First Saturday in May - Motivation Monday

Nothing Motivates Like 

The First Saturday in May

The Kentucky Derby is called

 the fastest two minutes in sports.

And that's probably very true!

But, many thousands of people plan for a year

for that very fast two minutes.

Click HERE for the Official Kentucky Derby Festival Site.

Things to plan for include:

Thunder Over Louisville - air show and fireworks

Balloon Glows, glimmers and races,

Bed Races,

Marathon and half Marathon,

Pegasus Parade

The Great Steamboat Race,

The chow wagon and the festiville,

Thurby - Thursday at Churchill Downs

The Oaks - Fridays fillies run for the lilies race,

The Kentucky Derby race 

Millionaires Row,

The Celebrity Parties,

and then,

THE Cleanup!

For two weeks, Louisville, Kentucky collectively

looses its mind.

In the very best possible way, of course.

It starts here at Thunder of Louisville 

with the air show

and what is called the worlds largest fireworks show

where you and a million of your closest friends watch 

the most incredible fireworks show put to music. 

Click HERE to see tons of Thunder pics.

Then everyday for 2 weeks, you can be entertained,

wined and dined 

with every kind of event possible.

All Leading up to that two minutes on Saturday evening.

The rest of the country may only see the hour before the two minutes and then the two minutes,

but Louisville, KY is ALL IN for two full weeks.

And probably 90% of all this activity is outside.

The weather forecasters in Louisville better deliver some beautiful weather on the First Saturday in May

or else you might be forecasting in Buffalo.

Derby forecasts begin showing up on the news

 about a month out.

No One wants to utter the "R" (rain) word.

We've had an unseasonably cold rainy spring,

even having snow about 2 weeks prior to the festival.

The trees are several weeks behind blooming this year.

But when Thunder arrived,

which marks the beginning of the festival,

the weather was beautiful!

In fact for nearly two weeks the weather was beautiful.

Thurby, which is Thursday before Derby speak,

and is considered Louisville day at the Downs,

was beautiful.

Fridays Oaks race was beautiful, even though the threat of rain was there all day, it held off.

The forecast for Derby Day was intermittent showers

in the morning with it clearing up between 3-3:30 for a race that was supposed to go off around 6:45 p.m.

There were showers off and on in the morning,

but nothing crazy.

Then it began to rain with some intensity around noon.

Around 2 p.m. it became a toad-strangler,

By 3 it was absolutely pouring,

by 5 p.m. there were flash flood warnings in Louisville,

and by the time the race went off, 

It was a crazy, sloppy, muddy track.

The horses in the Kentucky Derby have to win their way in.

Meaning these three year olds have to have won a particular amount of races to be eligible to run in the Derby.

Click HERE to read how it works.

They haven't run many races and some have never run on a wet track or in the rain.

By race time 2018, a wet track wasn't even in the equation.

This was the wettest track in Derby history!

It wasn't just wet, it was a

 completely new dimension in wet tracks.

One of the most interesting things about running in the slop

is with the jockeys.

They mount their horses in the paddock wearing about 6 pairs of goggles on top of each other.

Then as the race progresses and one pair of goggles gets covered in mud, they flip those down and expose a clean pair.

And then another and another.

The trick is to have as clean a pair as possible at the end,

because that's where things get really interesting.

There's the speed, 

the bouncing, 

the jerking, 

the whipping, 

and some shoving,

and then there's the mud.

If you can't see that little sliver of a hole to guide your horse into, all the planning that's gone into this moment

 may be for naught.

On Saturday 20 owners could have scratched their horse at any time as the conditions deteriorated.

In 144 years conditions had never been so bad for 

a Kentucky Derby and one thing for sure was,

this race was going to be run in that mess.

It would not be re-scheduled.

These 20 horses were bred and born

 with this moment in mind.

Their owners, trainers, jockeys, groomsmen, stable boys, hot walkers, farriers, vets and many others

 have lived and breathed this race

with this horse for 3 years.

Scratching wasn't an option!

So,

After all the planning of thousands of people,

all the hoopla leading up to the race,

the clothes,

the hats,

the parties,

and you'll notice I'm not even mentioning the mint juleps or the wagering,

The race is still on and they have to still run,

in the worst possible conditions.

Life is just like that.

We work,

We plan,

We try,

and then things go south

and we have to get through the worst possible conditions.

Why?

Because at the end of it all,

There is still a horse standing in the winners circle

with fist pumping jockeys, trainers and owners,

wearing that beautiful garland of roses.

And this year the favorite

and the winner

is

JUSTIFY!

Justify beat everything!

Including the worst weather ever!

I love that a horse named Justify

showed why it was the favorite and how to win

even when conditions were the worst possible.

I learned that sometimes you just have to put your head down, and push through the race,

regardless!

No matter what!

To win the roses,

YOU HAVE TO RUN THE RACE!

If you want to get in on the fun

for Derby 2019,

Click HERE.

If you want to go to the Derby, you're gonna need a hat.

My friend, hat artist Polly Singer, can hook you up.

Click HERE to check out her art.

(This is, after all, an art blog)

It's coming!

It's coming!

The Painter Nation Members Club is coming!

Click HERE to Learn all About the Members Club.

If you want to learn how to paint

on a budget,

the Painter Nation Members Club

 is screaming your name.