Let Me Tell You This About That

The First Weekend in May--the colorful Kentucky Derby!

• Hess and Delbert • Season 1 • Episode 29

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In this episode Hess and Delbert discuss the Kentucky Derby, and  what it means to Kentucky.  They talk about how the Derby represents what is great about Kentucky and it represents what can be the best about our country.  People from all walks of life and backgrounds come together to celebrate.  Louisville works hard to welcome people from the world.  Delbert and Hess reminisce about funny times in their past attending the Derby.  Horse Racing is a teamwork that makes success, like all things in life, it is about connection and that is the most important thing. 

Jose is getting his chemo--Help my friend José wipe out the Stage 4 cancer in his body! The Chemo has shrunk the mass in the colon, but the cancer in his liver has increased--so the chemo is going to be more powerful! Help him out and donate please.
https://gofund.me/e6f61999

In addition to being a podcast host, Hess is also an LCSW--if you'd like to learn more about her work as a therapist, check it out at www.jessicabollinger.com

One of her mission's is for all of our lights to shine--when we see each other and allow ourself to be seen--and we can say to the person in front of us, There You Are! the world will be an amazing place!

Delbert is a realtor in Louisville, KY, and you can find her at Kentucky Select Properties

Her philanthropic work to continue her sister Carole and niece Meghan is Carole's Kitchen. Blessings in a Backpack helps feed the many hungry students in our schools. The instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/caroleskitchen.nonprofit?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==





Hess:

Hey everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to our podcast. Let me tell you this about that. is Hess.

Delbert:

Good morning. It's me, Delbert live from the green couch looking out my big window, and it is the day after the Kentucky Derby. Wow. What a race. What a day.

Hess:

It was wonderful. So it's kinda it's kinda like that day after where you say, I should, I wish. I would've bet. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Delbert:

I did bet on Owen because of the connection that you had with Owen Almighty. I bet on him across the board. Of course, he came in fifth.

Hess:

And fifth was not bad. In a field of

Delbert:

Whoa. I thought I was so proud of him. I didn't even mind losing that$2 across the board bet. And I bet on all secretariats descendants too in some kind of order. But I must have bet journalism to across the board too.'cause I won$5 on the, on my Twins Fires app. I had$5 more when I woke up this morning.

Hess:

Yeah, because journalism came in second.

Delbert:

Sovereignty, wow. Another beautiful story that I didn't know anything about until they came across the finish line and that Sweet Jockey Jr. Raises his hands up to heaven. Wow. What a beautiful moment. And he's kissing the horse and they're just. Covered in mud, and I kept thinking, I hope the mud doesn't get in that horse's eyes. But it didn't. He had these big, beautiful eyes with these big, long eyelashes and he did get a bath before he got his bundle of roses.

Hess:

His roses. Yeah. Yeah. They have a big five gallon bucket of water and the grooms will get'em washed off. And there was even somebody that I saw a veterinarian on their back was hosing them

Delbert:

I saw that. I saw him hosing him off. He's that feels good. All.

Hess:

And a lot of you probably know this, but some of you might not. So I'm gonna say the jockey will have about five or six goggles on the, their helmet, right over their brim, and they will. They will excuse me. They put on all these goggles, right? They have'em all on before they start the race. They pull the goggles down over their eyes, and as they can't see, they reach their hand up and they pull the top goggle down. They pull the top goggle down off their eyes,

Delbert:

Whoa. That'd be fun to see how many he went through.

Hess:

Right now, and you're making a point like, the horse doing? Because they're not wearing goggles, are they squinting with all this mud going up in their face?

Delbert:

He didn't have any, he had a lot on his snout, but he didn't have any around his eyes. Maybe his big beautiful ears and his big beautiful eyelids and eyelid. I noticed that he had real. Beautiful big eyelashes because I was staring at his face to make sure he didn't have mud in his eyes, and he didn't. So I don't know. That's one. That's one. Sometimes they put the little, blinkers on'em if they're too social,

Hess:

yeah. There's all different kinds of reasons for the blinkers, Delbert, where they might shy something or from

Delbert:

Yeah.

Hess:

they can still see really well but something might not scare'em from the side. That might help'em focus more. And some might even have what's called a shadow roll cavason and across their nose. And that might help'em also not shy about something that might be close to them or up underneath them.

Delbert:

Tess. You're always teaching. You are a teacher in your heart. You really are.

