There are showers in the
forecast for Saturday's 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, though a little rain won't dampen the mood of the thousands expected to attend. As a veteran of many a Derby, I can tell you the grandstands at Churchill Downs will be packed and the infield will throb with a rowdy, highly juiced crowd of 20- and 30-somethings, no matter the weather.
It's a sure bet, too, that the track and grounds will be immaculate, not a tulip out of place. It is, after all, the biggest day of the year for Churchill Downs Inc., which as we
reported previously is in midst of a major strategic transformation to boost revenue and better compete in an age of casinos, online gambling and Texas hold 'em. A key part of that transformation is aggressively protecting its intellectual property. CDI delivered on that with a
lawsuit it filed on April 24 charging the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association with illegally approving the distribution of CDI races to out-of-state off-track-betting sites. CDI has also managed to deliver on other objectives it set forth last year, including launching its own account wagering Web site --
twinspires.com -- and creating the Churchill Downs Technology Initiatives Co., an incubator for content delivery technology.
One area where CDI did come up short was in the race to control the thoroughbred franchise that runs Aqueduct, Saratoga and Belmont Park tracks in New York. CDI
dropped out of the race in October after an upheaval in its partnership group. The franchise was eventually returned to the New York Racing Association, whose
bankruptcy reorganization was approved on Monday.
But with the Derby approaching, now is not the time to talk lawsuits and bankruptcy. Our time is better spent picking a winner. According to people who
study such things, Big Brown is the odds-on favorite -- despite drawing the 20th post position -- though Colonel John and Gayego both had big wins in the run-up to the Derby. For what it's worth, my money's on Eight Belles. She's on a four-race winning streak, and in a year when a woman is contending for the White House, I figure there might be some special mojo around the first filly in the Derby field in nine years. -
Suzanne Stevens
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Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
