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Revelers at Churchill Downs will be wearing colorful hats and sipping $22 mint juleps from souvenir glasses under the twin spires that stand sentry over this cathedral of horse racing.

A member or his guest can wander from the Grove's shooting range to a lecture by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, or from a mint julep party to a performance by the Grove's symphony orchestra.

Crushed ice, meanwhile, dilutes cocktails quickly because of its high surface area, creating the refreshing, slushy consistency found in juleps that would taste too cloying otherwise.

But here, in every direction, Derby-goers in fancy dresses and seersucker suits posed for selfies, fluffed the feathers in their hats and sipped mint juleps.

But whatever your reason, whatever your draw, whatever number of mint juleps you’ve had, everyone has the same question.