Molly and I had a surprise walk with our best German Shepherd friend and her dog Tilden at dawn, then we went to the Farmers Market and my bud tasted her first cherimoya, which is a wondrous fruit if you've never tried it.
Without doing my usual frantic handicapping, Jon and I headed to Santa Anita because I wanted to try to find the statue in Mary Forney's contest. A season pass to the Clubhouse is an exceptional prize, and I was sure I knew where the little horse statue would be hiding. The hint was that it was amidst some potato chip displays. Do you know how many kiosks and cafes at a giant racetrack sell potato chips?
Between races I scurried here and there looking for the statue. The food stand person would say to me, "May I help you?" "No, thanks, I'm just looking." How pathetic, just looking at the potato chips.
I thought we'd found every possible display of chips but then we went into the paddock room, where I'd never been before, a basement area filled with people, and there in the corner was one more potato chip display. And what was that? The little statue. I was so excited that most of the pictures I took with my phone were impossibly blurry. I emailed one to Mary. I won the contest, I'm going to get my season pass! For someone like me, this is worth hundreds!
Every bet I placed was wrong until the 5th race when I bet on the horse Chantal Sutherland was riding to win, and in an exacta. She won. I won. The exacta too.
If you haven't seen Chantal Sutherland she is incredibly pretty and has a goofy website. I believe she used to be a flight attendant. She's Canadian and has a bit of Princess Diana about her. (be sure you see the first image on the site). She's a really great rider and has just returned to Santa Anita.
The woman next to me said, "Oh yeah Chantal beats the snot out of the guys every time." euw.
Not exactly Chantal's intended image. The same lady told me my jacket was worth at least $800. Jon's been trying to get me to throw it away. It does have a few stains. euw.
Down at the actual paddock we stood next to a friendly young woman who was about to start photographing the horses coming into the circle. We made some jokes and she said she was practicing taking pictures because she wanted to go to Kentucky to take pictures of horses breeding. Um, do you mean like, -breeding? Oh yes, she said, and you have to be very fast with your camera.
Jon said, "Maybe you can sell those pictures as a calendar, with Chantal photoshopped in the background."
We left after I had my wins. Great day. It is such fun to search for something in a contest and find it.
9 comments:
CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so much fun that you were the first one to find the statue! Aren't you glad you broke down and bought a cell phone? What IS the Clubhouse? Is it like the Delta Crown Room at the airport?
And when you say you won, and won the exacta too, does that mean you won a lot of dough?
That is a wild photo of Chantal by Annie Leibovitz (Jon's comment is funnnnny).
Linda, the funny thing about the phone is I get about one call a week on it. But it has its purposes, yes!
The clubhouse is a very nice step up from general admission and we usually buy the ticket for it because the food is better, and the ambience appealing, including lovely deco murals on walls. Don'e hear quite so many off the wall comments though. I won $35, which isn't much but seemed like victory to us.
Glad you checked out the Chantal site. She is so beautiful in person that it seems unreal. Not that she looks fake, but like a fairy tale beauty.
Long ago when sports cars were new, in the 50's, there were car rallies. Country roads hadn't been explored for fun before, I'm guessing. The rallies involved a complicated list of clues of where to turn, with an ultimate prize winning destination. This contest reminded me of that.
That's so cool that you won!
Whoo hoo!
I swung by Chantel's site too.
Interesting splash page.
I wonder why there aren't many female jockeys. I'm aware that it's physically demanding to steer a speeding horse, but that shouldn't automatically exclude the gals.
a season pass, wow, I'm impressed---you are going to have many more wins I'm sure---it is a bit refined on the clubhouse side, but you can always wander to the other side of the track for liveliness and inspiration....katy
That's so cool that you won, Sally! I know you must be excited. Well done!
All that and a bag of chips! Congratulations! Best news I've heard in a long time.
Wow! YOU WON! QUick, send me six numbers for the lotto, just off the top of your "lucky" head.
Snot? Nope.
Horse sex? Nope.
Good laugh? YES YES YES!
Mr. Mean used to do very complicated scavenger hunts with his other ex-pat pals in Cairo. Good times.
Six numbers? 602478 signifying nothing. picking up my prize tomorrow.
What was Mr. Mean doing in Cairo?
He lived in there for 3 years. Working for Mobil. His kids went to school with the Shah's children, men with machine guns outside the classroom and at the entrance.
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