Yesterday was another picture-perfect day for the 136th running of the $1 million Travers stakes here in Saratoga. Though my luck was the opposite of my $100+ win last year — I lost money yesterday on all five races in which I bet — I still had a ton of fun.
Friends gathered around 1pm at our place for pre-race drinks and snacks, then we loaded up the new wheeling cooler and walked to the track. Everyone was really into the betting, which was cool, though my strategies were all doomed for failure.
It was awesome seeing San Francisco horse Lost in the Fog sprint to his ninth consecutive win in the $250,000 King’s Bishop race, the 10th of the day.
I tried boxed exactas and key trifectas most of the day, and came close to winning, but never hit anything. Had I brought myself to bet on the Yankees horse in the Travers — the favorite to win was Bellamy Road, owned by George Steinbrenner — I would’ve won. I was glad, however, that Flower Alley pulled ahead to win, followed by Bellamy Road and Roman Ruler. I had done a $4 exacta box on Flower Alley and Roman Ruler. The funniest part about the Travers race was the “Let’s go Red Sox!” chant in which Justin and I, along with some other track-goers in our vicinity, participated just before the race began. Maybe it was our chant that gave Ballamy Road a taste of the curse.
After the races, we high-tailed it back to our place for a delicious BBQ chicken dinner and sang karaoke into the night. New karaoke contestant David “Daddy Mack” gave reigning champion Anne “Nina” a run for her money.
History repeats itself:
Gabe, Jen, Cati, Alex: 2004 | 2005
Alex loses, Cati wins: 2004 | 2005
1 response so far ↓
1 Sarah // Aug 29, 2005 at 11:49 am
Ooooh Mr Filthly… how I miss thee!