Thunder over Louisville story and videos from the Courier-Journal newspaper

"It's Louisville's Mardi Gras," said Bordelon, who sat along the Ohio River floodwall with her family taking in yesterday's air show and waiting for the fireworks to light up the sky at Thunder Over Louisville.



Bordelon was among an estimated 350,000 people who braved a chilly, dreary day to kick off the Kentucky Derby Festival, which leads to the Run for the Roses on May 3. It was a much smaller crowd than usual, with 800,000 turning out for the show last year.


Visit the Courier-Journal to see more.

Street Sense Might End the "Triple Crown" Drought

BALTIMORE — The time was when horses that were great at 2 were greater at 3. The time was when the 2-year-old champion not only won the Kentucky Derby, he also won the Triple Crown.

History tells us this. Before there was the Juvenile Jinx, there was Juvenile Domination. Horse racing saw that often in the 1970s.

That was the decade when six horses who won the 2-year-old championship returned powerfully the next spring and also won the Derby. Four runners added the Preakness to their resumes.

Three -- Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978) -- proceeded to flash to the Triple Crown. Being a 2-year-old champ who also won the Derby was significant stuff. I begin with a history lesson because these days a Triple Crown winner seems as outlandish as 39-cent-per-gallon gasoline. The current drought is racing's longest.

Visit the Courier-Journal Newspaper for the rest of the story by Rick Bozich.
.

Steakhouse Owner Refuses to Serve O.J. Simpson

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The owner of an upscale steakhouse in Louisville said he asked O.J. Simpson to leave his restaurant the night before the Kentucky Derby because he is sickened by the attention Simpson still attracts.

"I didn't want to serve him because of my convictions of what he's done to those families," Jeff Ruby said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "The way he continues to torture the lives of those families ... with his behavior, attitude and conduct."

Simpson, an NFL Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy winner, was found innocent in 1995 of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman but was found liable in a civil trial that followed.

Ruby — who owns restaurants in Cincinnati, Louisville and Belterra, Ind. — said Simpson, who was in town for the Derby on Saturday, came in with a group of about 12 Friday night and was seated at a table in the back. A customer came up to Ruby and was "giddy" about seeing Simpson, Ruby said.

Please visit the Courier-Journal for the rest of the story