Kentucky Derby
Jackie, my sweet, what a race! You are correct that that is one great horse. And the payoffs were tremendous -- huge pay on the trifecta, I noticed. What interested me as much as the horses was that I thought that the racetrack looked especially good this year -- did they do some sprucing up, or something? Churchill Downs is a really beautiful racetrack; Pimlico can't hold a candle to it, and Belmont Park is a dump. [For outlanders, the Triple Crown of US horseracing consists of the Kentucky Derby, which was run last Sat. at Churchill Downs in Kentucky (Lexington, Jackie?); the Preakness Stakes which will run on May 20 at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore (actually within the city limits and about 3 miles from my house); and the Belmont Stakes, which runs 2 or 3 weeks after the Preakness at Belmont Park in New York (forget exactly where it is -- Long Island? -- help, Helen!). There have been only a handful of Triple Crown winners in the 100+ years that all 3 races have been run, and none since 1973.
I look forward to seeing Monarchos in the Preakness. I shall be watching it on TV. I wouldn't dream of going to the track on Preakness Day. Pimlico is squeezed into a rather small area, the stands don't hold enough people, the infield is packed with rowdy college-age kids who are there to party in uncouth fashion, and the traffic is unspeakable, due to the crowds (usually better than 50,000).
