Kentucky Derby featured on Netflix’s ‘7 Days Out’
The Kentucky Derby is one of six events featured on a Netflix
documentary series, 7 Days Out, which will be available to live
stream beginning Friday. Directed by Andrew Rossi, 7 Days Out shows
the final preparations from an all-access perspective, with a NASA mission,
fashion show and video game tournament among the other events included.
The Kentucky Derby episode includes interviews with familiar faces on the first
Saturday in May: trainers Dale Romans and Keith Desormeaux, in addition to
Travis Stone, Churchill Downs’ track announcer.
The Louisville, Ky., native Romans, in a trailer for 7 Days Out,
said, “The Derby winner’s circle — stepping out there would be like stepping on
my moon.”
In an interview with Vogue, Rossi explained the idea behind highlighting exactly seven
days.
“I think there’s this iconic idea about the week,”
he said. “Everyone can relate to the challenges of going through their work
week and measuring their time that way. We wanted to create something that felt
really high stakes and in an elevated space, but that is also something that no
matter what industry or world you come from you can relate to the idea of: You
have one week to do something and everything is on the line.”
Stone was one of the Churchill Downs’ figures followed around by the 7 Days Out crew, giving an insight into what it’s like to be a race caller and talking about the Kentucky Derby. The announcer said he feels the series will be able to capture the buildup and excitement for non-racing fans and help them see what it takes to get a horse ready for the Kentucky Derby.
Stone’s own role in the announcer’s booth is a major part of the event, too.
“It’s the race of races. The pressure cooker that is the Kentucky Derby is unlike any other,” he said. “As a race caller, the objective, obviously, is to call the race and provide the excitement and the drama and capture what’s happening. But it’s also two minutes where there’s 20 horses running around and there’s 150,000 plus people screaming and everything that you thought about for the last 11 months comes down to those two minutes.
“It’s super intense, but you get into this field and this career to be a part of it.”