"two dollar trifecta box on 3, 6,& 9", before I was 9.
Obviously, Dad had to fork over the cash to place the actual bet but I remember feeling very important. This was back in the day when the place was filled with old crumudgens smoking their ciggies and cigars and drinking beer by the gallon. It is still filled with the old crumudgens, but the no smoking law is a godsend!
One thing we both really wanted to do was take Ellie to the track, and I wanted her first visit to be with Grandpa. This week that happened. I got a little teary at the importance of it all. Needless to say, Ellie is just like her mama and loves it as much as I do. Here they are walking up to the track.
I would read through the names of the horses each race and Ellie would pick who she wanted to bet. This is the first horse she bet on. She always like the horses with absoutely no chance of winning. Of course.
Here they are getting ready to watch her first face...
and this is her first ever ticket.
In the 6th race, she picked a winner. Bakers Eye Candy blew the field away. Grandpa and Ellie shared a high five on that one. She was so excited. She won a whopping $3.20 on a $2 bet.
The neatest thing however was when we were over at the side watching all the goings on, and I was explaining what was happening, a jockey walked up and handed her his old, stinky, dusty, real live jockey goggles. I thought she was going to die and go to heaven.
And then we got to talking to a guy there who happened to own a few of the horses running that day (which we had very fortunately been yelling for) and we got to go back to the barns to see the thoroughbreds. I about died and went to heaven. Seriously. The horse they put her on, however, about gave me a heart attack. He was a bohemoth. Name: Winston.
Then we watched them load the gate...
and take a pic to commemorate the day.
So glad we did that. It was such a fun day.
Money lost: $20
Memories made: abundant
We will definitely be going back.
LOVED IT!
3 comments:
How FUN! What a cool tradition to pass on!
When my girls where that age we took them to a racetrack in NJ for Family Day. It was 102 degrees, they ran through sprinklers fully clothed, gorged on watermelon and ran to the fence every time the horn blew. I can't believe they still remember it, but it was one of our best family memories!
That sounds awesome. So cool you guys got a behind-the-scenes and even some sweet goggles! :) What a nice tradition to share with grandpa.
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