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The Churchill Downs' clubhouse garden on Derby Day in 1985. Landscaping at Churchill Downs in young, is watched by 130,000 people in person, and another 80 million or Louisville, Ky., is year- so on television. ABC television bills round for one of sport's the day as the greatest in sport. How many landscape workers great days: the have their work viewed by such a throng? Churchill Downs' workers Kentucky Derby. don't need a pep talk to get them ready for Derby Day, a time when by Ken Kuhajda, managing editor the twin spires atop the grandstand seem all the more impressive. Providing the guidance are plant superintendent Raymond "Butch" t almost doesn't seem fair: 365 Lehr and greenhouse manager Don Idays of preparation for two Lord. Lehr supervises 24 landscape minutes in May. employees while Lord oversees a Everybody knows about the two crew of eight greenhouse workers. minutes in May, but few know about The 32 year-round workers the 365 days of preparation that makes manicure fine turf, the dirt track, a the day one of the greatest in sport. new $3.2 million turf track, annuals, The famed Kentucky Derby, held trees, and shrubs. They also perform the first Saturday in May, is the general maintenance chores such as piece de resistance for the men who upkeep on the 47 barns where some landscape and maintain the 147 1,350 horses reside. acres at Churchill Downs in 1985 Kentucky Derby winner Spend- By early May, Churchill Downs is Louisville. A-Buck with jockey Angel Cordero. colored regally, its turf the lush spring It's only one day in a three-month Surprisingly, Spend-A-Buck did not green, its annuals a maze of hues, the racing season but it's special, in that run in either the Preakness or the sky above usually popsicle blue. it gives employees great satisfaction. Belmont, the two later legs of horse It's ready for the 45,000 people The "Main Event," 112 years racing's Triple Crown. who crowd the grandstand and the Workers install the irrigation system for the turf track in August 1985. The track measures 7/»»- miles and should be ready for racing in early 1987. Right, Don Lord, manager of the greenhouse. Far right, Don Lord's pride, the Churchill Downs' greenhouse, where some 60,000 annuals are nurtured for planting. 90,000 fans in the infield who form Churchill Downs tulip-less for the father, the late Herbert, got his son a one of the nation's largest parties. Derby. The tulips came up early and job there when the boy was 17. lasted the traditional 7-to-21 days Thirty-five years later, Don Lord is 60,000 annuals before the blossoms dropped. That still there. There's a lot of tradition Lord and his crew are busier than was only the second time in Lord's at Churchill Downs. usual in the spring preparing for 35 years at Churchill Downs that the Open Day, the Saturday prior to the tulips failed to show for the Derby. Roots to 1875 Derby. That's officially the beginning Lord is used to the unpre- That tradition dates to 1874 when of the "Spring Meetings," or spring dictability. "My biggest worry is a Colonel M. Lewis Clark organized racing season that lasts until the end freeze or a frost. We've had bad the Louisville Jockey Club and of June. freezes here in April that have really directed construction of a By late April, 60,000 annuals- hurt us. They say our last freeze can thoroughbred race track on land begonias, marigolds, geraniums, come anytime through May 10 but purchased from John and Henry petunias, dusty millers—are in full I've found that if it doesn't come by Churchill. bloom in the many gardens in and the third week of April, we'll be all On May 17,1875, Aristides won around the oval. Everything is right," he says, a definite Louisville the first Kentucky Derby in front of nurtured in the Churchill Downs twang in his voice. 10,000 spectators. greenhouse. That's the way he's learned his Since that time, 112 Derbys have The 15,000 tulip bulbs that were job. "I've educated myself. I've been run, each one seemingly a planted the previous fall are always had an instinct for it," he greater spectacle than its sometimes in bloom for Derby Day, says. The Louisville native doesn't predecessor. sometimes not. have a horticulture degree. He works That success has meant adequate In 1985, a warm April left at Churchill Downs because his funding for Churchill Downs, and Raymond "Butch" Lehr, Churchill Downs' plant supervisor and 19-year A view of Churchill Downs' famous grandstand and twin spires, employee. the Board of Directors has made irrigated. The system was turned on Since 1967, he's seen every continued improvements over the March 10 of this year. Kentucky Derby with the exception years. The latest, a $6.5 million The baby track experienced some of the two he missed in 1969 and improvement program begun early kill over the winter but was resowed 1970 when he was serving in the in 1985, is spotlighted by the in March, fertilized shortly thereafter, Army. He'll probably see a lot more. addition of the turf track, nestled and greened-up by April 1. "I guess if I had to work inside the dirt track and edged by RVA Omnisports, based in somewhere for the rest of my life, I'd burning bush shrubs. Ontario, Canada, designed the like to work here," says the blue- Other improvements: a mortar sand-based track. eyed father of two. practically new centerfield with new Lehr says he chose the Rain Bird His co-worker and friend Lord has fountains, flower planters, and irrigation system because other Rain seen 35 Derbies. He can rattle off the alterations around the winner's Bird users he spoke with noted the names of most Derby winners, circle; a new 500-foot tunnel from system's low maintenance especially those in long-past years. He the infield to the main parking lot; requirements. has trouble with the recent winners. new dining and entertainment areas; That could be because of the a remodeled lounge known as The The Breeder's Cup growing pressure Lord faces Jockey Club; and a general It's no secret that Churchill Downs preparing the track for Derby Day. repainting. built the 7/8-mile turf track with an The greater the spectacle, the greater Superintendent Lehr oversaw eye on playing host to the annual the pressure. The race becomes construction of the fescue track (it's Breeder's Cup, held each November. secondary for Lord. actually 90 percent fescue and 10 To date, no Breeder's Cup is Still, it's a job he wouldn't trade. percent Kentucky bluegrass) that will scheduled for Churchill Downs, but "I love what I do. I couldn't imagine host its first race in the spring of 1987. there's a good chance that will doing anything else," he says, He assures a visitor he didn't choose change in the future. inhaling a Marlboro. the fescue turf arbitrarily. "We did Walter Hagan has recently been After the Derby, Lord and crew tests on grasses before choosing. We named turf track superintendent. take the role of landscape also talked to a lot of turf people. It was For Lehr, the turf track means maintenance workers—flower care, almost unanimous—most even more responsibility. At 37, he spraying, mowing, fertilizing, recommended the Kentucky 31 handles the pressure smoothly pruning, and the other tasks fescues," says Lehr, another Louisville though there's no doubt he's a man presented in a 147-acre landscape. native who has work his way up the with a lot on his mind. In preparing for the Fall Meet (the corporate totem pole since joining He credits his employees for his fall racing season which runs from Churchill Downs in 1967. success. "It's frustrating at times, but late October to late November), Lord Ground was broken for turf track our people go farther than expected plants chrysanthemums and other July 5,1985, at 10 a.m. (Evidently, when the chips are down. I've got fall bloomers. The flowers, he says, Lehr keeps records to the minute). good men under me and they feel cause his biggest worries but are The grass was sowed on Sept. 30, the same as me—there's something most rewarding. mowed on Nov. 5, and again on Nov. special about working here and it When they're right and Churchill 18. A Rain Bird irrigation system was leads to pride in your job," says Downs is at its finest, then the 365 installed near the turf track, the only Lehr, in between answering his days of toil and worry are worth it area at Churchill Downs that is walkie-talkie and the telephone. for the employees. WT&T .

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