‘My bottom dollar for a horse’

(My friend and fellow Inquirer Sports columnist, Recah Trinidad, launches his historical novel, “Tales of the River” at the new Mandaluyong City Hall at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The book retraces Recah’s youth on the Pasig when, like Old Man River, it just kept rolling along.)

EVERY karerista’s dream race, the Kentucky Derby, ran its 139th edition at Churchill Downs in Lexington, Kentucky, Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As expected, Bayang Karerista around the horse racing universe, particularly in the United States, trooped to a racetrack or a satellite betting station to wager on “the most exciting two minutes in sports.”

“My bottom dollar for a horse,” proclaimed a California chum, Rey Ramos by e-mail before the race, amusingly taking off from King Richard III’s immortal equine line.

Rey and other Pinoy railbirds were at the Cal Expo Fair grounds in Sacramento to raise a glass or two for their annual Derby ritual.

If it’s true that there is a Filipino in every corner of the earth, some kareristas from the adobo nation were probably present at Churchill Downs when the racing judge bellowed “Riders Up!” That was the cue for the post parade leading to the most famous horse race in the world.

These diehards were more blessed than the Abaloses, Chuas, Esguerras and other wealthy Pinoy horsemen with the means to be in the Blue Grass State but weren’t.

Galloping over a sloppy track, Orb, the 7-2 morning-line favorite ridden by hot jockey Joel Rosario, edged long shot Golden Soul by nearly three lengths to win the $2 million purse. Orb paid $12.80 for every $2 bet.

It was the first Derby victory for the Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and the esteemed Phipps family. This year’s two-kilometer, $2-million race also marked the first time in a long time that the Derby did not live up to its hex as the house of horrors for fancied and favored horses.

Last year, “I’ll Have Another,” a 12-1 shot, galloped home first to pay $32.60 for every $2 bet. In recent memory, two horses at even longer odds—Mine That Bird in 2009 and Giacomo in 2005, both at 50-1—won over favorites and paid $100 plus for every $2 bet.

The Kentucky Derby—on the first Saturday of May—is an American tradition, specially to railbirds of all stripes, US Pinoys included.

A stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbreds, the Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown of US thoroughbred racing. The others are the Preakness and the Belmont.

Itself the high point of Derby Day, the race as usual featured womenfolk who donned unique hats, ala Inquirer lifestyle maven Tessa Prieto-Valdes.

The damsels joined the gentlemen—from the jet-setters on Millionaire’s Row to the $2 bettors in the bleachers—to sip mint julep, a mix of bourbon, mint and sugar while perusing the racing form.

The race prelude’s most moving part came when the band struck up “My Old Kentucky Home,” and brought the horses onto the most venerated racetrack in horseland.

Penned by Stephen Foster, the song is familiar to many Filipinos who grew up in the 1950s, at the zenith of PH-US relations.

As the good times rolled, today’s Baby Boomers then in grade school, sang the same song, along with “When Springtime in the Rockies” and other American folk melodies.