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Stars at Churchill Downs' red carpet hope for some Derby luck

Rising country music star, JD Shelburne, from Taylorsville, Ky. bent down on one knee in front of his girlfriend Amy Whitham and proposed.

LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) -- It was the place to be Saturday afternoon, a red carpet at Churchill Downs packed with glitz and glam and in one surprise case, some serious bling.

Rising country music star, JD Shelburne, from Taylorsville, Ky. bent down on one knee in front of his girlfriend Amy Whitham and proposed.

"It was amazing. I've been planning this for several weeks. We've been dating six years. She's never missed a gig. I was driving to a gig the other day by myself and I just thought man, something just told me, I'm not getting any younger, it's time to do it," JD Shelburne said.

Shelburne says it was such a crazy moment, he had to ask twice.

"I was like, did you say yes, I couldn't hear you," Shelburne said.

"I said yes, absolutely," Amy Whitham, his fiancé, said.

Plenty of other stars in town for the Kentucky Derby hoped for just as much luck for the day.

"I want to win today. I'm done with this losing thing," Diego Klattenhoff, from NBC's The Blacklist, said.

"I'm here to hang out, drink champagne and place bets for my friends, because I don't know anything about horse racing," Terri Clark, a country music singer, said.

"Anytime we get to come to the Kentucky Derby, man, or come home period...the Derby, it's icing on the cake," Eddie Montgomery, from Montgomery Gentry, said.

We found UofL's head basketball coach Rick Pitino talking about a potential Oaks contender for next year's race.
"I have a filly, named after Jennifer Lawrence called, Jenny from the Ville, so she's a 2-year-old. I hope she runs great," Pitino said.

"I live in Kentucky and I have a race horse, with about 20 other people, so I own the tail, as I like to say, but I've probably been to about 15 Kentucky Derby's. It's a great showcase for the Commonwealth. We really love seeing all the beautiful ladies and hats. It's quite a spectacle here," Cris Collinsworth, with NBC Sports, said.

"Outside of the horses, it's all the comradery and all the fashion," Troy Gentry, from Montgomery Gentry, said.

Actor Jon Voight agreed. His favorite look on the red carpet, quite a surprise, when WHAS11's Brooke Hasch asked, what the best part of the Derby was for him.

"Your hat. It's a beautiful hat," Voight said.

"If you never saw a single horse race all day, you could have a great time at the Kentucky Derby and that's what makes it great," Collinsworth said.


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