Source: Live Daily and Lexington Herald Leader
SCENE STEALERS
A who's who of Hollywood gives the horses a run for their money
Those hoping for a close encounter of the Spielberg kind had to settle for betting on his horse, a favorite among the Derby glitterati.
Spielberg, elusive to fans yesterday, is part-owner of Biscuit Stables, which owns Atswhatimtalknbout.
The Hollywood connection was too great to pass up.
The horse's admirers included Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Holes), who knows the owners and says she has met Atswhatimtalknbout. "He's a very impressive, strong, muscular, passionate horse."
Another fan was American Pie's Tara Reid, also on hand on Millionaires' Row. Atswhatimtalknbout was her initial pick, but later she said she was leaning toward Eye of the Tiger. "I like the song," she added.
At the opposite end of the visibility spectrum from Spielberg was reality-show star Anna Nicole Smith, surprisingly demure and covered up. She arrived late at the Turf Club with her TV entourage, minus her poodle, Sugar Pie. (Pets were apparently banned from the races.)
Beneath a wagon wheel-size hat that hid much of her face, she said she had her navy blue, '20s-inspired ensemble with white lace cuffs specially made after she fell in love with some "old pictures" on the Internet.
For the Derby race, she liked the name of Funny Cide, so the Texan native bet on him and three other "horsies," including Lone Star Sky.
Her fan club included ecstatic men and women who swarmed in for photo ops. One fan called her show "brilliant" and insisted to a reporter that Anna Nicole grabbed his rear. "That's not true," Smith countered, after a beat adding, "but I would've if he wanted me to."
Other celebs had to barter their stardom to get where they needed to go.
Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, looking natty in his cream linen Versace suit (a gift from Donatella herself), tried to use the stairways to get from Millionaires' Row to an ATM, but security stopped him because he didn't have the right passes.
"Are you the Backstreet Boy?" the guard asked. "Give me your autograph and I'll let you go down," the guard teased, before letting him pass.
Tim Allen of Home Improvement looked into his crystal ball and made a bold prediction about who would win the Derby: "A horse. Four legs. Probably a male. It's going to be a brown horse."