A Familiar Scene
Rain today, rain tomorrow. Thursday turf races at Saratoga have already been moved to the main track and the first steeplechase of the season canceled, which means post-time will be at 1:35 p.m., with race two opening the card. If I seem fixated on the forecast, it’s because I don’t relish the slop, unlike Steve Asmussen runners, who won three races this afternoon, including the feature.
Despite the rain, I made it to the track for opening day, arriving in time to wedge myself into a spot on the clubhouse rail to catch the first race. On my right was a middle-aged fellow, who began imploring one of the runners to “Show me some heart,” as the field entered the stretch, then muttered “No,” and slouched forward unable to watch the end. On my left was a woman going wild for eventual winner Star Player, exuberantly, dangerously jumping in a strapless sundress and yelling, “C’mon, Star! C’mon, Star!” After the 5-1 shot crossed the wire, she exulted to her companion, “I won! I should have bet $10!” Standing not far behind her, a man claiming to have the $311 trifecta “a couple times,” chided another, “I told you to watch out for Chad Brown.”
It was all so familiar, inducing a happy moment of deja vu; it could have been any opening day at the Spa. I even briefly forgot the rain … an unlikely occurrence on Thursday.
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