It’s not the kind of thing you see every day. Steve Buttleman sat on the curb outside Midas car repair, pulled out his trumpet and started to warm up. He wasn’t sure if he was going to go to an audition for the bugler position at Churchill Downs. His wife’s car was in the shop. The audition was going to be at 11:00 a.m. and he knew he was going to be late. In fact, he almost didn’t go. When he did arrived, he was embarrassed to see the other seven trumpet players were dressed up in suits and ties. He was in tennis shoes, cutoffs and a windbreaker. There was some teasing as they all knew each other. After all, they are trumpet players and it’s a tight community. Cameras were set up to film the trumpet players and assess if they were camera ready. The audition started with each playing “Call to the Post.” After a while it was down to Buttleman and another player and they had what is called a “play off.” In their audience were two University of Louisville trumpet teachers and the Churchill Downs Marketing Vice President.  He certainly must have stood out as he got the job and has been part of Churchill Downs unique pageantry and beauty ever since. This will be his 21^st Kentucky Derby. 

Steve Buttleman during a call to post at Churchill Downs.

Buttleman grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He started with the cornet in fifth grade and received a trumpet from his parents when he was in eighth grade. He still has it. Music was an important part of his life. He was in his high school band and sang in the choir. He played in pit bands for musicals and was even on stage in the chorus of “On the Twentieth Century” as a dancing porter.

He came to the University of Louisville to be a better trumpet player. His teacher at home recommended that he study with Mike Tunnell and Jerry Amend. He didn’t play jazz. He was more classically oriented yet he did play in the college marching band and symphonic band. This was his first exposure to the Kentucky Derby as he was with the band when they played in 1984 (Swale) and 1985 (Spend A Buck.)

He didn’t complete his degree at the time. It required learning how to play the piano and he found it difficult to play with more than 3 fingers while reading a bass clef and a treble clef. He wandered away from music in 1985. He was young and didn’t realize how the world worked. He was frustrated. He set the trumpet aside. But good things happened. He found his wife, started a family and also went to nursing school. 

No matter what your path in life is, it always seems that music will beckon you to return. It’s engrained in your soul after years and years of practice and performance.  Buttleman returned to the trumpet and started taking lessons again with Dr. Tunnell. He earned a scholarship and it was Dr. Tunnell who encouraged him to audition for the position of bugler at Churchill Downs in the fall of 1995.

On his first day, he was scared and excited. He says that he was probably more scared than anything else. He wasn’t sure what to do and a camera operator helped him figure it out. Churchill Downs had some uniforms already made in various sizes, which he wore. Back then, the jacket was more like a band uniform than the coachman style uniform he wears today. It had black lapels and can be seen in the Kentucky Derby Museum along with a long bugle that he loaned to the museum. He found the bugle in a pawn shop and he had to have it because of its unique rotary valve that allows one to change key. 

He started playing his current trumpet 10 years ago. It is a Bach Stradivarius. He immediately knew that it was “the one” because the notes felt centered when he played it. “It felt right for me.” He needed a trumpet that could be versatile instead of having to perform with two trumpets (one long and one short.) It is a Herald type trumpet in the same key as a Bb trumpet. It looks somewhat “coach like” in the long horn traditional sense because of its rearranged tubing. People often think he is not actually playing the trumpet because he uses open valves instead of the keys when he plays. He wants everyone to know that it is not a recording and that he is actually playing! 

His repertoire is delightful. For horse racing fans, there is the “Call to the Post” which he plays when the first racehorse touches the dirt from out of the tunnel. At Keeneland (where he is also the track bugler), he plays “Boots and Saddles” during the tunnel walk. At two minutes to post, he plays “Assembly.” On Memorial Day, he plays the five service songs of the military branches. If it is raining, he might perform a chorus of “Singing in the Rain.” When a jockey returns from an injury or hiatus, he has been known to play “Back in the Saddle Again.” On the last day of a meet, he will play good-bye songs such as the Carol Burnett theme. He also performs with the “All Star Buglers” for the Breeders’ Cup. Last November, he cut a dashing figure in his purple coachman’s jacket and long horn at Keeneland.

Steve Buttleman at Breeders' Cup.

