Dr. Pleasure delivered. As I (almost) predicted last week, Dr. Pleasure finished in 3rd at Saturday’s 147th running of the $1 million Travers Stakes. He came in behind heavy favorite Bernardini, who won by more than 6 lengths, and Bluegrass Cat, who was forced into retirement following the race. I hit both the trifecta (5-7-3) and the exacta (5-7). The former paid about $35 on my $2 bet; the latter paid about 5 bucks on my $1 bet. On the day, I nearly doubled my money (the $40 I started with was $79 and change by day’s end).
But wait, there’s more! The portion of the day at the track — 4 or so hours — was actually Phase 2 of a five-phased day that spanned 6 or so locations and 18 hours. Now that’s a party! ..and it doesn’t even count Friday night’s warm-up act when Johnny came to town from Buffalo, and we hit the town with him and Justin.
The day began around 1pm Saturday with the pre-Travers party at our house with Johnny, Alex, Cati, Celia, Anne, and Tom. We then cruised to the track for a day of gambling, beer, and sandwiches with Sarah and her crew, Hugh, and Jami. It was overcast, but the rain held off, which actually made for a nice and chill day at the races, despite the crowd of more than 40,000.
Post-track it was back to casa de la A_nderson, where the party posse would be joined by Alexis, Kevin, John, and Kristen. We grilled into the night, ate merrily, and enjoyed summer evening laughs in the yard and on the porch. We capped Phase 3 of the evening with a heartfelt rendition of Jen’s favorite song, Petty’s “American Girl,” on the porch, complete with Jen’s broom microphone.
Then it was about 1am and time to stop keeping the neighbors up all night, so we decided it was time to head into town. After arriving at the madhouse that was Caroline Street, we first tried to shove our way into DA’s for drinks, but were actually ignored at the bar, so we pressed on to a more chill and less crowded location: Trotter’s, which has become our new hangout of late (everyone’s really nice, it’s not crowded, and drinks are cheap). On the way down Caroline Street, we did a loud and memorable group rendition of Weezer’s Undone-the Sweater Song: “If you want to destroy my sweater!” At Trotter’s, we danced, sang, and foosballed the night away.
Then what time was it? 3am. You know what that means: Stewed prunes here we come again! We returned home around 5am and actually managed to stay up nearly another 2 hours… till 7am Sunday morning. We even had a little hippie tree party in the yard.
Another Travers for the record (and memory) books!
Why does this photo look so familiar? Oh right: 2004 | 2005.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Alex // Aug 30, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Gabe,
I laughed all the way through lunch. What great photos and nice job on the captions. Although there are some misrepresentations (Cati and I would never sing sonny and cher…ahem), you really captured the moments well. I am still trying to get caught up on my sleep. You have great friends, and we are lucky to be counted among them. Cati and I are off to FL for the weekend, but we hope to see everyone soon.
2 Matt // Aug 31, 2006 at 7:57 am
I look forward to your take on your recent mention in the Saratogian. How’d I represent?