Hess:

You don't know what you don't know, and I'm still learning. Delbert. I was helping in the barn this morning'cause we have somebody new, really cool guy that started with us for on Sundays.'cause our Jose is fighting cancer and I've got a link down below on our podcast to GoFundMe for Jose for his stage four colon cancer. Anyway Jardiel wonderful, and when we were leading the two horses up from the paddock, a big fox ran out of our little hay shed that's at the end of the barn. It was just magnificent to see that.

Delbert:

I told Hess, I said, oh man, you are gonna have good luck today. A Fox's good luck. And they're so sweet too. Really they're so beautiful.

Hess:

Tell us what you know about sovereignty. You

Delbert:

Oh, shoot. I don't know. I really just loved the jockey. I just loved the way that he was just so sweet and kissed his horse and pointed up to heaven and was talking to his mama on the phone. But let me tell you this about that, and then a lot more about sovereignty than I do. This is what I, this is my feeling about the Kentucky Derby.'cause my heart just goes pitter patter all week, so it's the eyes of the world are on Louisville, and we just work in this beautiful chaos together to make'em feel welcome. Every louisvillian, their desire is for people everywhere from all over the world to feel welcome and have the best experience they can. And when you look. At the TV and see all of those people dressed all different ways. I was telling my grandkids, I said, the Darling Society. I said, if the world could just be like the Kentucky Derby, I. It would be awesome because there's no wrong way to dress. Everybody expresses themselves in all these beautiful colors, these fantastic hats that they make. And you could see a guy with two feet of a twin spires with horses going around it, as a hat with a pair of overalls on, and then look over and some woman dressed to the nines, but, and so there's no wrong way. Everybody celebrates and expresses themselves in their own way. And so I just love that about the city of Louisville. And I was saying to my grandkids, I said, there's a quote from Jesse Stuart that says if the United States was a body, Kentucky would be the heart. And they said, oh no darling. It's so beautiful here. It's so sensory. Kentucky has to be the eyes.

Hess:

Wow.

Delbert:

So that's what I know. That's how I feel, like we said last week mayor Farsley a long time ago, really worked to promote the Derby. Whenever he would travel somewhere, he would have him play my old Kentucky home when he was in any restaurant or bar. And, he planned it for this first day in May.'cause before it rotated around a little bit. And he wanted it to have a set day, first Saturday in May because everything's in bloom. And it's just so beautiful here. It really is a feast for your eyes. Last night I, the other night I was walking home from an Oaks party and the sky was literally pale, lavender or lilac, and the smell of lilac was in the air. It is just. Just extraordinary.

Hess:

Everybody. Dresses in bright, there's a lot of bright colors you can wear anything. And a lot of people are just all dressed up. And the derby hats are the I saw this one picture where this gal with the derby hat, or they were talking about their outfits and her hat was like$150 in her dress was like$40. The hats. The hats are just cool and fun. And there's articles with just pictures of hats. one of my theories about the hats Delbert sometimes that a lot of the hats are just really huge. That even though there might be 150,000 people there at the Derby, and it's pretty crowded that the hat, having a big old hat on gives you that space where it helps you. It helps give you a little bit more square footage

Delbert:

It does. It does. And it keeps the sun off or the rain off a little bit and it does. It sets up like a little bit of a boundary for you, for sure. For sure.

Hess:

And then some hats are just a big flower that's just

Delbert:

Yes, the fascinator, it's like a headband with a big flower or decorator and everybody just gets so creative and a lot of people make their own, it's just so fun. All the excitement leading up to it. So today's like our day after Christmas, or a really big holiday here in Louisville. We're tired. Yeah. But we're.

Hess:

like Boxing Day in England after Christmas, day after Christmas is Boxing Day. Yeah. Or you can wear just a clear, you a lot of clear ponchos you put on over your outfit And we were about 10,000 short, about 146-147 thousand at this year's derby. Last year was a big derby. It was the hundred 50th. Last year was 157,000. So just about 10,000 less with a lot of downpours, heavy downpours.

Delbert:

right,

Hess:

but it doesn't matter. It

Delbert:

No,

Hess:

You just wear clear poncho

Delbert:

there are a lot of people with a clear poncho on and they still had their hat on. They were dancing in the rain. I just love that. It just beautiful, the spirit of it all. It's hard to explain. Irvine. S Cobb said, until you've gone to Kentucky and behold with your own eyes, the derby, you ain't never been nowhere and you ain't seen nothing.

