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No, I’m not in New York for the Belmont Stakes. I will, however, be watching Big Brown’s attempt at the Triple Crown from the friendly confines of the Melrose Place pool.
My first trip to the track was in 1984 when a friend and I were in L.A. for the Olympics. We had a few days without tickets to the games, so we were looking for other things to do. One night we stumbled upon Los Alamitos race track on a map. And by we, I mean me. I didn’t know until we got there, but they raced only quarter horses; not thoroughbreds. But, hey, a win is a win.
A couple of days later, we drove to San Diego. My friend dropped me off at Del Mar, and he went to see the Queen Mary. I still don’t know how he expected to win money on a ship.
As the picture in today’s post would indicate, I’ve been to several race tracks over the years. The stories I’ve collected will be included in my autobiography – Life… 6 Furlongs at a Time.
I share an excerpt from the book below:
One day at Fairmount Park, I ran out of money, and slid my credit card through the cash advance machine. I enjoyed taking advantage of the generous 28% APR my credit card company offered for this type of transaction.
The machine usually read, “Proceed to Cashier,” but this particular time it read, “Pick up the handset.” So, I picked up the phone, and the line began to ring.
“Hello. Is this Benny?” the operator asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“We’ve noticed you’ve made several cash advance transactions from this location, and want to make sure you don’t have a gambling problem.”
“I don’t think I have a gambling problem. But I’ll admit to having a bit of a cash problem at the moment.”
“Your transaction has been approved. Proceed to the cashier.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
SOB Picks for the 2008 Belmont Stakes (in order):
Big Brown
Ready’s Echo (Abby’s Pick)
Tale of Ekati
Casino Drive SCRATCHED
The Belmont undercard has a couple of races that caught my attention – Benny the Waiter in Race #5 and Benny the Bull in Race #6. I believe that’s why Daily Doubles were created.
I’m leaving today. I want to be a part of it.