By B.C. Manion
Lee Edwards had her Kentucky Derby plan all laid out.
She and her husband, Joe, would attend Derby Day in their community of Southport Springs in Zephyrhills, and the 71-year-old would compete in the derby hat contest.
That plan changed however on April 26, when the derby hat that Edwards’ daughter-in-law made for her to wear at her community’s contest won the top prize in Kathie Lee and Hoda’s Homemade Derby Hat Contest, sponsored by The Today Show.
The hat features pink feathers, ribbons and miniature plastic horses that actually rotate around its brim, as if competing for the first jewel in horse racing’s triple crown.
So, instead of heading out to watch the derby with friends, the Zephyrhills couple was treated to a trip to watch the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.
They jetted off to Louisville, where they stayed in the luxury class Galt House Hotel, on the banks of the Ohio River, Lee Edwards said.
They went to a reception at the hotel that evening and then to Kentucky Oaks, a charity horseracing event the following day.
It was a posh affair, with tickets going for $350 each. The couple watched from a sixth-floor air-conditioned suite in an exclusive area known as Millionaire’s Row at Churchill Downs, where they could step onto a balcony to watch a race when they wanted.
Their tickets for the Run for the Roses the following day were valued at $750 each.
The couple headed out to the track around noon, watching races all day long – again from their sixth-floor suite.
Lee and Joe tasted their first mint juleps.
“I liked it very much,” said Joe, who is 71.
Lee was less enthused. She found another drink more to her liking.
“They had a drink called Lily. It was Grey Goose Vodka with sweet and sour in it. It was pink. I loved that,” she said.
The food was delicious, Joe said, noting the buffet had carving stations for turkey and roast beef and vegetables prepared in every way imaginable.
The desserts were to die for, he said. “They make a cheesecake, with an inch of this Derby Pie in the middle of it. I just kept going back and forth.”
Joe and Lee enjoyed the spectacle of it all.
“The fashion and the shoes – you know, those Lady Gaga shoes,” Lee said. “It was just wonderful.”
“I was so impressed with the fashion on display,” Joe agreed. “I’ve never seen this kind of fashion before.”
Watching the race from the balcony was a thrill, Joe said.
“We were just ahead of the first turn. This is where you see them stretched out. It’s like something out of the movies. They’re galloping, by then,” he said.
The roar of the crowd is amazing, he said. “It was like two trains coming by.”
Lee put a $2 bet down on Bodemeister to win, place or show.
“My horse was leading until the very end,” she said, then I’ll Have Another closed the gap to cross the finish line first.
She still won $20.
Joe said it was fun to be part of Millionaire’s Row, if only for a little while.
“It’s hard to believe that people live like that,” he said. “We’d go out and put a $2 bet down. The people next to me, one guy, [told the clerk taking bets] ‘Put 15 grand on No. 5 and put 14 [grand] on No. 3.’ ”
After the race, the couple’s derby adventure continued.
“Saturday evening after the race, we went to an after party for the derby and they brought some of the jockeys in,” Lee said.
They also enjoyed celebrity sightings at the derby and its related festivities.
“Miss Kentucky was there. Doris Roberts was at the Kentucky Derby, and a lot of movie stars,” Lee said.
The Zephyrhills woman was a bit of a celebrity herself, being interviewed by a local news crew, while donning her prize-winning hat.
Lee admitted that she didn’t wear her hat a lot.
“I can’t wear it very long. It’s very heavy,” Lee said.
When she wasn’t wearing it, Joe was carrying it.
“I’m the hat carrier,” he said, good-naturedly. “That’s what I spent my three days doing.”
