Good evening world! While there isn’t any possible chance
that I’ve been to as many race tracks as Brian Zipse, I recently added two more
to my list. Arlington Park communications master and press box czar Dave Zenner
and I completed the daily double driving to both Laurel and Charles Town in the
same day. What you are about to witness is real. The participants are not
actors. They are the actual people who have already either lost their minds or drove
a long way to appear at various Eastern race tracks. Both parties at the tracks
have agreed to admit their looniness and have their stories told here here, in
our forum: The Dark Horse Blog.
(Laurel Park Entrance)
It was a typical overcast last winter day as Dave and I
began the trek up Interstate 95 from my new home in Richmond, through
Washington DC, and to Laurel, Maryland. Now normally I wouldn’t tell people
about visits to the rest stop, but the highlight of that point in time along
our route was when Dave attempted to get in the WRONG CAR! I wonder what the
owners of the car were thinking at that point in time…but I couldn’t help to
laugh about it. I suppose cars of the same color can be confusing. As you can
imagine with the two of us together that the Beatles songs were in full force.
(Laurel Park Stretch)
Anyway, after the two-hour drive we finally arrived at
Laurel Race Track! It reminded me a lot of Hawthorne from the outside (and the
inside too). As we attempted to find our parking spot we were stopped by none
other than… the booth guy! We “flashed” our “media credentials” then proceeded
to enter the building. We headed up to the Terrace Dining Room and enjoyed a
tasty Maryland buffet! The grits with shrimp was interesting and the food was
rather tasty (the roast pig was tremendous)! And man, did the Terrace Dining Room look and
feel EXACTLY like the Hawthorne Gold Cup Dining Room! Whoa.
(Shoe Board in the Paddock)
(Laurel Park Paddock)
The wagering had much to be desired as Dave and I didn’t hit many winners all day (more on that later) so we decided to hook up with
Maryland legend Mike Gathagan. Mike took us on the grand tour of the facility
which included the largest elevator I think I have ever been on as well as the
press box! I mean, this elevator was just as “fast” as the ones at Hawthorne but
only like 500 times the size. You could have fit like a bazillion million
people in this thing. OK enough about the elevator. In the press box we got to
meet East coast race calling genius Dave Rodman who is a very nice guy and I
can’t wait to hang out more with him at Colonial Downs this summer!
(A place that Dave and I were not visiting)
(Laurel Park Press Box Library)
(Laurel Park from the Press Box)
(Laurel Park Gate)
(Dave and the Jockey Statue)
After a trip to the paddock, another round at the buffet (with
tasty pretzels and funnel cakes for dessert), and more lost wagers, we decided
to wrap up our time at Laurel and make the trek to Charles Town.
There really isn’t much between Laurel and Charles Town on Maryland
Route 200 and I-270… but man when you cross the Potomac river into West
Virginia it’s instant mountains! Or it feels like it to us native northerners.
(Made it to Hollywood!!)
Once we found our way into the Hollywood Casino at Charles
Town, we met up with Erich Zimny, VP of Racing Operations and had what was a
fantastic steak dinner! This definitely was not the day to be counting
calories! Feeling extremely full, Erich, Dave, and I proceeded through the
casino to the race track. We grabbed an empty set of box seats inside the
comfort of the racing parlor and proceeded to try to win some money. There was
one situation where there was an enormous amount of money in the show pool on a
heavy favorite. Based on the payouts it seemed to make sense to play a favorite
over ALL exacta. However I was also looking at that show pool money again and
thinking about going after the bridgejumpers. After all I almost always try to
beat them. Instead I played the exacta strategy, the favorite finished off the
board and lots of money was paid out to show. I suppose it wasn’t going to be
the day but we had a great time at Charles Town none the less! Erich was a
great host and I guarantee I will be visiting this track again soon!
(Charles Town Gate)
(Charles Town Stretch)
(Charles Town Paddock)
After grabbing a coffee for the road, we headed back to
Richmond for the night. Along the way we were stuck behind the most annoying
driver in the entire world. The dude would NOT let off the brake pedal for what
seemed like a hundred miles! (OK I might be exaggerating a bit) And for those
of you who use GPS apps on your iPhones, I highly recommend WAZE. I’m telling
ya, there was a major traffic jam on I-95 south at two in the morning and this
app routed us right around it and must have saved us 45 minutes worth of just
sitting in traffic. Score!
After a few hours of sleep, Dave and I went right back at it
the next day to make it a full trifecta by visiting the Colonial Downs OTB on
Broad Street. Even though Jim Miller texted us the winner of a race at
Gulfstream, we proceeded to not make that bet and lose even more money on the
weekend.
(Colonial Downs OTB)
What was lost financially was gained through a
fun experience and visiting two great race tracks! Somehow these road trips
always turn into some kind of adventure, but they are all worth it! I wonder
what the next road trip will bring…???