Mary Simon, 52, a free-lance writer in the horse industry, wrote the 2002 book “Racing Through the Century: The Story of Thoroughbred Racing in America.” She has attended many a Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville as a fan and as a journalist. But today she’ll be watching the 133rd running of the Derby on TV at her home in Lexington, in the heart of the Blue Grass State’s horse country. I talked to her Wednesday about today’s big race and the state of the horse racing industry.

Q: Why is the Kentucky Derby the world’s greatest horse race?
A: Well, it’s debatable that it is the world’s greatest horse race. People in France would argue that the Arc d’ Triumph is the greatest horse race. In England they might say the Epsom Derby is the world’s greatest. In this country, the Kentucky Derby is certainly the most famous, but as far as the world’s greatest? I’d argue with that.

Q: Isn’t this kind of like an all-star race though?
A: It is. Every year the people with the best three-year-olds point for this race and every year you lose some horses along the way to injury, illness or whatever. So very often the Derby is a great spectacle and a great gala occasion, but it’s often that the very best horses aren’t actually in it.

Q: Do you have to be at the Derby to fully enjoy it?
A: Not at all. Not at all. In fact, I watch the Derby at home now, because I’ve been there and done that. I’ve been down in the crowds and it’s just too intense for me. If you’re that kind of person and you like all that excitement and electricity and people pushing against each other and women wearing big hats and half-naked men in the infield pouring beer on each other, it’s a wonderful celebration of Kentucky and a celebration of the thoroughbred. But it was difficult for me to get into the moment when I was there. I’ve been down around the crowd and then I did the press box thing and I felt so detached during the race – you’re above, looking a mile down. They start with “My Old Kentucky Home” and the horses are coming on the track …. Usually when I’m at home watching on television I’m bawling my eyes out. And up there it was like it was on a different planet.

Q: Bawling your eyes out?
A: Yeah, bawling my eyes out -- Boo hooo hooo hooo!!!!

Q: Because of the excitement or because you have all your money on one horse? A: No. The sentiment. When they come out on the track and the band starts playing “My Old Kentucky Home,” it’s just one of these things. If it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye or a lump in your throat, I don’t know ….

Q: Is there a greatest Derby race ever?
A: With the Derby, no. There are many good races. Now if you said the Belmont Stakes, obviously Secretariat’s 31-length win (in 1973) would be the one. But with the Derby there are just so many good finishes and good races. The very famous one that comes to mind, but not necessarily the greatest, was the 1933 Derby, when Brokers Tip beat Head Play by a nose. He was a maiden. He’d never won before and he beat this champion by a very short nose. But photographers caught pictures of the two jockeys fighting through the stretch. It’s a very famous shot of the jockeys reaching across and kicking and grabbing and whipping each other. So that one went down as a very colorful finish.

Q: Why is it that Secretariat still holds the Derby record – that was in 1973?
A: He was just a different kind of animal that we haven’t seen since. He was so extraordinary. He was this physical creature that we’ve not been able to even come close to reproducing since then. He was like Man O’ War in his day. They both seemed to be able to just break records at will. I’d have to look it up in the record books, but I’d think he has more than one record still standing at different tracks. This horse could do it all. I think we all just wait to see another one like him, but I don’t know if we will.

Q: Has the Kentucky Derby been helped or ruined by the commercialization – the advertising, the corporate suites?
Q: Well, it hasn’t been ruined. I’m not real thrilled when I hear the Derby called “The Yum Brand Derby.” But they’ve been doing that for years in England – the major sponsors: The Eveready (Battery) Epsom Derby. It helps finance the race. I know Visa had been the sponsor for years for the Derby and they had done some of the greatest advertising for horse racing. They promoted the Derby – the Triple Crown, in fact. I can’t be too resentful.

Q: It’s the way the world works now. If you are going to have a viable event or a viable industry, you better get on the advertising, commercializing band wagon.
A: I think you’re right. It’s big business. It’s not the gentlemanly “Sport of Kings” of a century ago or before. It’s kind of going along with the times and adapting. Fortunately, we have corporate sponsors who want to put their money into horse racing. Continued...