A Little "Faith"

On the 15th the Ambassador Program had one participant, Faith J. of Pasadena, CA. I had been expecting ten times that from those who had registered upon the Meetup.com site. Pepperdine University was also talking about coming out but it never materialized. I'm not sure what happened to everyone, but c'est la vive.

It was a real pleasure spending the majority of the day with Faith. While waiting for her arrival outside the main gate to the barn area I observed a lot of people coming and going. For ease of identification I wear a rather distinctive red and black hat. While waiting there, grooms, security, the Seabiscuit tram, trainers, and even Bob Baffert, all cruised by. With the exception of Mr. Baffert, most had a curious expression upon their face when they looked at me. You wonder what they are thinking. (Mr. Baffert was stone cold when he walked by so I have to assume he had more important things going on mentally.) Regardless, the process of waiting around while looking foolish keeps you humble. I, for one, am always in need of a little more of that given the name of this blog is, “The Commissioner”. (Note: I will certainly up the ante on "Snow Day" with an even more daring hat! Stay tuned.)

On the Santa Anita backside, though more appropriately, the "side-side", Faith and I linked up with Frank Monteleone at his barn. Accommodating as always, he stuck around and we chatted about horses for a while. We asked him which was his favorite and he pointed out a three year filly named "Yournamehere". Say what? Faith asked Frank where that name came from. Frank explained that the owner had waited so long to name the horse that there was going to be a fine leaved against the horse in order to receive a filing extension. The owner asked Frank what the papers said exactly. Frank's reply over the phone was, "Your name here." The rest is history.

Leaving the "side-side", we picked up a DRF and headed to our private boxes. Given how many people had originally signed up to participate, the track had reserved us three boxes so Faith took one and me another. The usher, who we named Usher (never got his name) was a fairly handsome gentleman with excellent hair and a great personality to match. We chatted about racing for quite a while and never were quite able to look at the first race. As Usher explains, horse racing used to be immensely popular in his earlier days. Weekends were crammed with fifty thousand easily. Now there were about ten thousand present. You could see by his expression how the decline of his sport hurt him inside. He thought the Ambassador Program was a great idea and congratulated us on making it happen.

Well for the second race Faith and I were able to really look at the form and I explained as best as possible what all the information the DRF was conveying, how to wager, and other basic handicapping information. Before you know it we fell into exotics and I suggested how some people go after interesting exacta combinations. "Hey here's an exacta for you," I said, "The Life-Life box." As it turned out the two horse was named Lifeline and the three was Life Goes On. What do you know, Life-Life came in and paid $20. Unfortunately I had decided to put $2 to win on the one horse that finished somewhere up the track. My sympathies go out to the owners. I know that likely a year ago there were a lot of high expectations when the horse came out of Keeneland for $300,000, then something happened in training, he got sidelined, and all those dreams fell apart, as he never quite recovered. Now the horse is destined for maiden claiming $40,000, or worse. Sometimes you wonder why the sport has to be so hard on its owners.

The third race was a clinch, after the fact. Desert Code was back in action after his win in the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint, though at a severe trim from 30-1 to 2-1. I took my lucky parlay voucher and put it evenly across the board on him ($4 across). He won with plenty to spare and Faith and I shared a high five. Well the voucher is now up to $27.80 and the original $2 is now 3 for 3. Who knew Chinese New Year’s "lucky money" was so lucky. I’m going to see how far this thing can ride.

Faith bit the big wagering bullet and made her third lifetime wager on Satellite in the 4th and won! She was really excited and was off to cash her ticket before the tellers could run out of money. After that I offered Faith a farewell, snapped a few photos, and then called it a day because of the long drive home. Thanks again for coming out Faith and letting me ramble on about the sport I love so very much.

Perseverance!