In response to the unfortunate events at the Boston Marathon, security has been beefed up for this year's Kentucky Derby. Aside from banning coolers and purses larger than 12 inches, Churchill Downs has also extended the ban to include cameras with interchangeable lenses, cameras with lenses longer than 6 inches, camcorders and tripods. While point and shoots seem to have been spared, one could argue that a bridge camera or superzoom is acceptable since lenses can't be swapped. Luckily they're not attempting to put a ban on camera phones...Even if they wanted to ban all photography, they would probably have a hard time doing that.
It's kind of odd that they would target photographers as a threat after the recent bombings. After all, the FBI turned to the public for any pictures taken so that they could ID any potential suspects. Considering we live in a world where the mantra of "see something, say something" has become embedded into the public mindset, banning photography based on whether it can change lenses seems kind of counter-productive.