Striking Gold on Wood

For those curious about the Ambassador Program I can tell you it’s a really tough row to hoe. Our first program of 2009 was supposed to be the second Sunday of January and, well, that never happened, nor did anything else happen with the program in the month of January. The problem is not that people are not interested, but that no one knows they can come enjoy a unique day at the races, as if they owned their own horse, completely free of charge. As with Del Mar and Oak Tree, getting the word out is the most difficult part of running the Ambassador Program. Again I tried the whole e-mail/fax thing with all the local newspapers and as usual none of them returned my messages. The Santa Anita publicity department was similarly unhelpful. Their written excuse was they ran a press release for me once at Oak Tree and --between the lines-- that was once too many. Why am I so unpopular?

Well fortunately Santa Anita has two individuals within my decade who are passionate about the sport. One of them is in charge of promoting the track's "College Face Off Day" where college students can get into a fictitious wagering tournament with a real prize of $5,000 in donations towards their campus clubs. I shot him the idea of using the Ambassador Program to promote the Face Off Day with college papers. Well he took that idea and ran with it and contacted many local campuses. We struck gold with Woodbury University who put together its communication and design majors and brought them out to the track to have a very unique experience.

The Woodbury group began the day with the Seabiscuit tour, followed by a snack at clocker's corner, then joining the Ambassador Program for a walking tour of barn 26. Trainer Frank Monteleone was very gracious to allow some thirty five individuals to walk his row and greet all the horses while asking him various questions about what its like to be involved in the game. Most of the students had never gotten so close to a horse before so for them it was pretty exciting. A couple of smitten young women wanted a horse right away. They picked out a feisty chestnut and named it "Texas". "Texas" didn't like the name and decided to voice its opinion by taking my shoulder for a carrot while I was busy talking about the Triple Crown. The next can be surmised in three words, "CAT LIKE REFLEXES!" Yes, for once I rolled a '20' for dexterity. Ahem. Let's cover up the age, all right?

Afterwards it was off to the paddock to meet jockeys Chantal Sutherland and Gerry Olguin, to ask some questions and get some autographs. Then it up to the Club Plaza to meet with HRTV and Santa Anita, then to the Turf Club for the design students to spy the architecture, to the private boxes to catch a race, down to the paddock for the paddock tour, over to the rail to watch the fourth, then into the winner's circle for a group photo. WHEW! What a huge day that was. Everyone seemed pretty tired but in a good way. I received a lot of thanks and hand shakes and promises to return to the track in the near future (and hopefully with friends!). Well it looks like the Ambassador Program struck gold with these new Woodbury race fans. Pepperdine University on the 15th will be next.

Perseverance!