Hours before the rose garland would be draped upon the winning racehorse, a pair of lovely ladies sported winning sashes to mix with folks at the Run for the Roses.
As celebrities strutted their stuff on the red carpet, two young beauty queens surveyed the 2011 Kentucky Derby scene from an upper deck of the Clubhouse overlooking the Churchill Downs Paddock. With Drew Lachey and Vanessa Minnello chatting on the Jumbotron screen below, Miss Kentucky USA Kia Hampton and Miss Kentucky Teen USA Stephanie Jones fairly bubbled over with enthusiasm at the scene.
“This is our first Derby,” explained Jones (17), a senior at Kentucky’s Elizabethtown High School.
“We’ve been to several society functions at Churchill Downs, especially for Cosairs Hospital,” added Hampton (22), a University of Louisville student. “But we’ve never attended the Kentucky Derby before. I hope we will have a chance to pet the horses up close.”
Clad in festive dresses, fancy Kentucky Derby hats and their official pageant sashes, both beauty queens admired the aesthetics of the scene, from high fashions on humans to flashy horses strutting the paddock track below. Neither was willing to pony up with a guess at the possible Kentucky Derby winner.
“I had a horse for four years earlier,” Jones said. “I rode Western and a little English until my horse was put down because of a respiratory infections. I am planning to have another horse soon.”
“I’ve never ridden a horse,” Hampton said. “Oh, once someone led me around on a horse. That’s all. I’m a bowler. I’m on the bowling team.”
Hampton will compete June 19th in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Miss USA title.
The 137th Kentucky Derby, 11th race on the day's card, is set for a 6:24 p.m. ET post time on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at Louisville’s Churchill Downs racetrack.
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