Derby-Goers Lap Up the Spectacle

Ernie Trent didn’t have a horse in the Kentucky Derby and he wasn’t one of the hundreds of celebrities lurking about Churchill Downs’ vaunted “Millionaires’ Row,” either.

The 51-year-old Jeffersonville, Ind., resident was, however, one of the most popular people among the thousands enjoying the revelry of the anything-goes atmosphere of the infield on Saturday.

“Hey man, that hat’s the bomb!” 22-year-old Mike Curtis yelled, clapping Trent on the back. “Can we get a picture?”

Adjusting his lid--depicting the track’s famed twin spires plus horse, jockey and silver cup filled with tiny red roses--Trent obliged his intoxicated new friends. It’s what he has done for the past 20 years.

“This is the biggest sporting event of the year and I’m out here to spread some smiles,” he said, shaking hands with all six members

of Curtis’ group. “This hat is a work in progress. I do something a little different every year.”

That’s what Derby Day at the Downs is all about: being just a little bit different. Or extravagant.

Working amid the diamonds, pearls, feathers and ruffles of Millionaires’ Row, waitress Debbie Mohr explained how she gave up a job in the medical field to cater to the stars at events like this one.

“Where else can you get this close to all these famous people?” asked Mohr, who said she was told to be on the lookout for talk show host Jerry Springer, actor Tom Cruise, model Niki Taylor, Prince Albert of Monaco and actress Barbra Streisand.

“This is my third year at the Derby but only my first up here on Millionaires’ Row,” she said. “I can tell you this: I’ll be back up here next year.”

Also enjoying the spectacle were Olympic diver Greg Louganis, broadcasters Brent Musberger and Walter Cronkite, Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Despite the threat of rain, the sun shone brightly and as the afternoon wore on the lines grew longer and longer at the food stands, betting windows and bathrooms.

“A hundred thousand people and 50 bathrooms,” muttered one disgruntled woman, who refused to give her name as she stood in a snaking line 10 deep.

Back in the infield, a lone-star flag flapped in the wind over an encampment beside the fence on the fourth turn. Inside, Tye Thompson of San Antonio was serving drinks.

There’s a strategy to getting a small covered wagon, portable toilet, tables, tents and gallons of liquid refreshments into Churchill Downs, Thompson explained. Essentially, it comes down to showing up at 1 a.m. and, when the gates are first opened, having a runner race to the spot and stake it out with green plastic “party zone” tape.

“You don’t get all this stuff in here without hard work,” said Thompson, whose six-member group was attending its third Derby. “People say, ‘You go out there and fight that rat race?’ I say, ‘Hey, we are the rat race.’ ”

As post time drew near, the historic track was a giant mosaic of multicolored dresses, frilly hats, mint juleps and discarded betting tickets.

Actor Jack Nicholson delighted many of the 143,215 in attendance--the third-largest crowd in Derby history--walking on the track with Madeline Paulson, co-owner of 45-1 shot Rock and Roll, as the horses were led to the paddock.

Nicholson played to the crowd with ear-to-ear grin and hands flailing in a not-so-subtle plea for applause less than 20 minutes before the race was set to begin.

Marsha Burke sighed as she lugged three large plastic sacks full of souvenirs back up the stairs to her grandstand seats. In the bags were a $35 blanket, three $18 T-shirts, a $49 sweatshirt, two $19 hats and a $20 set of pins. Total value: $196.

“That doesn’t include the two $16 cigars I bought earlier,” the Amarillo, Texas, resident said with a laugh. “The Derby only comes around once a year. And now I’ve got half my Christmas shopping done.”

Beer vendor Alan Montgomery stopped to take a quick swig during a short break in sales in the paddock area.

“This isn’t beer, man; I’m working,” he said. “It’s been crazy today. Even worse than yesterday. But I like this job. We tend to make a lot of people happy.”