This is a story partly about horses, a horsewoman and the most famous horse race of all, the Kentucky Derby.
Which is why we’re opening with … fish.
Specifically, the tropical fish Judy Dalton Saurborn (she’s the horsewoman, here) regarded in the bar of the Galt House Hotel, in Louisville, Ky.
The five-star establishment was her lodging as she took in her first-ever derby this past May.
This was the derby that saw a 65-1 looooooooong shot literally bumped into the winner’s circle, which is still being talked about, nearly three months later.
Saurborn is still talking about the fish.
When she said she saw the fish in the bar, she really saw the fish in the bar.
The Galt House incorporates a unique aquarium design that actually serves as the counter of the bar.
As guests imbibe, the fish swim its literal length, to and fro.
Which probably gets even more interesting, she mused, once the bourbon really starts flowing.
It was definitely an attention-getter for a first-time patron setting her purse down to pay for her drink.
“I said, ‘What the heck?’ It’s different, that’s for sure.”
Not that she was a fish out of water in Louisville.
Saddle up with the other Judy
Saurborn grew up with horses and still works with them daily at Dalton Stables, the family business on Cobun Creek Road.
Her parents, Jean and Jim, started the stables in 1963 when Saurborn was a teenager, and now they’re both gone. Jim died in 1996. They lost Jean last year.
Saurborn has been riding since she was 5 and got that pony she asked for — and she was still winning trophies on the barrel-racing circuit as a 40-year-old in the 1980s.
For decades, Dalton Stables was known for its charity rides that raised thousands of dollars for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Twenty-eight horses are currently boarded at Dalton Stables, each saddled with their own personalities: There’s Ida, who nuzzles everyone she sees.
And Grizzly, who whinnies for treats, if he doesn’t get one after a certain time.
“And he knows,” Saurborn said last week, looking over as he popped his head out and unleashed one that bounced off the tree branches.
“He’s our resident clown. He’s not mean. He just gets into stuff.”
Three of Jim and Jean’s four kids daily get into the stuff of running the stables. Saurborn meets there with her brother, J.J. Dalton, every morning to map out the plan. “Morning,” is right, she said.
Her day starts at 6:30 a.m., and she goes at a full gallop until afternoon and her 4 p.m. cup of tea with the other Judy — Judge Judy — in front of the TV.
By then, Saurborn’s sister, Julie Davis, is starting her shift at the stable.
“There’s no way we could get all this done if we didn’t work together,” Saurborn said.
My old Kentucky home (for a while, anyway)
Another sister, Jenny Pappano, has been away for years in the Los Angeles area, but only geographically.
That’s why Saurborn didn’t think anything about it when the number with the southern California area code popped up on her phone.
Her sister sounded even more chipper than normal.
“Guess where we’re going. The Kentucky Derby.”
“Get out of town.”
“Well, that’s part of the deal. You have to get yourself to Louisville. And you have to wear a dress. And a hat.”
“A hat? Really?”
“Yes. It’s the Kentucky Derby.”
Pappano won the trip for two through her Rotary Club — “Who else was I gonna call?”
So, with a dress (even though she’d rather be in Levi’s and cowboy boots), and a hat adorned with peacock feathers from the stables (home to a variety of wildlife and four-legged denizens, besides horses), off Saurborn went.
The sisters laughed, dined, went on tours and had drinks at the Galt House bar while the fish darted.
They couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that they didn’t witness one wilted rose the whole time.
Riding off in a sibling sunset
From their prime-time, finish-line seats at Churchill Downs, they witnessed one of the crazier races in the Derby’s 145-year history.
Maximum Security somehow nudged or got into the path of War of Will (according to accounts) that caused all the other horses and jockeys to get tangled.
When it was done, Country House, at 65-1, made a lot of money at the window.
Saurborn, who knows horses and jockeys, still doesn’t know what happened.
“We’re at the finish line and I couldn’t see anything. I watched the replay at home, I still couldn’t see anything.”
She did something else at home.
She put that dress on a hanger, and gently settled her hat with the peacock feathers on a shelf.
Then, she picked up a pen.
In the card to her sister in California, she wrote “Thank You,” 30 times, in neat rows, before adding a single word at the end: “Love.”
Which is what this story is mainly about.
Judy Dalton Saurborn with the Dalton Satbles founded in 1963 by her mon and dad, James and Jean. 
Judy Dalton Saurborn when she arrived at Churchill Downs. 
Ready for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs from the stands. 
Judy Dalton Saurborn holds up her Derby ticket along with her Pecock feathered hat she wore at Churchill Downs.
