The Kentucky Derby: The very mention of the event makes the blood run hot; it’s an elegantly garish spectacel where the toxic mixture of Bluegrass, Blueblood, Bourbon, and Money – lots of money – explodes in a maddening convulsion on the first Saturday in May every year since 1875. The Derby at Churchill Downs is a quintessential American ritual, where 3 year-old thoroughbred horses compete for a $2 million purse in a 2 kilometer “Run for the Roses.” It is often billed as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports.” Yes! Top-Hat horse racing at its very best.

The 2-week long Kentucky Derby Festival soaks in bacchanalian indulgence, capped off by the Saturday run. Lexington, Kentucky, teems with watchers and wagers and women in festive broad-brimmed hats adorned with colorful flowers, escorted by gentlemen in tails and tuxes. While in backyards across the land, revelers sip bourbon, mint juleps, and savor country ham and biscuits in a virtual inclusion in the event. And all this because of horses.

Imagine!

The horse is a magnificently sleek, muscular animal, an icon of Greek mythology. Pegasus, the winged stallion, was born of the hot blood of Medusa’s severed head. It has morphed and now has a place at the center of American culture and lore.

The horse is an integral part of a mystical connection between man and country, and it has helped define the American psyche. It personifies the American image: Man’s struggle to settle and domesticate a wild and lawless frontier. Etched in the country’s collective mind’s eye, the image of the Mustang, wild and free, is symbolism of the highest subtlety, the stuff of American drama.

Images seen early in black and white through the lens of Hollywood remain seared in our mind … Roy and Trigger, Dale and Buttermilk, The Lone Ranger and Silver, Gene Autry, Lash Larue, Gabby, Wyatt, Billy, Geronimo, Tonto … pioneers of the epic saga on early TV and in small-town movie matinees. Cowboys, Indians, Good Guys, Bad Guys (distinguished by hat color) … who hasn’t played those roles in childhood? Look! See the images now: horses flying, dead runs, ears back, tails streaming, dust flying, bullets zinging, images indelibly etched into our collective memory. Romantic notions of starry nights, of campfires, hot coffee, bed rolls, Home-on-the-Range ballads by the Sons of the Pioneers troubadours— these captured the hearts of a nation of wanderers longing for the illusion of freedom offered by Hollywood and the “gentle” Western plains.

Good stuff, nurturing stuff, and horses were at the center of these fascinations. But alas, sooner or later we must get off the broom-stick horses of our youth. The nostalgic portrayals of an innocent black and white screen have yielded to more harsh and violent Hollywood cowboys. Across the screen rides a dark silhouette, The High Plains Drifter, the Eastwood vigilante, a solitary and menacing avenger of evil. Behold, a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death.

We shudder, but soon laugh at Billy Crystal’s City Slickers, letting comedy lighten the mood, as we retire in gated Equestrian Estates in Florida, the modern version of Home-on-the- Range.

Everyone who has ever ridden a horse has a story to tell. My experiences with horses parallel those I had with women: mostly bad. I remember once thinking that I could be a cowboy. Listen: Never, never, spur a stallion into a dead gallop, hanging on to the side of the constellation, Pegasus, filled with billions of stars, a “horse heaven” we might call it. And what about us? “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ….” The Kentucky Derby: On May 5th the 134th running will continue to celebrate America’s love affair with horses. And maybe, just maybe, we can share with Pegasus a constellation of our own as a conclusion to our myth.

Meanwhile, I’m off my “high horse” and have hung up my spurs, and this “dark horse” is about to be put “out to pasture” with the rest of the “rode hard and put up wet” Urban Cowboys, singing, Green Acres is the place to be …. saddle and think you can spring into it by kinetic energy! In my case the saddle came off; dusty and bloody, I got off the ground, chasing the horse back to the barn. Valuable lessons can be learned from horses: Act dumb when faced with an unpleasant task.

Follow the herd so you can’t be singled out to take the blame. Eat plenty of roughage. Great legs, a nice rear, and big brown eyes will get you anywhere. New shoes are an absolute necessity every 6 weeks. Though horses aren’t immortal, the mythic horse lives on. Roy stuffed Trigger, but Pegasus was “raptured” and became the modern-day constellation, Pegasus, filled with billions of stars, a “horse heaven” we might call it. And what about us? “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ….” The Kentucky Derby: On May 5th the 134th running will continue to celebrate America’s love affair with horses. And maybe, just maybe, we can share with Pegasus a constellation of our own as a conclusion to our myth. Meanwhile, I’m off my “high horse” and have hung up my spurs, and this “dark horse” is about to be put “out to pasture” with the rest of the “rode hard and put up wet” Urban Cowboys, singing, Green Acres is the place to be ….