A dream come true for Hansen's owners

LOUISVILLE - Dr. Harvey Diamond remembers watching his first Kentucky Derby. It was 1953 and he watched with his father on a black-and-white television. That's the year Dark Star dealt the great Native Dancer the only loss of his career.

Jim Shircliffe traces his interests in the Derby to that same period, remembering that he was soon hooked on the sport. The fact that both were born and bred in Louisville just fueled that interest over the years.

Now both were hobnobbing  outside the barn area of Churchill Downs as minority owners of Hansen, the white horse owned by Crestview Hills physician, Dr. Kendall Hansen.

Prior to his run in the Breeder's Cup, Hansen sold shares of his prize colt. Diamond and Shircliffe, got involved, as did Union, Kentucky's David Koenig.

"I claimed my first horse 30 years old" Koenig told me on Thursday. Now he was basking in the spotlight with a Derby horse. "It feels great" he told me. "The wait was worth it."

The entire group is new to such notoriety. "I'm getting up every morning and it feels like Christmas" Dr. Hansen told me. "I'm like a kid wondering what's under the tree."

All at the present are just glad to be here.  It's been a memorable ride so far, which could get a lot better with a Saturday win.