Hess:

I love

Delbert:

He's a writer from Paducah, Kentucky, and I'm gonna get some of his books. I saw that quote and then I looked up what he had written and it's a lot about laughter and living your life. Exit. Laughing. It's one of his I'm gonna read, I'm gonna read, that's a new goal of mine. I'm gonna take it to the beach with us Hess

Hess:

Good deal. You can give me some more quotes from'em. Yeah. So it's just a fantastic day and it's like we've said it's two minutes. Secretariat has the all time world record for. Oh gosh, 50 years of a little shy of two minutes, maybe 1 59 or something. It was run yesterday and about 2 0 2, and it was a pretty fast pace because

Delbert:

Yes.

Hess:

to dig into that mud. We'd gotten over an inch of rain and they had to get their wheels going on the mud.

Delbert:

Yeah, it was a fast race considering the track conditions. So Hess and I are just always so proud of the derby because it's our hometown, first of all. And then I tell you all the time that my mamo and papa lived down by Churchill Downs. So as a child I used to walk there with my great-grandmother. I used to walk to the track, the church where my parents got married and where I went to mass a lot with my grandmother is holy name. And it's, if you're at the track, you just look left and there's that beautiful. Beautiful brick porcelain church with the terracotta roof. That's where my family's lot of our religious history is. So I just, when I'm there I just feel so much of my ancestors and it's just it's almost a spiritual experience for me to be there.

Hess:

Yeah. And Delbert growing up. So we we just, I just turned 67. Delbert turned 67 in January. We've known each other since the first grade. Went to grade school and high school together. That's why we're together now doing this. And so we were in high school when they were about to run the hundredth derby,

Delbert:

Right.

Hess:

and that was gonna be a big, huge deal. And we've talked about my cousin Dewey that brought Delbert and I together.'cause Dewey told Delbert on the first grade on the first day of kindergarten. Hey, you're late. You're, you haven't been here for five days. We're on the letter E and the word is the picture's. Elephant, E for elephant. Anyway, Dewey Delbert, this is a Dewey story is so it was gonna be, it was gonna be the 99th Derby we're like freshman or sophomores or something, and Dewey says I want the first derby that I go to be the hundredth, I really wanna go to this year's derby, so I'm gonna go, but I'm gonna pretend I didn't go

Delbert:

And she did. And she did.

Hess:

right.

Delbert:

And my dad would not let me go to the infield because he worked for Todd Hollenback, he was our county judge. And I. And he was on the police merit board. So he just knew all these stories of what happened in the infield back then. We had streakers climb up the flagpole and, but, so he's no, not my oldest daughter. You're not going to the infield. So he bought for the hundredth, he bought me and three of my friends a box for the hundredth, and we went in police cars. Right behind my dad and his friends. We had three police cars. Two of them were packed with his friends and me and my friends are in the police cruiser. And we've got bottles of Bacardi strapped inside of our big bell bottoms. Riding,

Hess:

your

Delbert:

flying, yeah. Flying down the expressway in this police car with a siren on it.

Hess:

Oh my gosh.

Delbert:

So that was my first derby, was the hundredth. And it was Dewey's also'cause she forgot about the 99th.

Hess:

What what two friends did you take with you?

Delbert:

So it was Karen Barnett and we called her Barney. There were so many Karens in our class. All of them had nicknames. And then Teri Raidt, her cousin, and Molly Bergner. Do you remember Molly?

Hess:

Oh, yeah. Redheaded

Delbert:

I love Molly. And, my dad would come down every so often and say, you girls need a Coke? And that's what we were drinking, Bacardi and Coke. We'd say, yes, please. We were being so good. But anyway, that was my first derby and that was just a wonderful experience. I do prefer a seat over the infield. I did get to finally go to the infield later when I was in college and,

Hess:

right.

Delbert:

A lot of chicken fights in the mud when it rains there. A lot of they do the blankets like a trampoline and throw people up in the blanket. Yeah. But there's Hess wouldn't drink anything when she was in the infield because there the bathroom lines were so long. And I'm like, Hess, why didn't you ask me? I just go in the men's room, they're in and out.

Hess:

I felt like I'd seen things like I'd never seen before.

Delbert:

You felt

Hess:

a, yeah.

Delbert:

like Bob? Yeah.

Hess:

Yeah. And to me and the way that I said it back then,'cause the Vietnam War was going on, I said, I feel like I've been to Vietnam. I've seen things I thought I'd never seen before.

