Many of the teachers gathered on Wednesday at Churchill Downs at Millionaire's Row to watch the races, chat, and have a good time. We had about fifteen people show up at one time or another and were also joined by a rival "on the hill" school, Floyd's Knobs, where my old principal from Mt. Tabor is now. While I have never watched a horse race until three years ago, and that was Derby on TV, I was definitely the rookie of the crowd. I certainly had never been to a live horse race. Car racing was always more my social class.
But I didn't have to worry several ladies took me under their wing and showed me a few things about betting. While I didn't have it all figured out in time to bet on the first race, I did bet on all eight of the following races. I have now figured out why there is so much time between races, so people like me can figure out who to bet on and in what configuration. I didn't know what trifecta, exacta, or superfecta meant until yesterday, let alone to have it boxed or what a combination ticket meant. Now I can say I've placed boxed superfecta bets (I lost that race) and have placed win, place, or show tickets (I usually win on those bets even if they were only $2 bets, I usually got around $6 back). Of the eight races I bet on I actually won six of those bets. Not bad for a beginner. I actually came home only about $5 down for the day. I would have spent that for lunch some place if I were out.
One teacher got particularly lucky and claimed she wasn't going to tell her husband. While another teacher did make out too badly. A few teachers decided that maybe they shouldn't stay for the whole day and left early. Nancy, Pam, and I did stay till the bitter end. For the last race we even went down to the paddocks (I know what those are now) and looked at the horses before the final race, which was on the turf not the dirt. I had chosen #1 Diverse, a beautiful dappled gray and #10 Exotic Bloom to show on a $2 bet for the final race. #1 Diverse came in second which meant, yeah, I made $6.60 on that bet.
It was all fun. We even had a nice lunch buffet before the races. It included my favorite local dish Hot Brown, along with other yummies, bread pudding with hot carmel sauce or hot chocolate sauce. I controlled myself and only had one helping of bread pudding but didn't choose between the two sauces, why not both!
With the heat and the lack of air-conditioning in the car on the way home I stopped and got watermelon for dinner. I also drank lots of water to fight the dehydration. But all in all I can see going to the races again, but maybe next time I'll bet on the first race.
-- Stephanie
1 comment:
Two fun days. It's supposed to cool off down there around the time I get back. I might get Mom a 3 1/2 inch floppy drive for her birthday too. And she wants me to get some kind of radio Walkperson for her - I'm not sure an Ipod is necessary - for if she wants to listen to NPR at the rehab clinic but has a roommate who's not into that.
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