Horsing Around: 10 Ways To Dress For The Kentucky Derby (SLIDESHOW)

Freshly cut grass, horse manure, hats, and greenbacks make me think of two things: the time I went riding in a pasture full of money with Minnie Pearl, and the Kentucky Derby. The cash, the energy, the fashion, the animals...it's great! And the best part is that if your hat looks awesome but your horse is a loser, you still win! So place your bets on I Want Revenge, grab a Miller High Life, put on your coolest cap, and take a look at last year's top 10 fashions, lovely from Louisville. Do they beat this year's? Only time, and the blogs, will tell.

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10.
This charming lady has her arms wrapped fully around the Derby experience: she’s checking out the stats, drinking a Mint Julep, and posing, hat perfectly in place, for the photographer. She looks effortlessly chic. Well done!

Comments

[sarahwaters]

The conditions of the dirt had me so considered for those horses. The mud was unbelievable! I am so happy none of them broke a leg.
I was thrilled to see who won the Kentucky Derby. 50 - to 1 horse! I always vote for the long shot. In horseracing a horse that cost $9500 is cheap. The trainer had a broken leg and transported he and the horse 21 hours to the Kentucky Derby. Impressive and the jockey was just as humbling. He raised a rose to the sky for his deceased, loving parents. That was so geniune. I loved the race and how he ran it, right next to the fence and was practically the last horse in the race, and he ran next to the fence and won by a very wide margin. It was like he was the only horse in the race.
Congratuations.
The English do it with their hats! Why not us, on Kentucky Derby day, I have never seen such gorgeous hats in my life, and the size of the hats got so big and the ladies looked beautiful.

[NevaforLeadership]

Surely, we can find some other event to wear beautiful hats. Not at the cruel "sport" of horse racing.

All who attend, bet, or participate in this business are contributing to cruelty to animals.

[verycold]

Unfortunately my sentiments exactly. I remember as a child going to Lexington to visit Calumet farms to see all the babies. I asked my mom if all the babies became racers. To my dismay, she replied few get to be racers, and even fewer get to be winners. We know what happens to the rest. It would be many years later when I visited another big TB farm with babies littering the fields as far as the eye could see. Breeders breed every mare possible in the hopes of getting that jewel. The problem is that horses bred to race do not make great backyard riding horses for the average rider and thus if they fail to have what it takes to race they are dog food.

So when we cheer those risking their lives and the lives of their horses you should know they are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones are back at the farm awaiting their fate which is not good at all. I know. I have a Bold Ruler granddaughter.

[sarahwaters]

Chelse, Heidi, and Spencer photos are from last year's derby.

[kuhler]

That would be why the intro says "take a look at last year's top 10 fashions . . . ."

[Dots]

I am repulsed by the idea of horse racing, dog racing and the people who make money off it.
It is a kind of slavery...animal abuse for sure.
Hardly better than bull fighting and gladiators in ancient Rome...hardly an honorable sport!
Do you know what happens to the animals who can't run fast enough to turn a profit?
Slaughter. (A very few get rescued.)

[azriel]

and to think they said that Michael Vick was cruel?

[goddess1871]

Sometimes you can tell the high-class from the lower class by the fashions, sometimes not. Heh. Give me the infield any time.

[NevaforLeadership]

Horse racing is a "sport" of enormous cruelty.

I once had occasion to be in the area where the horses were led from the track back to their stalls. It broke my heart. I still shudder remembering how they were grasping for breath.

Horses were not put on this planet for man's cruel sports. The fashion parade adds insult to injury. Put these women in their hats at the starting gate and whip them to the end of the track at frenzied speeds. Let them really experience the "sport."

I urge all those who care for animals never to go to the race track again.

[quindy]

This is excellent idea! It would also be much more entertaining and PETA would agree.

[mariah793]

I think that horses are better off, as a species, with racing and equestrian and show events, than without them. Not alot of people can afford to keep horses as "pets" or stable them for occasional riding. And their lives aren't exactly wonderful working as "pull animals" on farms or hitched up to carriages/wagons.

My guess is that their life spans are alot longer now than any point in history.

[cktirumalai]

Good photographs, and interesting commentary. The hats seem to maintain a delicate and sometimes precarious balance between taste and extravgance, which may be quite appropriate in its setting.
I have never had a mint julep but ever since I saw a recurrent reference to it 40 years ago it has been synonymous in mind with Kentucky gentry.
About the comment on the first photo. I know Philly as Philadelphia, and I know of a filly in racing. Perhaps your conflaton was a Joyceanism.