Rolex, Derby, Book Signings, Babies - OH MY!

Things are going at a crazy rate these days.  The Derby is right around the corner and it's hard to tell who will actually make it into the field!  There have been so many changes and horses dropping out.  CRAZY!  Matt is keeping tabs on it all with his blog Turf and Dirt.

We have several house guests coming in the next couple of days.  Alex Brown will be here to do book signings at Joseph-Beths Bookstore in Lexington on Thursday, The Kentucky Derby Museum on Friday followed by Old Friends on Saturday.  Then our other friend Alex Evers will be here to shoot Rolex, The Derby and to be one of our instructors for our Equestrian Workshop.

Right now, Matt and I are juggling the weather with our photography demands.  We need sun to get our foal pictures for our clients and recently we have been inundated with rain.  So we're trying to fit in the foals and yearlings in between rain drops and sunshine.  Add to that, my own horses have to be off the high octane grass pasture during the daytime hours because it's making them F-A-T!  It's a bit of a pain to go out twice a day but it puts a smile on my face to see them doing so well in their Kentucky home.

This Thursday - Sunday is Rolex!  I love going to Rolex as well as many of my blogging friends...  I had a great time shooting last year (my first time there) and now that I've been there I have a little bit better idea of what I want to shoot.  Here are my shots from last year's Rolex.   One of my favorite captures was this one of Gin And Juice with Hawley Bennett-Awad aboard:





If you check out the photos, make sure you look at the facial expressions of the riders.

This morning Matt and I went to Churchill Downs to catch some of the Derby horses working. This guy here, Shackleford, looked mighty fine in person. My photo doesn't do him justice:




And Archarcharch (or Arch3 for short) is awfully good looking too. I'm a sucker for black horses





We shall see who actually makes the 20 horse field come the first Saturday in May.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about last weekend at Keeneland and the weather.   It poured rain on Saturday during the post parade for the feature race - The Lexington Stakes.   The lightning was all around and I admit it scared the heck out of me and I took cover but I also snapped a couple pics during the downpour of John, the lead outrider having a good laugh in the rain:





Derby Kitten (by Kitten's Joy) was the winner with Julian Leparoux aboard. I happened to catch them at the start as well as the finish.  The starting gate was so close for my big 500mm lens that I could only get one horse in the gate.  I was lucky I got the eventual winner!




And then coming across the wire..




And a little celebratory "give me five" with the owner, Kenneth Ramsey:




I'm not sure if they are going to the Derby...  The whole Derby picture is just too confusing for my pea brain that I can't keep up but it sure does keep things interesting.