Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: Where is Brad Blanks this time?
I thought to myself over the weekend, where in the world will Blanksy be? He was at the Masters. He'll probably be at Kentucky for the Derby. And what do you know? Blanksy's in Kentucky for the Derby. Hello, Blanksy!
Hi, Jared. How are you, mate?
Chapter 2: What makes the Kentucky Derby a unique experience?
Yes, back again. Yeah, love it. One of the great events, a celebration of Americana. It's sort of where the northeast all flies in, the west coasters fly in, and it's sort of the beginning of the south here in Kentucky, and Louisville rocks for about five days straight. Your first one, what, a quarter of a century ago?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. 25 years ago, it was a dream, you know, like a lot of Aussies, because the Aussies are piling in here. It's awesome to see when you hear Aussie accents walking through the beautiful big grandstand there underneath the Twin Spires. And, yeah, 25 years ago, it was 2001, and I came here as a young junior reporter.
I was like a young Gerard Waitley, you know, and, yeah, most of my reporting is quite foolish. Yeah. But they don't suffer falls, as you know. And the Australian racing is a little bit more looser and has a bit more fun than here. Very serious it was. And I'd be out the back, you know, the backside, they call it, of Churchill Downs in the mornings interviewing trainers. And I was lucky enough...
My first big interview is with Bob Baffert. You know, he's like the star of Churchill Downs. He's won a few Kentucky Derbies. And I remember I played that interview on Kevin Bartlett's show on RSN. I brought two legends together. It was a great moment as an up-and-comer in the world of sports reporting. And I've never looked back. This will be my 19th Kentucky Derby coming up this Saturday.
So compare it to Flemington, for those of us who know the spring carnival here. How does Kentucky differentiate and assimilate?
I grew up loving Derby Day and the Melbourne Cup and attending those as a young fella. And I wanted to get here and experience Kentucky. I've got to say that people are more on top of you here. You're more squashed in, which leads to more banter, more laughter, I would think, in some areas. Yeah, there is segregated from the millionaire's row.
Uh, but once you get in there into Millionaire's Row, it's, you know, women are throwing their hats in the air and guys are hanging off the rafters. Um, but that's where you get your celebrity sightings, which adds another thing, you know, the likes of, I was there one year, uh, Tom Brady, you know, comes quite a bit actually.
And, uh, he was in there with, and he brought like the whole of his, uh, offensive line from the New England Patriots at the time. And, uh,
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Chapter 3: How has Brad's experience at the Derby changed over 25 years?
And they didn't like the finer food there in Millionaire's Row, so they ordered like 20 pizzas. They were just massive, you know, 150-kilogram men. And Brady was around there having pizza slices and that. But, yeah, it's a different style of partying, I'd say, you know, but both levels of madness by the end of the day. But things kicked off. Things kick on afterwards here, Gerard.
So, yeah, the big thing, what they've done now is the Thursday has turned into the locals day and it's called the Thurby. And it's just exploded this Thursday in the 25 years I've been coming here. And they'll get about 80,000 on the Thursday, 110,000 on Oaks Day on the Friday, and then 120 on Derby Day. So it's where we have a few gaps in between our days, we take a break.
This is just a full-on... You know, even tomorrow will be Wednesday, and even that's starting to gather some momentum. So they really cram it all in on day by day. But, yeah, true... just a lot of fun. And I have the infield too, which is another whole world. I've matured out of the infield, Gerard. I don't participate in that anymore.
But if you're in Australia and coming over there, you've got to at least watch a couple of races up, you know, in there. And, uh, Back in the day when I was in there, there'd be a lot of nude, hand-stared beer keg drinking, which is where you stand. Your mates hold your boots up and you're naked and they funnel a massive funnel of beer in.
with a hose into your mouth and you've got to chug the whole can of beer in that way. So that was always very entertaining. You've had guys that run along the top of port-a-potties. I guess that's quite an Australian thing at B&S balls, but they do that as well. But now I've matured and I stay in the grandstand. And when I watch the race, Gerard, this is the crazy part.
I actually stand on the mud of the track. I stand on the soil and watch the Kentucky Derby, which is crazy that you ā You feel like you can reach out and touch the horses that's running past you with about, you know, 50 yards to go. So, yeah, incredible event.
There are some images there I'm not going to be able to shake for the rest of the day and not in a good way. What's the flavour of this year's derby? I don't know the form particularly well. I saw the field come out the other day. Is there the prospect of a great horse here?
Well, Renegade is the favourite. That came out and won the Arkansas Derby. It did everything to suggest that it's going to run the 2,000 metres and have that very famous sweeping run. It's going to come from probably the last third of the field. But the problem is it came out and got barrier number one, and historically one has been a terrible barrier because...
Out of the gates, they run it like the golden slipper in that first 20 yards. It's mayhem. It's like they come out and guys want a position. The jockeys want a position very quickly, and they're cleaning people up. You've seen about two years ago, if you're in one to four, you're cleaned up by the horse in barrier five, just knock them all out, and they didn't stand a chance.
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Chapter 4: What are the differences between Kentucky Derby and Australian racing events?
But more notably, it's where the bugler comes out and plays every, you know, before every race. And... The Bugler never had a toilet until 1974. The poor guy had to hold it. But the Princess Margaret insisted she watch it from there. So they built a toilet for her in there. So there's a royal toilet where Princess Margaret was going before the 1974 Kentucky Derby.
So I've talked to the Bugler quite a bit over the years, and he's very proud that he gets to share that toilet with royalty.
Yeah.
Oh, Blanksy, the stories that you give us. Hey, did you sell a horse to Yulong? I know you move with all the right people almost by accident. Almost by accident, Blanksy. Did you sell your horse to Yulong?
Yes, very lucky that they picked it up. There was a lot of fanfare around the Extreme Choice horses at the Sydney sales event. So yeah, lucky enough to offload that. What do they say? It's better to take the money in hand, right? So yeah, what a whirlwind 15 months ago. And I think I talked to you, I was chatting with you before Christmas.
We thought we might be in the magic millions and it got sick. And then we... Chanced a win in the Todman and got in the slipper, drew barrier 18 and sadly ran 11th. But they saw some value in the breeding of Paradoxium and I'm out, sadly out. But, you know, got a bit of cash to ā Now I can launch into the next thing, Gerard. Is the price public? I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Yeah, I wouldn't want it to be quoted by me.
It had a lot of zeros on the end of it. That much I know.
Yeah, it did all right, Gerard. Look, it's going to keep me in business for a couple of years. The best part about it, though, Gerard, is wife management. My wife doesn't give me many compliments. And I've managed to, you know, all these events that I go to attach some kind of work to it. But she did say to me after the sale, she said, well done by you. You can take the rest of the year off.
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Chapter 5: How do celebrity sightings enhance the Derby experience?
But I'm rock and rolling. This derby's going to be big and I'm looking forward to it. I'll produce a good little video that will appear on my segment on Y-Ball Sports on Sunday on Channel 9. Awesome. I can't wait to see it. Hopefully we get some good laughs and some crazy people that I'll hopefully chat to during the course of the day.
You always do. Good on you, Blanksy. Enjoy the Kentucky Derby.
Good on you, Gerard. Let's hope forever it doos the horse. You'll see me running out onto the track if that thing comes home. I'm going to load up.
See you, mate. You won't even be joking. Where in the world is Brad Blanks? He is at the Kentucky Derby.