The weekend everyone waits for all winter and spring is here. Derby Week in Louisville – make sure you watch the weather and always bring a rain jacket – is like no other week of the year. Everyone’s an expert, or at least has some type of take. From restaurants to winners, opinions vary like weather forecasts.
Kentucky Oaks Day kicks off the monster weekend, which really already started with strong Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday cards at Churchill Downs. Friday’s card features seven stakes led by the $1.5 million headliner that some see as a coronation of Good Cheer.
The starts will be out, with a showdown between Todd Pletcher-trained stars Locked and Fierceness early in the day in the Alysheba, another potential domination by defending Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the Fasig-Tipton La Troienne immediately after that and finally the 4-year-old debut of female turf star She Feels Pretty in the Modesty. All that and more for the day, which starts at 11 a.m. and goes through the Oaks at 5:51 and the finale (if you’re lucky) at 7:02. Better make a late reservation. Scratch that, if you haven’t made one by now don’t bother…