He is an ambassador for horse racing and plays at weddings, receptions and even funerals. Horse racing fans frequently ask for “Call to the Post” to be played at a funeral. His most precarious appearance was his performance while standing on a high dive spring board over a pool! He has also hosted the National Anthem singers in the 80-year-old pagoda in the winner’s circle during Derby week. He is an active member of the organization “Buglers Across America” which provides live buglers for all military funerals. And yes, it is true! There is a bathroom in the pagoda which was refurbished in 1974 to accommodate Princess Margaret’s visit to Churchill Downs. With a mischievous smile, he says it is known as “the throne room.” 

The elements can be hard on a musician who performs outdoors. Rain, snow, hail, sleet and broiling sun can be merciless. The wind is really hard on a long trumpet as it buffets it and moves it around. It is hard to hold it steady. He said it is also hard to play when you are sick with a virus. It’s important to focus and normalize the performance. Focus is his key word! 

Buttleman is a busy man. When not performing, he nurtures his artistic side by creating jewelry and crafts. You can find his decorated horse shoes in the Kentucky Derby Museum Gift Store. He makes pink breast cancer ribbons with little horse shoes and gives them away. Yet when it comes time to play his trumpet, he is extremely disciplined. A note on the door of the pagoda reminds him to focus. It is easy to understand that playing in front of 170,000 people could be nerve wracking, not to mention the worldwide broadcasting. Buttleman smiled as he sat at his desk inside the pagoda. It is steeped in Derby history and several years ago he found a couple of historic old tiles that used to be posted so fans in the grandstands could see the racing odds.

The Kentucky Derby is a magical time and he is honored to be part of such an immense event. His performance is steeped in Derby history. After watching 20 Kentucky Derbys, it is hard for him to decide his favorite but two came quickly to mind. He said that after Calvin Borel won the 2009 Kentucky Oaks on Rachel Alexandra, he went home and told his wife that Borel was going to win the Derby. Sure enough, Borel gave the crowd a thrilling rail skimming ride on Mine That Bird in his run for the roses.

John Asher, Churchill Downs’ vice president of racing communications, speaks with delight when he talks about Steve Buttleman. He says Steve is “one of the most conscientious people I know in any part of what we do here at the racetrack. He is so eager and so happy with what he does here and is an incredible ambassador for Churchill Downs. He performs at a lot of activities in the community and throughout the region during the year that that boosts the public’s perception of what we do. He shows up and blows ‘Call to the Post’ or ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ at any event and it’s an incredibly special thing. We know how important it is on track but I’ve been with him at events ranging from charity dinners to birthdays, weddings and funerals where he has played an important role in all of those public occasions and celebrations. He has lifted those events through his talent and enthusiasm. He makes the event better. I joke with him that he wears that red coat 24 hours a day so he will be ready to work at any instant. He’s a special individual that loves this track and this tradition. We love him and appreciate him for what he does here. There are few more riveting, enriching or romantic moments in sports than the moment when Steve sounds the “Call to the Post” and then the performance of “My Old Kentucky Home.”

A letter sent to Steve Buttleman by a elementary school student.

He is an integral part of the greatest horse race in the world. On Derby day he told me that he likes to thinks of John Asher’s description of the walkover from the barns to the paddock. “The time of the walkover is the most magical time of the Derby for during that time all dreams are possible.”

Music has be known to fulfill dreams. When he was a young man, he was told by one of his instructors “that he wasn’t sure that he had the fortitude to practice.” But Buttleman persevered and found his way. He thought of a different angle and found his place in trumpet history. His advice to young trumpet players is to become the best trumpet player that they can become. He says it is important to not limit yourself.  

His professor should have studied the odds a little closer. Buttleman continually sets his goals and achieves them. He went back to school; passed his piano class and received his degree in 2007. He is internationally recognized and has played at special events throughout the nation. He is one of the most recognized trumpet players in the world and certainly one of the most photographed when he plays the Call to the Post and My Old Kentucky Home. One may not know what their dream is when they start off in life. But if you pay attention when you hear your own Call to the Post, you may find yourself a winner at the finish line. Steve Buttleman did just that!