A deep hill country accent: "Whur in the
hayl you thank you're going, buddy?"
"The winner's circle! I own the Kentucky
Derby winner!"
"Shore buddy, and I own Churchill Downs.
Now git the hayl outta h'yar."
"No, lookâthe governor's waving."
The guard turned and looked. "Well I'll be
god-damned."
And so the final barrier to the Hancock
family's Derby fulfilment moved aside. It
was exactly ten years since he had left
Claiborne. Receiving the trophy was unlike
anything Hancock has experienced out-
side a maternity ward.
"The same sort of euphoric feeling,"
he recalls. "It was like I was just floating
above it all and looking down. What they
call an out-of-body experience. Like walk-
ing on air. I said, 'I'd like to dedicate this
to my father, who taught me everything I
know.' And my mom took one of the roses
from the blanket and put it on his grave. It
was surreal, the whole thing. I think may-
be when I left Claiborne, there was a part
sure, 1 was wild.
But I always worked really
hard, and it's all turned out
just fine. I wouldn't have had
it any other way, really.
"
"
