Friday Backstretch With Gordon

The one thing I probably hate most is sitting in my car in traffic. And that's what I had to do yesterday after leaving The Red Mile following the last race. It was total gridlock getting out onto Red Mile Road and I commiserated with Woodbine/Mohawk race secretary Scott McKelvie and his wife, Lori, in the track's parking lot looking at the logjam of cars.

I should have expected the traffic jam as there was a big crowd at The Red Mile. I thought it was the best Thursday afternoon crowd I'd seen in a long time, and when I asked Nick Salvi, he agreed with me.

After finally weaving my way—very slowly—and finding myself still in front of Logan's 30 minutes later, I decided to swing in and grab an early dinner. Scott and Lori showed up soon after to meet a big group, and so did David Miller, who I congratulated on his win with Mistery Woman earlier in the day. David's wife Misty shares ownership of the 2-year-old filly trotter, who just recently debuted but has quickly proven she belongs with the best.

Several other horsemen I knew strolled in and I stayed longer than I wanted since I still had some work to do in the office. And then I headed home to get a few hours of sleep before getting back to The Red Mile bright and early this morning.

I mentioned yesterday that the price of gas had gone up to $3.79, but when I was driving home last night I passed a station on Tates Creek Road that was still at $3.59. So you know what I did—made a quick turn and filled the tank. It was interesting that the $3.79 station near the track had dropped back to $3.77 last night, and I saw $3.73 driving to The Red Mile this morning. And on the way out I saw that it down to $3.69 again. I told you the gas cartel got together yesterday to raise prices because of The Red Mile racing.

When I made it to the track this morning I saw Chris Ryder taking his star 2-year-old filly pacer I Luv The Nitelife for a walk. She's in-to-go on Friday in the 4th race as the 7-5 favorite, and I can tell you that she looked great this morning. Chris said he's leaving Lexington early tomorrow morning as he has to fly to Vermont for Parents' Day as his son attends the University of Vermont.

I started walking and I heard Jimmy Takter yell at me. I turned around and he was taking a jog with Guccio, who is in Sunday's Kentucky Futurity. I kept pace with Jimmy and Guccio—I admit I did some huffing and puffing—as we went around the backstretch.

Boss Kathy told me that Jimmy told her last night at the sale that his 2-year-old filly trotter To Dream On showed how tough she is as she won her International Stallion division yesterday in 1:53.2 while feeling the effects of tying up. I could see To Dream On had issues being walked out of the winner's circle, and Jimmy told me the same thing he told Kathy, that she is one tough filly. Jimmy also told me I needed to get into better shape, and that he'd even have his wife, Christina, give me some pointers.

There were two qualifiers this morning and the second was an awesome 1:49.1 win by Linda Toscano's Heston Blue Chip, with Tim Tetrick driving. Too bad the 3-year-old colt wasn't eligible to anything here in Lexington. As I was walking out an "anonymous source” told me that after I asked a couple days ago where Dave Brower was, he hired a private investigator and found my buddy on a "bar stool in Parsippany, N.J.”

It looks like another picture-perfect day for racing today as a high of 78 is predicted. But then things tumble as rain is predicted tonight and through mid-morning tomorrow, with temperatures falling. The predicted high tomorrow is 58, and then on Sunday just 52. As Boss Kathy said, there won't be any heat in the heat racing of the Futurity and Filly Futurity.

I'm heading out to the sale tonight to check things out. Another "anonymous person,” someone who has made purchases at the sale, told me that he was standing by the outside ring at Fasig-Tipton on Wednesday night and when he stretched his back and raised his hand momentarily, he suddenly found himself with a $25,000 bid on a horse. He said he and the bid spotter quickly realized what had happened, but the bidding went past the 25 grand so he was off the hook anyway.

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