Crews at Churchill Downs clean up from Oaks overnight to prepare for the Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The race is on to make Churchill Downs shine with the eyes of the horseracing world locked on Louisville Saturday.

Crews have fewer than 12 hours to clean up from a sloppy Oaks Day before the gates open for Derby 150 at 9 a.m., giving guests the VIP treatment Derby Day.

"You kind of feel like a VIP wherever you're going," Ryan Ruebusch, from Cincinnati, Ohio, said.

That means keeping the drinks flowing and the track clean for a day at the races.

"This is an undertaking of massive proportions," Lisa Pecot-Hebert, from Raleigh, North Carolina, said.

The real magic, the cleanup, happens overnight at Churchill Downs.

"They're magicians," Kristen Bird, from Palo Alto, California, said.

"To pull something off like this seemingly without a hitch is a big thing so that really impresses me," Don Barsotti, from Sugar Grove, Illinois, said.

Throughout the late evening and early morning at the track, staff and volunteers help pick up empty cups and losing tickets.

"Anytime there's rain, programs and papers stick to the floor so you have to work a little extra hard," Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs spokesperson, said.

It's no small undertaking with more than 500 organizations volunteering to help clean, and it pays to help.

"They join us, and we donate to their causes," Rogers said.

In addition to clean up, restocking is also on the agenda, making sure your juleps are full of mint and the lilies have all the garnishes on Derby Day.

"God bless those people, that's a lot of work so we're glad there's people to do that," Hunter Gillespie, from Alabama, said.