Sequins and flowers, fascinators and saddle oxfords. Sunglasses and sunburns, dogwoods and Apple Blossoms. These were a few of our favorite things at the 78th running of the Arkansas Derby on April 12 before a crowd of more than 63,000.
Who’s the boss? Well, horsetrack owner Charles Cella, of course. But in 1 minute, 49.68 seconds, Danza, the scion of Street Boss, made himself king of the Derby, and with him rider “Jersey” Joe Bravo and back-to-back Derby-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. If you loved yourself some Danza going in, and tithed accordingly, you were duly rewarded - a single dollar paid out $84.60.
The action was fierce and unflinching much earlier than that, though.
“Ten’s gonna fold up like a cheap manila folder,” yelled a hot wagerer from the Jockey Club as the seventh race came into the backstretch.
Generous patrons of the track’s club were treated to a buffet of cold tiger shrimp, lox, carved roast beef, soft-shelled crab, cheeses, cupcakes and tropical fruit. A trio all the way from Wyoming - the Wyoming Homegrown, led by that wag Loren “Teense” Willford - played “Ghost Riders” and “Ring of Fire” and other popular string band standards for individual tables.
On the infield, it was a younger, more proletarian crowd of picnicking couples and families, boozy bands of brothers and ya-ya sisters, parents toddling after their streaking ’hoppers. The daytime high might have kissed 80 degrees, might not have, and beneath the cerulean sky or the shade of a blooming tree or that of the central gazebo, some folks busily studied racing forms while others seemed wholly unaware of the action that encircled them.
In all our natural state, all 365 days, no event calls forth a more satisfying assemblage of diverse natives and non-natives in piquant attire than the Derby. (Though, this year, maybe the Bruno Mars concert at Verizon Arena on June 10?)
The track is dark, as they say, until Jan. 9, 2015 (although it remains open for electronic skill-based games throughout the year).
High Profile, Pages 38 on 04/20/2014