pass a gambling law yet makes special exceptions for the racing industry. Amazing how this state is an exercise in contradictions.
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