Bonus Phot-o' the Day: Go For Gin, Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Kentucky

Go For Gin. In artsy black & white. At his home at the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington, Kentucky. Visited April 2019 on my "horses and bourbon" tour of Central Kentucky.

Congratulations are now in order for Go For Gin, winner of the 1994 Kentucky Derby. His winning race in the mud at Churchill Downs is on the youtubes here. Go For Gin has now outlasted and outlived the competition and, now, is the Oldest Living Winner of a Triple Crown Race.

Here's Go For Gin in living color. These horses really do have noticeable personalities. The two (living) horses I most wanted to see on the "horses and bourbon" tour were War Emblem and Funny Cide. Both were aloof, like they knew they were superstars, living on a plain above the rest of us. Go For Gin seemed fun and sociable. He was the only horse there that enjoyed playing out in the rain (which is appropriate for a horse whose most notable win was on a muddy track at Churchill Downs). At the same time, he was very protective of another horse in the pasture next door, a champion pacer named Staying Together, who was blind (and, sadly, now deceased).

Sadly, Go For Gin ascended to the title of "Oldest Living Winner of a Triple Crown Race" upon the death yesterday of the great A.P. Indy. Although A.P. Indy's only win (in his only Triple Crown race) was the 1992 Belmont Stakes, he probably was the greatest thoroughbred racing horse since the immortal Secretariat. An injury kept him out of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but his winning time in the Belmont of 2:26 was bettered only by Secretariat (and equaled in 1989 by Easy Goer). After his racing career ended, A.P. Indy became a legend in his stud, becoming what they call a "breed-shaping sire" because of the quality of his progeny. R.I.P. A.P. Indy.

Finishing Up the Horses and Bourbon Mini-Vacation with Horses

The horse-drawn tram leaves the station on tour twice daily.

The final stop on the 2019 Horses and Bourbon Mini-Vacation(TM) was the Kentucky Horse Park, a theme park (the theme being "horses") and working horse farm just south of Georgetown, Kentucky.

Winter is over at Kentucky Horse Park, which meant summer hours. Not summer temperatures. Winter temperatures. Summer hours.

This is the horse statue that greets you outside the entrance. Once you pass through the gates, off to your right:

Secretariat.

They still love Red in Central Kentucky. Here he is from another angle:

 And off to the left, the other candidate for Greatest Thoroughbred Ever:

Man O'War.

This is a recently added statue:

It is in honor of "Sergeant Reckless," who served honorably in the Korean War.

She's a mare. So I guess that would make her a WAC.

Here are some carriages, just waiting for some horse power:

Ready for some live horses? Be a Bono, a quarterhorse.

Better view:

This is another of the working horses here at the Kentucky Horse Park:

This is a small show of different horse breeds. I arrived at the show after it ended.

I found only because I wanted to take the 2:45 horse tram ride because ... well, do you need a reason to ride in a tram being pulled by Clydesdales who have not sold their souls to a massive conglomerate that brews flavorless beer?

After the brief ride around the park, it was time to meet the off-duty police horses.

From the tram ride, I learned the location of the celebrity paddocks. There are three famous celebrity horses in residence at the Kentucky Horse Park:  Go For Gin, winner of the 1994 Kentucky Derby; Point Given, the newest celebrity-resident and winner of the 2001 Preakness and Belmont (he lost the Kentucky Derby that year to Monarchos, a horse who ran the fastest Kentucky Derby ever of any horse not names Secretariat, and then promptly did nothing more); and the famous Funny Cide, the New York-bred gelding who won the first two jewels in the 2003 Triple Crown.

And, here, at a distance, is the famous Funny Cide:

Seeing these famous horses really is like a celebrity sighting for me. Only better! I don't know their politics. They don't tweet! They don't conspicuously consume with the Kardashians. The only "sex scandal" any of them have had was when War Emblem (who we met at Old Friends) ended up not liking sex. Scan-de-licious!

I'm of a certain age, so the celebrity horses I like seeing are from the 1990's and early 2000's.

I arrived too late for the Hall of Champions Show. And they are renovating the Hall of Champions barn that houses the Big-Name Celebrities.  So I wasn't sure I was going to get any closer to Funny Cide than that.

Or any closer to the 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin than this.

But they brought out a retired champion pacer for the few of us standing around to meet.

This is "Staying Together," which was his racing name. He is 30 and blind.

Apparently, the other horses are very protective of Staying Together. Go for Gin came over to make sure everything is cool.

Later, the treat bucket is brought out and Funny Cide comes over closer.

Apparently Funny Cide has a bit of an aggressive temperament. Not too much, apparently, but enough that there is double fencing and, unlike the gentle Staying Together, there is no direct feeding of this horses from us tourists.

Go for Gin's feeding bucket is brought over close to us so Go for Gin will come over closer to us.

Go for Gin is 28 and looks great. They call him "George Clooney" because he has kept is darkly smoldering good looks into his old age. The tour guide compared his temperament to a playful dog, while Funny Cide was more like an aloof cat.

Go for Gin won the 1994 Kentucky Derby on a muddy track.  Apparently, unlike every other horse that wants to be inside during inclement weather, Go for Gin will come out and frolic like a puppy in rain or snow. Funny Cide, with the cat personality, lost the Belmont on a horribly muddy track.

Point Given is in the paddock behind Funny Cide's. Even from the distance you could tell he was huge. We did not get any closer to him.

Some former residents of the Kentucky Derby Horse Park are buried on the grounds. Alysheba:

Cigar. Funny Cide inherited his paddock after Cigar's passing:

Closing time was getting closer and I want to see the Museum of the Horse. But to get there I walk past two giant chairs.

Why the giant chairs? Apparently they were used in some horse competition several years and, well, what else are you going to do with giant chairs other than just put them out there on display.

Above is a terra cotta horse from India that looks like a piñata. Below is a terra cotta horse from India that looks like a terra cotta horse.

Like these horses, I am racing through the horses throughout history exhibit.

The museum is undergoing renovations, which is why some displays are closed off and others are under wraps. This wrapped horse sculpture suspended from the ceiling would be one of the absolute most interesting exhibits if it were hanging in a modern art museum. Instead, it's a horse wrapped in protective plastic in a horse museum.

More carriages that could use a horse to pull them:

The last one is a "lady's carriage." And, finally, to conclude the afternoon at Kentucky Horse Park on the first day of summer hours, the Secretariat display:

And that concludes the 2019 Horses and Bourbon Mini-Vacation(TM). Next up in five weeks will be a much-needed maxi-vacation.