What should someone do if they live in the Bluegrass State and are celebrating landmark birthdays?
Easy. Embrace lilies for the fillies and a running for the roses, and attend the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.
Four Trigg Countians, two husbands and their wives, did just that this past Friday and Saturday, when Jon Heath and Donovan Washer welcomed turning 50 and 40, respectively, at Churchill Downs in Louisville — sisters Jeri Lynn and Maela, again, respectively, in tow.
What made it even more special for the quartet was it was the first time for all, embracing one of the nation’s bucket-list sporting events in full pomp and circumstance.
The pageantry of it all, Heath noted, made it worth it.
Washer, a long-time farmer, said he enjoyed the people watching aspect of it — adding there’s “no finer place in the state to do it” — and that visiting with everyone along the track proved entertaining.
Different outfits, and thus, different hats, are needed for each day, and Maela said the push for pink at the Oaks comes with a key purpose.
Saturday, they said, needed carefully planned attire.
Jeri Lynn called it “a major splurge” for the special days, and said she and the crew would be “eager to return” if the experience were slightly more affordable.
Maela, meanwhile, said she “felt like a complete newbie,” to a degree making the experience exhilarating.
Washer said he had toured the Churchill Downs grounds with Kentucky Farm Bureau, but it felt nothing like this weekend.
The pairs had seats near the upper-deck rail in the First Turn Reserved Seating sections, which first opened in 2023 at the 149th Kentucky Derby as part of a major upgrade to the spectator experience and a new structure that added more than 7,300 permanent, all-inclusive seats overlooking the track’s first turn and the Derby walkover.
To top it all, they got to see history, as Cherie DeVaux, a horse trainer first and a woman second, in her words, became the first-ever such to win, as jockey Jose Ortiz and 3-year-old Golden Tempo offered a stunning surge from last to first on the final quarter.
“My Old Kentucky Home”
