Santa Anita at Dawn & then some

We left the house at 4:45 this morning in order to meet friends at 5:30 at the Santa Anita racetrack .

Back that up, we woke up around 3 am. Ed's girlfriend likes to photograph the horses when they exercise at dawn, and we'd never been there at that hour and thought it sounded like fun.

Back that up: I'd spent all afternoon at Santa Anita the day before with pal Linda P for the dollar beer and hot dog fun. And had lost every bet but managed to spot my favorite horse, The Pamplemousse, training incognito, and even spoke to his trainer,(!) and met the racing blogger who spotted The Pamplemousse as something special before anyone else had noticed.

Breakfast at the Clocker's Corner (the pre-dawn spot to be), was incredibly delicious: a breakfast sandwich cooked to order by Rosie, with eggs and sausage and cheese on rye and really good coffee. Horses were speeding by in the dark, and jockeys we've seen in the races and on their tv show were standing in line behind us.



Do I look a little "not quite waked up yet"? The cup had pictures of horses on it, but the flash was turned off.

We came back and I had great plans to return in the afternoon to watch The Pamplemousse run in the Sham Stakes, prize of $200,000 and thought to be a big test for this horse, to see if he can go to the Kentucky Derby, (or go to Kentucky Fried Chicken as his goofy and charming trainer described it.)

But zombie factor kicked in and around 2:00-- I realized there was no way I could drive back over there to watch The Pamplemousse run. 45 minutes each way, not easy for a zombie. And maybe I'd be bad luck...

I got to watch the race anyway, on line The Pamplemousse won easily, amazing wondrous to see.



I love this horse!