Special thanks to Mr. David Osborne
for this ON SCENE report from Churchill Downs...

Joyful Victory looked AMAZING!!

She is a so classy, almost as classy as her trainer, Cindy and Larry Jones!


As Mr. Zayat said,
"Only Baffert can get away with a Derby saddle cloth and train a non-starter!"

The factor was the first horse at the gap and waited patiently before hitting the track.


Archarcharch, Jon Court, and Jinks Fires waited to hit the track
after the break.... think the sign in the background could be an omen???


Midnight Interlude came out and put in his final prep.


Nothing but good things to say from what I saw and he came off bouncing.

Back home from Utah...
standing by to post your brilliant shots from Churchill.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the folks at UpInClass!

Dell.
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Glad to do it.
Was up in the owner/trainer stand today so pics not that great.
Didnt see many new horses that caused me to change my opinion
aside from Uncle Mo did not like what I saw with him.
Expect him to enter but scratch and wait for the Preakness
as he will "have a bad day" or "not clean up his feed" Thursday night.
Just my opinion which is often wrong!

Arch x 3 looked great again today as did Shackleford.
Saw Pants On Fire for the first time and nothing really to report there.
Soldat was a handful to gallop again, this time on a a fast track.
Really unsure what to do with him!

Midnight Interlude looked fine but came out in front wraps.
He did not work in them Monday so may just be a precaution
to keep him from burning himself.

All the Oaks fillies looked good,
none better than Joyful Act who I think rolls this field.
Daisy Devine was good again and wish the race was tomorrow as she was a handful.
Plum Pretty was just that, pretty.
Kathmanblu looked much better than she did Monday.

I will send what I have later this evening,
then time to get ready for the fun to start!

boy...seeing all these makes me miss being in l-ville derby week.....gonna have to consider a return one year....


b.d.

Need to make the trip for sure BD. If you don't stay for the race, the Mon-Wed mornings of Derby week is just an awesome time to be here. As I heard one horseman on the backside say (despite the chilly temps), "Derby Week is Spring Break for adults!"

Happy to catch up with any UICers in town for Oaks and/or Derby. Hoop, your brother will know where to find me (typically center gate paddock). For those others, if you ask one of the gentleman inside the paddock standing in suits by either the paddock center gate or the one where the jocks enter, likely will either be me or one of my guys. Weekend attire already packed... Oaks day: navy suit, light blue pin stripe with pink shirt and tie (great what CD does for breast cancer awareness by the way). Derby Day: wife picked out suit, I'll call it a bluish grey??? teal shirt and tie. I always have a pocket square in to match the tie. Hopefully the attire will not be covered up again this year by a rain jacket!

Best of luck to everyone! More pics to follow when I return from the weekend.

Dell,

Not the best pictures this year and afraid there may not be a forum shot this year.
Shutter speed a split second too slow or that one of near the finish might have been something!
All these are ones just of Animal Kingdom.
More to follow over the next couple of days from the weekend.

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby

Really enjoy the pics, Ozzy. Thanks for sharing.

LL