Nicole Schnell

Hey guys - Added my pictures from the Derby yesterday, check them out!  They're in the April/May folder.

Yesterday was a whole lot of fun!  It's definitely as crazy as it looks on tv, there were people EVERYWHERE!  I got to Churchill after 10, the first races started around 11, so I got to watch quite a few of the afternoon races.  I got a short video of one of the turf races that was run during the day.  It's really short, but it's a clip of the horses breaking from the gate and starting to run.  We attempted to go by the saddling paddock and see a few of the horses during prep from some of the afternoon races, but it was nuts!  There was a wall probably 5 people deep to the fence, so I couldn't even see into the paddock.  We got over there just in time though to run into the jockeys who were coming out of the jockey room and headed over to the paddocks.  So I caught a glimpse of a few of them as they rushed by and into the crowd, that was pretty exciting!

Our seats were pretty good.  We were in the grandstand bleachers right up from the starting gate for the actual Derby.  So we got to see the horses load into the gate and break, and then we saw them as they came around the final turn into the stretch, so that was really exciting.  You couldn't hear the announcer over the screaming, everybody was definitely getting into it!  And, yes it is true, everyone wears hats!  And they wear some pretty crazy ones too!  It was fun to see all the different outfits.  I actually saw this really tall guy dressed in jockey silks which was pretty silly looking.  But it was a really fun day!  I'm definitely glad we got the opportunity to go and experience the Derby.  I didn't win any money, but that's alright, I didn't lose too much either.  I'm kinda a wimp when it comes to betting, I don't like the idea of losing money, so I don't tend to bet too much. 

There's been a lot of stuff going on at the farm this past week.  I'll make another post soon and get you all caught up, but I just wanted to let you know I had Derby pics added.  We've got less than 10 mare's left to foal, so things are starting to slow down some, but there's still been a lot going on.  Enjoy the Derby pics!  I'll make another post in the next couple days!