Sunday gambling turned out OK when I hit the last two races including the double.  It’s now Monday morning.  Weather looks beautiful for my last day at the track.  Tomorrow I check out, drive back to Albany and get the train at 7 PM for the long ride back to Flagstaff.  This will be my last post until i get home unless something memorable happens today (like I hit the Pick Six – heh).

Thursday

Beautiful day at the track.  Sunny and not too hot.  Gambling wise, meh.

Friday

Weather:  Continues to be beautiful

Gambling:  Blah.

Dinner:  Partook of the Marriott Residence Inn happy hour for my dinner.

Who remembers Secretariat?  Probably everyone.  He was ridden by jockey Ron Turcotte who was later disabled in a riding accident.  He’s still around.

Saturday

Weather:  A front was due through but it came in the early AM with some showers, but it was sunny by 9:00 AM.  HUGE crowd at the track.

Gambling:  OK

Dinner:  Last pizza of the trip – Margherita – very nice

Mike Shea (the brother of my late great friend Alice) and his wife Rosemary were in town for the weekend.  This week is Mike’s 70th birthday.  So his entire family showed up for a surprise celebration:  sister Kathy, brother Paul with wife Mary, brother Fred, son Stephen with his oldest son (8 y.o.), Fred’s son Ricky, and maybe one or two I missed.  It was great seeing them all again.  Many Alice stories were told and retold.  Stephen, by the way, is chairman of the Mathematics Department at St Anselm’s College and has written highly regarded books about basketball analytics.

Click photos to enlarge

Sunday

It is now Sunday morning.  Weather looks perfect.

Monday

It was raining when I got up, but it stopped about noon.  We sat is our usual spot and it didn’t rain again all afternoon, so we stayed dry.  Did I mention my friend Bob from Arlington was here?  I managed to about break even.  For dinner we went to Pennell’s and both had the veal with peppers special.

Here’s an old picture from the Albany Times Union of my dear friend Alice and me at the track many years back in the rain.  We were news worthy!  (Click to enlarge)

Tuesday

Dark day at the track.  Still lots of showers in the area.  Bob and I went to the new Bow-Tie Cinema in Saratoga Springs and saw the new Jason Bourne movie with Matt Damon.  It was not as good as the older ones, but it held your interest.  For lunch we had an ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s.  Dinner at the Wishing Well was excellent.  They have great steaks, and the corn on the cob was delicious.

Wednesday

Ah, sunny day and no humidity.  This is how Saratoga is supposed to be.  Broke even again, and I remain a few $$ ahead.  Bob headed back to Boston after the eighth race.  He may or may not return on Sunday for my last two days at the track.  Alone for dinner, I ate in.  Left over pizza and left over ziti.

Thursday

It’s 8:00 AM now and the weather is perfect.  The forecast is good through Tuesday when I leave save for the possibility of showers Saturday morning.  Hope the meteorologist are right for a change.  Lots of people coming starting today and going into the weekend:  Michael from NY, Jeff from Chicago, Jeff and Gilian from CT, Mut from the Red Sox, Mike and Rosemary, Anthony and Rose, Carole, Ron and Pam, Ed the Pharmacist.  The Elks from Marshfield are in town.  So a few guys from the Shamrock in South Boston.  Busy days, quiet nights.  Tonight Patty and her daughter Misty are taking me to dinner.  I’ll have to leave the track after the eighth race.

Later!

Sunday:  Rained all day.  Sat in the Festival Tent in the back yard where my four friends from Baltimore had a table for six and graciously invited us to use the last two seats.  Kept us dry.  Had three winners but they were all short prices, so I just managed to break even.  Beats losing.

Monday:  It’s 6:00 AM and pouring.  Rain supposed to end mid-day, but we’ll probably sit in the tent again.  Monday is usually a low attendance day, but today is a giveaway – a Saratoga duffel bag sponsored by Foxwoods Casino in  CT.  So there will be a big crowd of people to get the giveaway who will all go home after they get it.  There will be no grass racing again.  Rain in Saratoga sucks.

Our pizza last night was good.  There are leftovers.  Pizza for breakfast?

