LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Dozens of passenger buses ferried thousands of colorfully dressed spectators to Churchill Downs for Thurby. "Top of the morning," a driver greeted each person as his bus packed out.
Spirits were high the Thursday before Derby. The stakes, even higher. One kid held up 10 fingers for the $10 he'll bet ahead of his eighth birthday. Hope Thompson, a Georgetown, Kentucky native attending her first Derby, bet $20.
But Bobby Radcliffe, his son, BJ, and the father of one of Sierra Leone's owners spent the preview race day slamming $21,200 dollars down on the Derby favorite.
"Twenty grand!? No, sorry, that's a down payment on a house or a car," Thompson said when she heard the news.
"Oh hell no, I could not do that," Zachary Bruner, another in the crowd protested.
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"I've been poor all my life," Bobby joked on his way down the escalator from the bet. He just lost $100 dollars on a Thurby race, betting against a horse BJ liked.
For decades, Bobby made a career out of training horses.
"You need a little luck from the Derby gods on Derby day, so we're just hoping we have that," BJ said of the major bet.
A little luck could lead to a big payout. But so far, it's been an unlucky hunk of cash.
"We tried to claim a horse at Keeneland for $21,200," Bobby explained, "we made four claims and we did not get a horse so our money goes back into an account here at Churchill Downs."
Claiming races let people buy horses the moment a race begins. When the gate opens, the sale is final. If several people want the same horse, their names are put in envelopes. Then, a claim official numbers the envelopes. The official shakes a leather case of numbered pills that look like one-sided dice and draws one. Whoever wins the draw gets the horse.
But even if you lose the shake, you still keep the cash. It's a four loss low the Radcliffes pray becomes a one-race win.
"With that much money, if I take 20,000 and try to make 100 it'll take me a year," Bobby said. "I could do it in two minutes."
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With the greatest two minutes in sports on the way and over $20,000 on their second-post pick, they hope two really is the magic number.
If they win, the Radcliffes said they'll spend the money the way it was originally meant: on a horse of their own.
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