Delbert:

You were traumatized.

Hess:

And you, and in that infield, it was a huge pack. Now it's not so much now because they have other things in So much now, but it was like$10 to go to the infield and now it's$110 to get in the in field.

Delbert:

And you'd walk through that tunnel with your wagon, with your booze, like underneath a watermelon or something, or you'd soak a watermelon.

Hess:

Right.

Delbert:

I. And I, okay, so here's another funny infield story. I was at Nonie's House the other night, and that's when I walked home with that Lilac sky and she reminded me of a time that these Trinity guys that we knew had one of their friends, they put him in a wheelchair with a blanket over him, and he had a pony keg in between his legs.

Hess:

Oh my gosh.

Delbert:

Now that is ingenious.

Hess:

they didn't catch

Delbert:

No Uhuh. So I had forgotten about that and we were trying to remember which friend it was that did it. So any pods out there listening from Louisville, let us know. If you remember that it was in the 1970s and you'd walk through that tunnel, that big long tunnel to get to the infield and everybody'd sing and yeah, so super fun.

Hess:

Yeah. And I didn't wanna drink any fluids'cause the lines to the bathrooms were so long. It's crazy. And so I went once in college because somebody I met in college had never been, and I thought, okay, I'll take you to the Derby infield, but it's. It's wild. So I'm, that's the only two times I've been to the Derby. I don't really do crowds, but Delbert, I just ate it up yesterday at watching it on TV and watching all the stories, and I would then have my computer and then I'd research the stories and stuff. And it was just it was just, I just really eat it up. There's such good. There's such good stories and I guess it's kinda like watching the Olympics where everybody's given the background

Delbert:

Yes and for every horse, it seems like there's almost a hundred. Just beautiful, fantastic stories. What did you, I know you researched sovereignty. What, what did, what do you know about.

Hess:

It's the first win by Ga Dolphin Farms. I. And that he was, he's a home bread the trainer, 71 years old. And it's his first real win because he won back in 2019 with Country House There was a disqualification of maximum security'cause he didn't pass some kind of drug test at the end. So

Delbert:

Who was that? Mott was the trainer.

Hess:

The story was the citizen bull horse the jockey of that horse had a really cool story. He came over and immigrated from Mexico in, and he started working for a deli in Southern California. And one of his great childhood memories was a horse that his grandfather had given him that he rode. the woman that owned this deli named Terry, TERI, Terry she had like dressage horses and she rode, so she took him with her. She took him to the barn where she had her horses and he would ride around and love the horses. So she connected him to become a rider, start working with somebody to exercise horses. so that was a really cool story because she loved this guy so much and she helped to get him started as a jockey, and he did really well. And she just passed away a couple week, a couple months ago from cancer and that was just really hard on this jockey because he loved her so much. And just, that's so cool. And another the horse that won the Kentucky Oaks, the trainer of it. When somebody says, what's this like for you? He goes, oh, it's just a team. I'm thinking about the people at the track that are feeding the horses right now, or the people at the training center, they're feeding. And I couldn't bring them here. That it's this whole web of people that help. Make this happen. The hot walkers that walk the horse after they've exercised the grooms, the groom, the horses the exercise riders, the jockeys, the trainers. There's just so much of a team of people.

Delbert:

