John Asher Honored with Final Lap at Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The horse racing community is saying goodbye to John Asher, the long-time Churchill Downs spokesman who died last month.    

A bugler played My Old Kentucky Home as a hearse carrying Asher drove onto the historic track Tuesday morning.     Escorted by outriders on ponies, the hearse made a mile-and-a-quarter trip around the oval -- the length of the Kentucky Derby.    It paused at the finish line as dozens of Churchill employees watched from the rail.

Asher died last month of a heart attack at the age of 62.     He was a reporter at WHAS Radio before joining Churchill Downs in 1997.

A public visitation is Tuesday until 8 p.m. in the Triple Crown Room at Churchill Downs.     The funeral is Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville. 


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