Backstretch with Gordon on Friday

I thought I’d change gaits Friday after spending the past two mornings with pacers, so my first stop at The Red Mile was at Ray Schnittker’s barn, hoping to see the Hambletonian winner Deweycheatumnhowe, who is scheduled to race tomorrow in a division of the Transylvania. The barn was quiet to say the least, and in fact if a couple of the horses didn’t have their heads out of the stalls you’d think the place was empty as nary a tack trunk was around.

By the way, it was a bit chilly in Lexington this morning, the coolest it’s been in awhile. I got a bit confused when I turned on the TV earlier while at home and the local ABC affiliate showed the temperature to be 89 degrees in that little box they put in the corner, but it took just one step out the door to know that it should have said 59 degrees.

My first stop this morning was to the race office, where I stopped to say hello to Connie and Dill. Nick Salvi was there, with Connie’s dog Jack on his lap—there’ll be more dog discussion later—so he said he’d join me on my backstretch travels. During dinner last night Nick noted that the nightlife had been kind of quiet so far this first week of Grand Circuit racing, which led us to both noting that it was quiet in the barn area as well today, although having seven qualifiers probably had something to do with that.

As we first walked into the barn area Jimmy Takter came by and was bundled up, noting how cold it was. You’d think a native Swede would be able to adapt to the cooler weather, but I guess since he’s been in the States so long he is entitled to be chilly. A few minutes later Murray Brown walked by and told me he was heading to his car to grab his sweater. He then talked about growing up in Montreal and how cold the winters were there. Although it’s expected to warm up later today in Lexington into the high 70s, there is a slight chance of rain tonight and early tomorrow morning due to that storm brewing along the East Coast.

Back to the Schnittker stable where I saw caretaker Jessica Dowse cleaning one of the horses. I asked her if she knew the plans for Dewey. She said Ray would be jogging the trotter after the morning qualifiers, so I thought I’d hang around.

I saw Ray a few minutes after the qualifiers were over and we had a chance to chat briefly before he took another of his horses onto the track. He was waiting for the stable star to arrive from Walnut Hall Ltd. for the jog. Ray said he had to change the schedule a bit since he believed at first Dewey needed to be in detention last night, but when he found out that the colt trots weren’t required to be in early, he decided to bring the trotter to the track early today.

Ray said he’s ridden Dewey the past couple of days through the Kentucky Horse Park, noting that the site is about 3,000 acres. When I asked him what he thought of all the construction going on out there due to the 2010 World Equestrian Games coming to town, he couldn’t believe how big the place was and that for a person to build a farm on that site it’d cost about $200 million.

I then started to wander and noted to my colleague Joe Kyle how many dogs were around. It was like The Red Mile had gone to the dogs, especially by the grub wagon where we counted four canines. Also going by me was the state vet, who was doing the out-of-competition testing. Presiding judge Rich Williams told me that about 100 horses had been tested the past three days; every horse on the grounds was subject to be tested.

After yesterday’s stop with Art Official  I thought I’d go by quickly and see Joe Seekman, telling him that I didn’t want to forget him again today. He was tidying up his area, and said everything was still good with his colt, who is in a Bluegrass division tomorrow afternoon.

Speaking of tomorrow afternoon, it’s a great card. Not meaning to slight the other stars in, but Art Official is in the 12^th race, Dewey is in the 13^th, and Somebeachsomewhere is in the 14^th and final race. Advance warning to those attending, when you leave following the last race you’ll likely be hitting some traffic as the UK home football game has a 7 p.m. kickoff time. But the wait will be worth it as it’s one terrific card put together by Connie and her office.

And finally, in the Jimmy Kimmel tradition of noting “we had Matt Damon on the show but ran out of time,” gas prices have dropped again and are now down in the low $3.50s, with some stations in the $3.40s.

« Back