Friday Backstretch with Gordon

October 09, 2009

What a miserable Friday morning it is in Lexington as overnight storms brought heavy rain and high winds, with more of the same expected this afternoon. The only thing that brightened my morning happened while I was waiting on Broadway to make the left turn onto Red Mile Road. Blake Shelton�s song Some Beach came on the radio, so I took the opportunity to sing a bit of �Some beach, some where,� remembering last year�s world-record performance here by Somebeachsomewhere.

There were a few moments of dryness when I got to the track and pulled into the parking lot. I stopped to chat with Randy, who oversees the area from early in the morning through the races, and he told me that when he arrived the wooden horseshoes that are used in the lot were scattered everywhere due to the high winds. I told him that the heavy rains also washed away all the newly-painted lines in the lot and they�d have to be done again, which brought a laugh from Randy. He�s done a good job this year keeping the cars in order.

The first person I saw this morning was trackman Greg Coon. �So, Dr. Coon,� I asked, �what�s the prognosis for this afternoon.� Greg told me he expects everything to go on time, although he knows the forecast this afternoon calls for some heavy thunderstorms. We were in the race office so I looked around for race secretary Connie Hochstetler�s dog, Jack, who I wanted to congratulate on making a trophy presentation during Thursday�s races.

Yes, Jack went out to the winner�s circle, with trophy girl Whitney Fields holding the leash. Even announcer Sam McKee noted the special presentation. Jack was a hit though, as even the Meadowlands� Dave Brower told me last night at dinner, �I bet you never see a dog making a presentation at Keeneland.� Greg told me that not only did Jack make the winner�s circle presentation he later made a second presentation on the floor of track president Joe Costa�s office. Speaking of that, I heard too that one recent night Buddy, the �house cat,� got locked in Joe�s office overnight. When staff arrived the next morning there was Buddy meowing away behind the locked door. Buddy left Joe a gift of a mouse, and I�m sure there�s a joke in there somewhere, but I�ll leave that alone.

Speaking of cats, my cat Maxie is obviously beginning to feel a bit rejected and lonely. Yesterday when I got back home after the races she had unraveled about half the roll of toilet paper, something she does only when I�m not home for periods of a time. I told Maxie it�s only a few more days and then I�ll be back nightly on the couch with her.

Also yesterday, I was standing on the apron with our European correspondent, Lars G. Palm, watching the second race, which was won by Adrion Dream, a horse trained by Anette Lorentzon. Anette, like Lars, is from Sweden so as she and her mother Ann-Christin walked by heading to the winner�s circle, Lars spoke to them in Swedish. I laughed and asked Lars if he was asking them to dinner, and he said he was checking about the purchase price of the horse. He also told me that Anette�s mom told him that she was very happy Adrion Dream won in 1:56.3 as a horse has to have a record of 1:57 or better to be able to ship across the Atlantic and race in Sweden. I guess Adrion Dream will be heading overseas at some point in the future.

As for Friday, I finally made it to the backstretch where I skipped and hopped over puddles and mud. Jimmy Takter was walking toward me and we stopped to talk for a few minutes. I know the pace I�ve been on the past week is about 100 miles an hour, and the first thing Jimmy said to me was that he was beginning to wear out. He noted the long days, starting in the morning at the track, then the races, now the sale out at Fasig-Tipton, and making time to look at yearlings. After a few minutes Jimmy told me he had to run as he had to get over to Brittany Farm.

The weather forecast for Saturday is much, much better than today, although the high temperature is expected to barely break 60. As for gas prices in Lexington, they are all over the board. The stations nearest The Red Mile are at $2.45 this morning, while others nearby were between $2.33 and $2.37. However, I found one not too far away that was still at $2.25, so you know where I detoured on my way back to the office this morning despite rain beginning to fall again. I have a hunch that price will be raised soon.

« Back