Kentucky Derby Day at Canterbury Park

Kentucky Derby Day at Canterbury Park

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for May 5, 2019

We were lucky enough this week to see two albino squirrels at the same time in our backyard.  We always wonder if we're seeing the same ones, but supposedly the average lifespan of a squirrel in the wild is only 11-12 months and we've been seeing these critters for years.  Must be something in the water.

  

We've always assumed these creatures were good spirits, but after seeing this photo I'm not so sure.  This guy looks like he could be a little evil.  And do those hands look identical to mine?  It's kind of creeping me out a bit.

A few weeks ago, I discovered a bald eagle nest near my neighborhood so Miss Sheri and I took a hike out there to see if they were still around.  They were!  One of the eagles was still in the nest, but it was tough to get a clear shot of that one.  This guy was about 20 yards away keeping lookout.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get a shot of the babies one of these days.

On Friday night, we went out to dinner with our old buddies, Jeff and Cathy.  We had a lot of laughs and a really nice time together.

Saturday brought us to Canterbury Downs to watch the Kentucky Derby.

In years past, they've only shown the Derby on a simulcast, but this year they also had a day full of live racing as well which made it a bunch of fun to attend.

The derby fashion show was quite impressive this year.  We saw so many people who really pulled out all the stops to dress up for the occasion.  One of these years I gotta get a hat like this.

We were there with the Wingness, Bailey and Hornbuckle clans.  We always have a great time with these people!

Victoria is getting so big.  It's really fun to see her and her mother Maddison playing together.

Between races, we were entertained by one of our favorite local bands, Boogie Wonderland.  They're awesome.

This is Vern.  This was only his second day with the band.  I told him he looks like a cross between Prince and Rick James.  He told me he gets that a lot. 

  

The Kentucky Derby race happened and it ended with a bunch of controversy.  The supposed winner, Maximum Security, was disqualified and the second place finisher, Country House, was eventually declared the victor.  Considering Country House was a 65-1 long-shot, it also meant that nobody we were with won any money which quickly brought the good times to an end.  So we left.

We went out to El Loro for some Mexican Food.  It was a bunch of fun until the ladies suddenly pulled out fake mustaches and insisted we all treat them like they were men for the rest of the evening.  Things just got kind of weird after that happened.