It is, it's so beautiful. It's so much about humanity and our connection to the earth and the care. I love how much all the jockeys and the grooms and the walkers and the trainers and everybody that's on the backside love these animals and adore them. And I was telling Hess one of my favorite places to be when the weather's nice ist just right out on the rail. To just be close to all that energy, the energy of that working. Team of the jockey and the horse and the athleticism and the sportsmanship is just a sight to beholden. When you're close to it. You just see how much they love to run and their muscles and their determination and I get like such a rush of energy. I don't even have to bet on'em. I just like to go down close and watch'em run. It's just a thrill. It really is just a thrill. I told Hess yesterday, I can't remember if I told you this or The Darling Society, but they said, darling, that's the funniest story. You gotta tell it on your podcast. So I. I went to the track when therby was first a thing. Oh, and by the way, kids have school on Thursday, which in Kentucky, in Louisville, that day of Derby week is Therby. And so they have it that day and they have a little parade. They build all these little floats with shoe boxes and tissue paper, and they make hats, and they paraded through the school. My youngest went to St. James and they used to walk down to the little park that was right down the street and parade through the park and, anyway they, but they don't have school on Oaks Day, so Friday's kind of a holiday in Louisville, so nobody has school. But I went to Therby one year when it was like maybe 2015 when it was first becoming a thing and popular. And I went with a friend of mine, Becky b Leal, that was a lender, and I used her all the time. We were like a really good. Girl team, she did the finance and I found the house and went with her and a bunch of her friends, and they had this friend that was just really good at connecting with people and finding things. And so they tell me this story, like he's always in the know. He always, so he comes up and we're sitting there watching the next race and he says, Hey, I just met this nicest group of people. They're having a little party and their champagne and fingers sandwiches, anybody hungry? And I'm like, I could go for a finger sandwich and some champagne. So I go down there with him and we're just having a little fingers, food and drink a champagne and this lovely little setup. And all of a sudden somebody comes in the room and says, everybody get to the box. The race is starting. And I'm like. Scooby Doo. I'm like, I've got a half a sandwich in my mouth and I'm like, us, point. And they're like, yes, come on, let's go. So we go with'em, we run up to the box and we get to the box and the race starts and they start going crazy, and so we're cheering with them. We're like, okay, yeah, we don't know what's going on, but yay, this is great. So then they go the horses come across the finish line and they just erupt. Their horse wins. So we're like in a owner's box with everybody that's involved with the horse. And there's so many people, they have no idea who we are. They're like everybody to the winner's circle. I felt like Kramer when he went to the Tony's on Seinfeld. And so we're like us and they're like, yeah, everybody, let's go. So our friends see us on the Jumbotron Circle. We have.

Hess:

Is funny

Delbert:

only been in the winner circle twice, but that was like, and you know what the thing is nobody cared. They're like, yes, come on, you were with us. Let's go. So I love that comradery. You witnessed it, you're here, you just came for a sandwich, but you got to witness the whole thing. So anyway that's just what's so beautiful and I think in general what you love about the horse community. Exactly.

Hess:

it's the people, and that's what it's about.

Delbert:

Andy did such a great job presenting the trophy and promoting Kentucky. This week, as always, I.

Hess:

he sure

Delbert:

We love our governor. He does a podcast as well. He's awesome. Listen to him. It's very uplifting, it's very positive, and it's the reason that Hess and I started our podcast just to lift people up, make you smile, give you something to think about and go about your week with your spirits lifted.

Hess:

So thanks so much for listening today. If you didn't know anything about the Derby, maybe you know a little bit more now. It's just something that we're so proud of. And this is Derby weekend. The first weekend in May, Delbert, this is funny. About 15 years ago, I had to go do a training in San Antonio first weekend in May. And I'm like, that's Derby weekend. You just call it Derby weekend'cause it's the first weekend in May. It's just something that we chronicle things by

Delbert:

Right.

Hess:

I'm at this, I'm at this training and I'm like, my brain's thinking about the derby. And I said, okay y'all, it's Saturday at five 30 today we gotta take a break and go to the lobby and watch the race.

Delbert:

Did they let you do it?

Hess:

Oh yeah. Every, everybody that attended that workshop knew about the derby after that weekend.

Delbert:

There you go.

Hess:

It's when we plant our tomatoes, plant the tomatoes till the week after the derby. It's a point in time.

Delbert:

It's our benchmark. Exactly. And how you chronicle your time. What derby was that When we did da, we love our state. We encourage people to come to Kentucky and see all its beauty. We have so many beauty beautiful rivers and lakes and parks and of course, experience Churchill Downs and. Go to Lexington. See some of the beautiful farms there that stretch between Louisville and Lexington. I never mind coming to Lexington'cause it's such a beautiful drive. Drive over the Kentucky River and pass through some of that farm country with that blue grass.

Hess:

Yep. We're lucky'cause we're from Kentucky.

Delbert:

Lucky in Kentucky.

Hess:

Yeah. So whether you had a winner or not yesterday, whatever your day is, and it's still rainy or dreary just, what can you do to brighten your day and think about some colorful things and you just adapt. You put a clear poncho over your outfit and go,

Delbert:

Exactly.

Hess:

yeah. Y'all, thanks so much for listening today. We love you. We meet every Sunday morning and we talk about things. We talk about our week. We talk about what we're, what's happened, what we're looking forward to, and it. my spirits and we hope this lifts yours. So peace and love.

Delbert:

Peace and love. Friends, we love you.