Tribeca Filmmakers: How To Be A Kentucky Derby Know-It-All

Admit it. You're at your coworker Herb's annual Kentucky Derby party, but you've never been more clueless about the reasons why. You're really at his party by default: too cold for the beach and nobody cares about baseball this early. So why not go and have a couple of mint juleps on the first Saturday in May? Besides, hot Cheryl from accounting is always there, and you noticed she has a picture of Barbaro as her screen saver. This could be your big chance to impress.

So you're having a few yucks in the kitchen, painfully aware that the drink you're sipping consists primarily of straight bourbon (Note: bring a bottle of Woodford Reserve to Herb's.) The comments being tossed around go something like this:

• "I used to go to the racetrack with my Uncle Buck when I was really young."

• "One of my fraternity brothers is REALLY into horse racing."

• "I went to Saratoga once and had so much Genny Cream Ales, I never saw a race live."

Meanwhile, Herb has filled his Orange County Choppers hat with the names of the horses that will be running in the big race. You give him 10 bucks for the pool and in you reach, grabbing a scrap that reads "Scat Daddy".

Then it hits you. You don't know who Scat Daddy is, where Scat Daddy came from, who trains Scat Daddy or how Scat Daddy got to the Derby.

You also realize that you know next to nothing about the Kentucky Derby. And, other than the potential presence of Cheryl from accounting, you start to question why you continue to participate in a tradition you know so little about.

But have no fear. You're not alone. No one at the party knows anything more.

The Hennegan Brothers want to change that feeling for you because we know you're different. Plus, we want to help you win over horse-loving Cheryl.

That became the impetus for us to shoot our documentary: to use the world's most famous race as an introductory course to horse racing - the coolest sport to which you're not paying attention.

So the first thing you need to do is see our film The First Saturday in May (www.thefirstsaturdayinmay.com) during the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary follows six trainers and their horses to the 2006 Kentucky Derby - with one of the horses followed being the mighty Barbaro. But if you can't get to DeNiro's film festival before May 5th, here is what you need to know.

Let Herb go on for a moment with his obligatory story about partying on the infield at Churchill Downs once during college, but when his story loses steam, be ready to pounce.

"Did you guys know that a horse only has only one chance in his or her life to run in the Kentucky Derby? It always comes in the spring of their 3-year-old year and always on the first Saturday in May.

"So here's how it works: the top 20 horses in earnings are invited to run in the Derby. Earnings are accumulated in a series of specific stakes or 'prep' races that take place during the prior eight or nine months.

"In April, there are the six most important prep races, the Florida Derby, the Santa Anita Derby in California, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York, the Arkansas Derby, the Blue Grass at Keeneland in Kentucky, and the Illinois Derby.

"If you finish first or second in any of these, you've pretty much punched your ticket to the Derby. And if you watch all of these races, you'll actually know about half the horses come Derby day."

Cheryl will be clearly impressed.

Now wait a bit - definitely until after the race. Hatch your master plan and ask Cheryl to watch the second leg of the Triple Crown - the Preakness - at the bar near your apartment that has horse paintings on the wall.

Knowing that there hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 (quick, write that down), you'll be hoping Scat Daddy can parlay his wins in the Derby and hopefully the Preakness into a shot at winning the Belmont Stakes. And Cheryl will be right there watching with you.

Most importantly, in the very near future, you'll be watching races from Del Mar and Turfway Park and throwing around words like "furlong" and betting trifectas and superfectas. No one will know what you are talking about, except maybe your new girlfriend Cheryl, as you follow Scat Daddy's burgeoning career.

And it will all be because of the documentary that turned you into a Kentucky Derby Know-It-All.