Catch up.  Sorry for no posts – no time.  Horse racing is like a job.  Up early (5:00 am) to start handicapping process.  At 7:00 off to the track to reserve my spot in the back yard.  Breakfast at 7:30.  More handicapping, make my salad, read the paper.  Maybe a 30 minute nap.  Off to King’s Tavern at 10:30 to check in.  Back to the track at 11:00 to get scratches and eat my salad.  Races start at 1:00.  Out of the track at about 6:45.  Off to dinner somewhere with someone (or getting take out for myself).  Time for bed.

Thursday:  Did OK on day two with two winners.  Small crowd (relatively) and nice and relaxed at the track.  Weather was hot but not unpleasantly so.  For dinner I had fried chicken from Hattie’s again.  Bad me – too much fried food.

Friday:  John and Lino from Marshfield arrived as did Michael from New York.  Good weather again. Tough day betting wise but I bailed out with a $21 winner in the last race.  Dinner was at the Brook Tavern (owned by the Wishing Well) with John and Linda.  The Wishing Well owner was there and he sent over complementary deep fried pickles.  I had six Duxbury (MA) oysters – small but scrumptious; delicious veal chop with mashed sweet potato; vanilla ice cream.  For dessert Lino had a wonderful flourless chocolate cake that was to die for.

Saturday:  Weather holding well.  Huge crowd, long lines.  Hit the first race and then got shut out the rest of the way.  First losing day.  The oddity of the day was a maiden (non-winner) winning the featured Jim Dandy handicap.  Saw some friends from Baltimore.  For dinner I cooked up my own pasta (ziti with lines) and Newman’s Sockerooni sauce.  Tasty.  Early to bed.

Sunday:  It’s 6 am and raining steadily.  The rain is supposed to continue for two days.  Not good.  No fun in Saratoga when it’s raining, but we will soldier on.  My friend Bob arrives today.  I called him and gave him the option to cancel and maybe come next weekend, but he is coming anyway.  Pizza is the plan for tonight.  Genarro’s.

Click Pictures to Enlarge

Tuesday

To catch up, the train from Chicago to Albany was two hours late arriving in Albany.  Then I had to take a cab to the airport to get my Alamo rental as that was by far the best deal – $435 for two weeks for an SUV.  Well, cabs from the railway station are shared, and I rode with a woman going to Troy for a conference.  Infuriatingly, the driver decided it was best to take her to Troy first.  I know the area well enough to know that makes no sense whatsoever.  And there was rush hour traffic.  And she didn’t have the right address for her destination at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy.  After the driver finally got her where she needed to go, he took me to the airport.  He got a very small tip.  Now way late and with a dinner date in Saratoga to make, naturally there is a line of about six people at the Alamo counter.  They have a kiosk check-in machine, so I decided to try it despite someone else just giving up on it as not working.  Lo and behold, it worked for me!  So I got my printout and headed for the garage.  My car is a black Jeep Compass SUV (I have named him Gene) – oddly that’s the same car I got from Budget for my ride from Scottsdale to Flagstaff.  I drove to my hotel (only 25 minutes), took a quick shower, and went to pick up my friend Patty for dinner.

Dinner was at the Wishing Well, my favorite Saratoga restaurant.  I had gimlets, a nice shrimp cocktail, and double cut lamb chops, all delicious.  I dropped Patty off and headed home to the Marriott for bed.

Wednesday

After setting up my office at the track, I went to Hannaford’s for shopping to stock the room with supplies:  beer, water, diet Coke, makings for salads, snacks, and other various and sundry things.  Back to the room to make my salad – I bring my own salad to the track everyday for lunch.  Simple salad: romaine, cucumbers, red onion, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, croutons, and blue cheese crumbles with Newman’s lite Caesar dressing in a separate container.  Love it.

The weather was hot but not oppressive.  No rain.  I stopped in at King’s Tavern to say hello and had a nice chat with Adam, one of the owners.  Ed, my pharmacist friend from CT came in – he had the day off and came up for the day, so we sat together at our usual spot in the track back yard.  The day at the track went very well.  I didn’t bet the first race, a steeplechase.  My first bet on the second race got me off to a flying start – $26.60 winner!  (Winner, winner, chicken dinner – later I would get fried chicken from Hattie’s to take home my dinner).  Then in race five I hit the $34.60 winner.  Two winners for the day, but at prices like that it made for a very successful day.  I had several other horses run extremely well but not well enough to win.

I already told you about dinner.  I woke early after a good night’s sleep, and here I am posting early Thursday morning.