Most of the Kentucky Derby attendees have no real interest in horseracing, or even gambling, but are there because, like the Super Bowl, it is a world-class party. The charity events are by invitation only, individual seats in the back of the ballroom begin at hundreds of dollars per ticket, and a well-located table of eight can be priced upwards of $10,000.
The richest people attending in 1988 were found at the elite, invitation-only party of Preston and Anita Madden. The Maddens’ parties had become legendary. Each year featured a theme. That year’s theme was Imperial Russia, featuring giant, Fabergé style eggs. Apparently, the years of Imperial Russia (1600-1900) featured hot women in sexy outfits, as the female attendees spent months preparing for the event and arrived in custom beaded gowns with plunging necklines, or for the younger set, mini dresses that left little to the imagination.
Annie Potts of the TV show Designing Women won the prize for hottest outfit of the night for her clinging black miniskirt. Queen of the 1988 event was Zsa Zsa Gabor, who at age 71 looked great in a pink gown, with five pounds of jewelry. The photographers and paparazzi abandoned her when the biggest star of the weekend arrived: Larry Hagman of the TV show Dallas. He was sporting a huge cowboy hat. Hollywood people seem to love athletes, and athletes seem to love hanging with the Hollywood people. The wealthy attendees mingled with singer Kenny Rogers, and former Miss Americas, Phyllis George and Mary Ann Mobley, who were there with their husbands.
The stamina a racehorse needs to run the Derby’s distance of one-and-one-quarter miles was rivaled by the partiers’ abilities to survive the Friday night soirées and still make the Derby the next day. Saturday, many in the same group appeared at the expensive Millionaires Row in the Turf Club of Churchill Downs for catered food and cocktails. The women were focused on their colorful hats instead of gowns and mini dresses. Tickets to the Millionaires Row event were nearly impossible to acquire without inside racing connections.
Derby day in Louisville is a special sporting event because of the gambling, yet the professionals who run most tracks act as if they would be shocked to learn gambling is occurring on the premises. Track professionals never refer to their customers as gamblers, only as race fans. The average fan watching the NBA Finals, or Super Bowl, doesn’t really care who wins the game unless their local team is playing. The 150,000 Derby fans in attendance make significant bets for themselves and are fully engaged financially in the spectacle. Any gambler at the Derby will always remember if the horse they chose won.
The first time Miami attended the Kentucky Derby in 1984, he was shocked to see the size of the crowd on the Friday before the Saturday running of the Derby. The Friday feature is always the Kentucky Oaks, the 3-year-old, females-only rendition of the Kentucky Derby. Females could enter against the boys in the Kentucky Derby, but colts were not permitted in the Kentucky Oaks. When Miami attended the Oaks Friday races, he thought he had found paradise—full fields of top horses to wager on, and a party that wouldn’t stop. The Oaks Friday party featured a sophisticated crowd, with well-dressed men in sports coats, and many beautiful women dressed in stylish short dresses and heels.
The locals were there to party and could drink mint juleps and other hard liquor in impressive quantities, unlike the Los Angeles crowd he was used to (people who drank only white wine). Miami thought, Wow, if this is what it’s like the day before the Derby, what will the Derby be like?
Weather conditions on Derby day can be 40 degrees or 80 degrees, and the race is run even if it is pouring rain. Umbrellas are prohibited; only raincoats are permitted. On race day in 1984 at Churchill Downs, the temperature was 71 and the weather was cloudy. Miami arrived at the Derby in his best sports coat and a monogramed, custom-made shirt. He was disappointed to see a beer-drinking crowd that probably would have been more comfortable at a Cleveland Browns tailgating party, or a WrestleMania event. He learned that all the Kentucky social and professional elite attend only the Friday Kentucky Oaks day each year and leave the insane Kentucky Derby Saturday party to the amateurs. The elite have private parties with huge television screens at their homes.
The average total Derby day attendance at Churchill Downs is around 150,000 fans, with over 80,000 of the attendees in the infield where there is no seating and usually no view of the races at all. Miami noticed that the infield participants were there for partying and drinking, and they were damn good at it.
Entertainment in the infield featured rock bands and mosh pits, but few restrooms. The rest of the racetrack was pleasant to experience that Derby day, despite the crowds, as Churchill Downs learned, in over 100-plus years, how to properly run a huge event.
The track has enough ticket vendors to allow bettors to wager, enough bars for anyone to get a drink, and enough TV screens to watch the odds and races. Days like this were made for knowledgeable handicappers like Dino, Miami, and
