Churchill Downs and Louisville Slugger

We had a leisurely breakfast before heading off for our behind the scenes tour of Churchill Downs.  It was a small group tour which lasted 90 minutes and took us to areas not seen by those on the standard tour.  We visited the jockey training and dressing rooms, the owner's suites and corporate boxes, the restaurants and got a great view of the track and paddock from the Millionaire's Row terrace.  The Churchill Downs Museum was informative and fun.  Trophies of all three Triple Crown stakes races were on display as well as the Triple Crown trophy.  Dwayne and Martin had a chance to try their best to win a couple of races as jockeys on the computerized riding systems.  Martin was in the money on both of his races.  Dwayne carried too much weight and finished at the rear with mud on his face.  The track was really busy with construction and painting being done in preparation for the Kentucky Derby which is run the first week of May.

Twin Spires of Churchill Downs

Jockey Locker Room

Jockey Workout Room

We ate our Kentucky Burgoo lunch at the track before heading off for our tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.  There we saw a demonstration of how bats were made by hand and by automated lathes to produce custom bats for major league players and 4 million bats for the rest of the world.  The average major league player needs about 100 bats each season.  Miniature bats were given to us at the end of the tour.  The museum was filled with amazing artifacts and videos covering the sport from its earliest days to the present.  Martin got to pitch to a computerized batter.  He won't make the major league as his fast ball is a slow ball and he hit two of three batters.  It was once again another fun day in Kentucky.

Martin and the Biggest Bat in the World