Well, managing all the horses on the
backside and the trainers that descend
upon Churchill Downs Derby week is
no easy task. The stable manager
at Churchill is Steve Hargrave.
He gets the awesome job of trying to
jigsaw everything into place and Steve is
kind enough to join us this morning, right?
Like, not like you've had a busy enough
week and Happy Oaks Day to you too.
It must be when you finally get to Oak State,
do you feel like you can
breathe a little bit?
That OK everything.
In place.
We've got everything
in place. It's been a lot of
work to get here. But yeah,
when you get to this day and
tomorrow morning and the puzzle
all starts fitting together and
so kind of relief from there, how
do you get the puzzle into place?
Like, how far out do you know?
All right, Because I feel like it
changes up into the last minute.
These Derby contenders
and these horses are here.
This trainer is here.
You're literally doing all that work,
watching, you know, the prep races and as
those guys get points and you know that
these are the horses headed to Kentucky.
To reach out and talk to those guys and
find out when their shipping plans are one.
They want to get to Churchill Downs and
be here and start training. And yeah,
you start putting that pause together.
That starts well back in March.
And when we ask a lot stalls here,
Ben Huffman's the racing secretary,
we sit down a lot stalls based.
All these guys and some people
that have Derby horses or quite
a few of them stay around.
Yeah. And you'll see it like
as you go through the backside,
you'll see a number like Dewayne
Lucas has a barn. So those, you know,
are the mainstays that are always.
Always, always yours.
They always have like a certain a lot
in the same place.
They're in the same barn.
A lot of them are. Yeah.
And then you got to get backfill from there.
New fellows come in and we'll put them
in different barns and different places.
Some people are superstitious and want
to be in the same barn they ran before.
Really tell us about some
of the superstition.
Those guys that have been in Kentucky Derby
races and like to go back in that barn,
in that place, in that area, You know,
if they can get back into that spot,
sometimes you can't work that out.
But they do get superstitious that
way. I'm a Chicago Cubs fan. I know.
Feel sorry for me as we go through
every year, right? And I. I love,
like the superstitions that they have.
From the black cat to
the goat and everything.
Do you have that backside?
Is there? Is there a lucky cat?
We have Charlie the cat who's
here all winter with us.
So everybody, you got to be careful.
We'll jump in the car and go with you.
But he's a lucky cat that's
got to watch about that on the way home.
Where is Charlie? Everywhere.
He comes from the front of
the vacuum in all over.
He'll wonder anywhere back here. How
about that? Who feeds it?
Does everybody? Feeds everybody?
Yes. OK. Do you have a goat?
There are plenty of goats back here.
They are very good for horses,
common horses that
really. Yeah, we think they
use them for yoga now. So
they do it for that horses.
I know, like they're doing yoga yet,
but they are walking out of stalls
with them and help keep them calm.
Yeah, all the guys work here do that too. So
you've got some prime real
estate just around the track.
So do you have people that want
to vie for the barns that are
closest to the entrance on the
track or is that something that
people don't want to be that close?
It varies from horsemen to horsemen,
you know, typically barns 41 and 42 or
traditional Derby barns from history.
And some people like it over there
because it's grass right outside the
barn and they can take those down Grays.
And some people just like being
in somebody's barn they ship to,
whether it's close to the track or not.
It's easier access to get
on and off and quicker. You
know, Derby week must be pretty
special to you, not just because of
the work that you do, just because
kind of your family's history here. Oh
yeah, I grew up here.
My dad worked here from the early 70s and.
And I started here in 1992,
so I've been here a long time myself.
But you know, it's it's cool
to have that history here and
think about my dad every day when
we're doing this and people still
ask about my dad all the time.
So that's very special,
very special for you, I bet too.
And I think you brought this point up
earlier and I think it's it's important
to under score the care and love.
I think that you show towards the horsemen,
the jockeys, the horses.
There's just like a whole, you know,
we've had some bad news this week.
You all care and you,
you really rally around because it's it's.
You want to do
these guys take care of horses
like you wouldn't believe?
I mean, they're here.
These guys are with these
horses seven days a week.
They're each one of these guys
care for these horses just like
any pet you would at home.
And they. Really care for them.
It hurts when they hurt and they're
excited when they're excited.
And these guys do a great
job to care for these horses.
So what do you do after Derby week,
we're ready for the rest of the meet.
We forget about that, right? We run
all the way to July 3rd.
So we're here, come out and see us.
But yeah, we keep running.
Yeah, But it's a beautiful
relaxing place back here.
Everybody has been so kind and
welcoming to our entire crew.
So thank you.
We appreciate that for everything,
for the weekend.
And we have a great fun 2 days.
Happy Oaks and Happy Derby.
Steve, thank you. Thank you so much.