Drinking Jocktails at Breeders’ Cup for BlackBook

Earlier this month BlackBook dispatched me to cover both the Jocktails party, part of the run-up to the 2011 Breeders’ Cup, and preview Downs After Dark, the sole night race of Churchill Downs 2011 fall meet:

“Two Breeders Cup-Inspired Jocktails to Down During Friday Night’s Downs After Dark Horse Race”

I didn’t follow the new wagering strategy I laid out in the article. As I failed to cash a single ticket though, perhaps I should have. Or perhaps I should stop wagering (down $467.17 for the year) and just roll up $20 bills and smoke them.

I brave the Paula Deen Buffet for Louisville Magazine

Weary of reviews of the same kinds of restaurants—exposed brick! farm to table! artisan cheeses!—Louisville Magazine dispatched me to check out the Paula Deen Buffet in Southern Indiana’s Horseshoe Casino. My article about the experience ran in the November issue:

• Download a .pdf of the article here
• Read the article on Louisville.com here

I was really hoping that the food would be decent. Alas, apparently it doesn’t matter whose name is attached to it: a downmarket casino buffet is a downmarket casino buffet. None of the other diners seemed to mine though (well, except for my daughter who passed on one of her favorite meals, mac n’ cheese, to instead lick ketchup off of her fingers).

My Great Deer Hunt starts now

Camouflage tip: You can't see me.

Camouflage tip: Here I am!

This Northeastern liberal elitist is on his way into the Kentucky woods to go deer hunting for the first time (at Licking River Outfitters in Cynthiana to be exact). My funeral will be Thursday. As one last jab at my friends, this non-observer’s memorial service will be full Catholic mass. It Latin.

I’ll be on assignment for Louisville Magazine; a 1,500 to 2,000-word first-person account of my two days in the tree stand should run in the January issue. The plan is to focus on the trauma of trying to kill an animal for the first time (I’m a decent shot at clays) and the tension of loving a good dish of fresh local game but being reluctant to kill it yourself. If you’ve got a good venison recipe, please share it in the comments.

Of course, the piece also might examine how much it hurts to shoot yourself in the backside.

I’m going with Jon Gassett, the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Rumor has it the TV show Kentucky Afield will be taping the outing too. If I’m still with us, I’ll let you know when it airs.

Photos: Courtesy John Nation

In which I make my society-page debut (with another woman)

Press passes are sexy.

Marriage tip: If your society-page debut is with another woman, inform your wife of the situation ahead of time.

At Churchill Downs for the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Position Draw Luncheon, Louisville.com turf writer Jessie Oswald and I got photographed for The Voice-Tribune. Don’t just admire the photo here though; select the link to encourage the Louisville weekly to run photos of me more often:

The Voice-Tribune—Breeders’ Cup Position Draw Luncheon

That this photo leads off the Voice-Tribune’s gallery is evidence that the pics are ranked in order of subject attractiveness.

Photo: Voice-Tribune/Bill Wine

Louisville.com is again a Breeders’ Cup media partner

In 2011, Louisville.com (me = editor-in-chief) is again a media partner of the Breeders’ Cup, horse racing’s world championship.

We’ll be at Churchill Downs all week, covering everything from the draw to the post-Breeders’ Cup Classic press conferences.

Photo: Courtesy Breeders’ Cup