Coming back from Europe I had two days to get back into the swing of things and to pack yet another -albeit smaller- suitcase. This time the suitcase was for our annual 'pilgrimmage' and anniversary (23rd!) trip to the horse capital of the world: Lexington, Kentucky. More precise: the Rolex 4star event.
Friday before dawn JP and I hit the road for the nearly six hour journey to Kentucky. Our nemesis is traversing Ohio, the state troopers love to hunt out-of-state speeders - and the speed limit is (especially for European drivers) a slooow 65 mph, sometimes even going down to 55 mph. Good hunting and steady income through doling out speeding tickets for the State of Ohio! This time we made it without incident, the only fly in the ointment was a rather bad breakfast on route.
But then: Ah, Kentucky!! Big breath, sunshine, green fields as far as the eye can see - and, of course, HORSES! We decided to skip the dressage part of Rolex and visit 'Old Friends Home for Retired Thoroughbreds' (www.oldfriendsequine.org). It's one of the only places that will take stallions, and those old boys still have a lot of spunk - JP now sports a huge bruise for not forking over a treat quickly enough. Some of the horses were multi-million dollar winners, only to be rescued at the last minute from the slaughter truck. One especially moved me almost to tears: 30 years old, deaf, and blind in one eye. He lost the eye on the race track in Japan, having been injured with a chain and then not treated. Still, he labored to come to the fence to see the group of visitors and carefully take treats. And then there was Patton, an old (equine) geezer that broke through two fence lines to get to the girls. As our guide said " in human years he would be in his 80s - so more power to him!"
Saturday: X-C day! Security was up, and for the first time all spectators had to go through security and bag inspection. No wonder, after the events in Boston. Kentucky police was out in full force, and their police horses were extremely handsome 'hunks'. Of course, I only checked out the equine hunks, not the human ones :-).
We spent all day walking the 4 mile course numerous times over. Quite a few riders made those humongous jumps look almost easy, while other struggled and parted company with their horses. Even my favorite, Mary King, retired because her horse struggled too much on course. Luckily no major injuries, and the equine ambulances and medical helicopter parked nearby had a quiet day. All in all it seemed the riders and horses this year were better prepared and conditioned than in some prior years.
Afterwards we did some serious shopping of some of Kentucky's finest: Woodford Reserve, and Kentucky Bourbon Ale; and then had a lovely dinner at Le Deauville. The return trip with our precious liquid cargo was uneventful today, and we made it home just in time to see a replay on NBC.
Bye-bye Bluegrass - we shall return! Now, Remy - watch out: I have signed us up for 'Eventing University'!
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