Scatting to the Bank

Last weekend marked my first return to the Derby preps since the 2005 Blue Grass and my first trip back to Gulfstream since the 2002 Florida Derby. To say it was awesome credits the word awesome with far more acclaim given to it by the average dictionary. It was nothing short of spectacular. A couple of the high and low lights.

- The Florida Derby itself should throw Scat Daddy into the limelight of the Pletcher barn with Circular Quay. To me he had already been there and I bet him to win as such, with a nice little bet on Chelokee to come home third. I liked Stormello to finish second and thought Notional would be bringing up the rear so I cant claim total success but I've decided I'll do so anyway. Other than hitting the exacta in the Aventura it was the betting highlight of the day. My dad had Stormello to win and took to cussing like Eminem in a rapping battle when Stormello shot to the lead in the first turn. Stormello was going nuts in the paddock and post parade and I feel for the poor lead pony who got gnawed on for the 10 minutes leading up to the race. He looked like a dog being let out of the car after a trip to the vet. Mark my words...Stormello will win the Preakness.

- I guess all in all I like the new Gulfstream. There's no grandstand or method to watch the race in the shade so I came out with a little sunburn, but it was worth it. I was very disappointed in the amount of betting windows. It was nearly impossible to place a bet in some areas and I actually entered a line with 7 minutes to post and didnt get my bet in. (Mainly due to a University of Florida jackass who couldnt figure out how to place a legitimate bet. I thought they covered gambling in the same class they taught jean shorts wearing, gold chain sporting, and classless behavior. Maybe classless behavior ran long during his class.) The track needed more windows and more people people running around tacking bets. Missing the window in time had the side effect of causing me to miss the race due to the rough bottle neck coming from the windows and heading to the track. But the track was beautiful and I loved the three tiered paddock.

- I was taken aback by the amount of people in attendance who failed to see a live horse run all day. The slot machines were flooded with mindless senior citizens pushing buttons every 5 or 6 seconds without regard to the world around them. If the apocalypse had transpired these people wouldnt have noticed unless some flaming horse had tripped the power chord on their machine. I had the strange urge to yell "Hey Marty!" and count how many people responded. I let the urge pass.

- We took a little trip over the structure formerly known as Hialeah to check the state of affairs. I felt like Charlie Bucket staring at Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It looked very much as though nobody evers goes in there, and nobody ever comes out. I'm told the flamingos still reside in the infield pond but you might as well have told me the moon was made of green cheese. Too many obstacles and barbed wire in the way to prove it. It's a shame, I'd love to see the place return to glory.

- I dont remember a Derby where I've given so many horses a chance to bring it on home. Adore the Gold left my list after the weekend, but Notional joined it, and along with Street Sense, Any Given Saturday, Circular Quay, Great Hunter, Scat Daddy, Curlin, Cobalt Blue, Hard Spun, Liquidity and Nobiz like Shobiz its going to be hard to pick a favorite.

- I had one of the best steaks in my life at a place called Jackson's in Fort Lauderdale. This is the kind of place where they bring the live lobster on the cart to your table to show you what you might be ordering. This was new to me. The thing moved and I jumped. I thought it was plastic. I cant imagine them leading 3 cows to my table and letting me pick which one looked the tastiest. I'm a little like Tommy Callahan, I'd rather just take the butcher's word for it.

- I had 3 hours to kill before my flight down so I saddled up to a Red Brick Ale bar on my concourse and got to meet the coolest bartendar I've ever talked to. He was an older guy and upon hearing two guys complain about the price of a couple shots he responded, "Hey fellas, Jesse James did it with a gun, I'm doing it with a smile."

- I sat behind two Florida fans on the flight home. These two attended every class. Thank God I'm a Georgia boy.