And there is suspense about more than the Louisville race's outcome. In 2001, you wonder about the eventual outcome of the horse country around Lexington the Inner Bluegrass, it's called. In some ways, Lexington is less of a horse town than ever before. The Madden Derby Eve party, the biggest and wildest bash of all, expired two years ago. Measured against electronic entertainment, the real, live horse farms somehow don't seem as important.
Television separates a person from the real horses.
It includes simulcasting that enables a person to watch, and bet on, the Derby at Keeneland. In another way, the audience is larger. And yes, even if you stay home, you can see more angles of the Derby spectacle on TV than if you were there. Another factor, I think, is that the Derby and horse racing in general in Kentucky lost a certain cachet racing had as the state's only legal gambling when Lotto came in. Anything that diminishes racing diminishes Lexington.