Meet the Kentucky Derby Bugler Steve Buttleman Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply. Close

Meet the Kentucky Derby Bugler

Steve Buttleman has played his horn for more than 60 000 horse races

Steve Buttleman has been the bugler at Churchill Downs for 23 years. He'll be back at it again this year for the 144th Kentucky Derby on May 5. ANDREW HETHERINGTON Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. A lot of people think I just play for the Kentucky Derby. But I play for every race at Churchill Downs, which is usually between nine and 12 races a day, four days a week in the spring and in September, and five days a week during the November fall meet. A lot of people ask me what I do between races. Sometimes I read, but more often I do crafts. One Sunday afternoon I made my son a Max costume from Where the Wild Things Are, including a tail and a little hood. When there’s no live racing, I visit a lot of schools and I do a lot of charitable events. And I go to a lot of cities with the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau when they are promoting tourism, and I play “My Old Kentucky Home” and the national anthem. Plus, I’m also the track bugler at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington. Derby week is a different animal. It starts off slow on Tuesday, and then people start showing up from the television network. Then more press Thursday, and by Friday it’s controlled chaos. And suddenly it’s Saturday — Derby day. You feel like you have opened an enormous wing of your , and you want each one to have a great time. One year trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was here to give a master class at the University of Louisville, and he came to the Derby to play “My Old Kentucky Home” with the university band. It was early in my tenure and I didn’t have permission, but I asked him to come to the pagoda behind the winner’s circle, which I come out of to play, and then to watch the Derby from the roof. He’s very gracious and down to earth, and it’s just awesome to have that memory! There’s an hour between the previous race and the Derby. That’s when I start to get nervous. What I’ve been doing for a long time is taking a walk on the turf track. I go all the way up to the top of the stretch, and when I turn around to go back, I see all the people having a great time, and the twin spires. It’s generally sunny — even if it’s been raining all day, for that hour it’s sunny. And I just think how lucky I am to be the guy who gets to play for the Kentucky Derby. —As told to Susan Reigler MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS