I go to the derby every year and this year was something special so i decided to commemorate it with this years derby logo and I plan on getting one every year or until i run out of room.    
 

I started coming to the Infield in ‘77 with my high school friends. From 79 thru 84 I introduced my college crowd to the fun. My sons, now teenagers themselves, attend with me. After more than 30 years in the Infield and countless memories of the first Saturday in May, I had the Twin Spires roofline tatoo’d on my right arm so I can take a little Derby with me everywhere I go. Rain, snow sleet or sunshine, I’ll see ya in the Infield!

At 4:00 pm on Oaks Day 2005 my then girlfriend and now wife and I were sitting in our town home’s basement office outside of Baltimore Maryland talking about the Derby looking at the website and listening to the link for “My Old Kentucky Home”. I finally said “this is ridiculous, we should be there”. My wife’s reply was “well let’s go”. So, despite knowing all we could get were General Admission tickets we decided to go. We dropped her two older children off with some friends and we packed up our five month old son and some appropriate Derby clothing finally leaving somewhere around 7:00 pm to drive all night long to my sister’s house in Louisville. We got to Louisville around 5 am on Derby Day. We took a quick nap and headed to Churchill Downs around 11am.
 
We hung out at the track having a blast. My sister was there as well in a box that just happened to have a few no shows. So in the end we did get into the bleachers to watch Giacomo (who came in second in the Read more »

My first Derby was back in 1993 we had just moved to Ft. Knox with our brand new baby girl. My mom, grandma and my Godmother had come out for a visit and wanted to go the the Famous Kentucky Derby. Being new to the area I had no idea that you got tickets years in advance. Someone told me about the infield where you could see just as well and would be an even better experience then the main facility. So I got us tickets for the infield so we could experience our first Derby.

My family made festive hats and wore beautiful dresses because that is what they heard you do at the derby. The weatherman talked about the rain that was coming in that morning he even said that there might be a downpour. Boy was he right! When we got to Churchill Downs water was everywhere and we saw the workers drying off everything in sight. We knew we were in for a dry day except for the track. We followed the signs for the infield pushing the stroller carefully with our new baby avoiding the water puddles so not get our things dirty. Then as we came up the hill from the tunnel all of our jaws dropped to see mud covered people everywhere!

People were sledding on tarps, trash bags or whatever they found they looked like a bunch of pigs in a pen. Read more »

We come every year as soon as the gate opens on Derby Day with just general admission and we run straight over and grab a bench (in the Aristides Garden) and camp out for the whole day. We bring our food and from 8 o’clock in the morning until 7 o’clock at night, we camp out all day long. We love coming to Derby. We sit there all day. We get boxes, we make little tables out of the boxes and we call it our “box seats”.

A gentleman ran to the Winners’ Circle and gave a great (flash) to the crowd, receiving a standing ovation from all the ladies, half the men and three horses winked at him. Then he ran off towards the U of L’s marching band and the ladies in the band used their instruments to block the police and he got away.

The last time I was in the infield was probably my favorite Derby memory. I think it’s still a record for the Derby (100th running) and I was actually sitting near the flagpole the streaker went up. So I got to see the guy climb the flagpole, drop his drawers then get arrested.

It was 2004. My family had tickets to the Derby and they had their box and I said no. I’m going to the infield, I’m in college and I’m going to be with my friends. I am going to be a hooligan… all of a sudden the sky just opens up, probably after the 5th or 6th race and the sky just opens up and it just starts pouring raining and everybody’s running for cover and finally it’s like… this is a lost cause and everybody just went with it. We’re getting drenched and it’s just disgusting- people are having mudfights Read more »

Soon as those gates open 8 o’clock in the mornin’ we’re there and gotta find that spot where you can actually spot a horse every once in a while and see a big screen to keep up with your horses. After awhile there, bettin’ on the horses becomes the second thought and you’re just there for the party, just leading up to the anticipation of the Kentucky Derby. You’re always very excited- it’s like Christmas. You’ve got all these tickets and you really want to cash on the Derby and most of the time you don’t but you’ve got that chance. And you just feel like if you could hit it- you could brag about that for years to come sayin’ ‘Hey, I had the Kentucky Derby Winner!’

Growing up in south Louisville, I could hear the track announcer from my back yard. Also, my father was on duty for every Oaks and Derby day as a fire inspector for the Louisville Fire Dept. My favorite Derby horse of all time was Native Dancer. I was devastated when he lost his only race, the Derby, after being bumped. 1953… It’s my Derby.