by Gordon Waterstone

I knew my first trip to The Red Mile backstretch on Tuesday (Sept. 24) was in jeopardy when I heard a crack of thunder at 7:35 a.m. And as Garth Brooks sings, the thunder rolled. And it rolled. And the lightning struck. And the rain fell.

And while I first woke up excited as a kid on Christmas morning to make my trip to The Red Mile, my plans for the first column of Season 22 of Backstretch With Gordon went into delay mode. Instead of a planned arrival time of 8 a.m., I finally made my way to The Red Mile at 9:45 a.m. I wasn’t expecting to see anything much more than puddles — and I was pretty much correct.

Again, welcome to my 22^nd year of writing this column. The 21^st century began on Jan. 1, 2001, so it’s hard to believe my first year of doing this endeavor began just two years into the new century in 2003. Back then I was working at The Horseman And Fair World and it was the brainchild of then Boss Kathy [Parker] to send me to The Red Mile and wander around and write what I saw and did.

So, 18 years of Backstretch With Gordon at The Horseman, and then two years with the U.S. Trotting Association, and now my second year with Harness Racing Update. I must thank Dave Briggs for the opportunity to write for HRU, and I also must thank my sponsors, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farm and Hunterton Sales Agency, for their support.

I wasn’t sure about the Stewart’s sponsorship this year since my agents seemed to be a bit too busy to come through for me. Somehow though, despite Nick Salvi doing a taxing tour of all restaurants in Lexington, and Amy Hollar doing a concert tour throughout Ohio, they were able to put the deal together.

Where we are is getting ready for the six days of major stakes racing that begins on Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m., with the 12-race card including four Bluegrass divisions for 2-year-old filly pacers and five Bluegrass divisions for 2-year-old male trotters.

Afternoon cards continue this first week on Friday and Saturday. Sadly, Tuesday’s weather looks to be the norm for the coming week, especially on Friday when remnants of Hurricane Helene will reach the Bluegrass. According to the forecast, those remnants are expected to meander around for a few days so we could see rain every day into early next week.

Tuesday’s rain prompted the cancellation of the four qualifiers that were scheduled. As I noted early, it was very quiet at The Red Mile, and by the time I arrived the heavy rain had turned into a light sprinkle. I wandered up to peek at the track and while the main track was closed, a handful of horses were on the inside oval. There wasn’t even anybody sitting on “The Deck” or under “The Tree of Knowledge.” And the breakfast area was also empty, so no bagel for me today.

I walked over to the barn area and went past the Burke barn and saw the chair where Mickey Burke liked to park himself every day. Mickey was on my list of horsemen who I am most fond of, and I will dearly miss him since his passing last May. Mickey couldn’t have been kinder to me over the years and always took the time to say hello. And I easily forgave him several years back when he kept thinking I was Ken Weingartner.

I saw a group over at Bob Stewart’s barn so I dodged a few puddles — I was smart and put on an old pair of shoes and jeans this morning knowing it’d be muddy — and made my way there. Bob was there with his wife, Lynda, Andy Miller and John Duer. They were talking to an Australian owner and his son, who soon left the barn.

I asked Andy what he and his wife, Julie, did to adjust training with the poor weather, and he said he moved the schedule up a day so they trained on Monday. I saw that John’s son was attending school in Delaware so we talked about that for a second too.

We were then joined by another visitor, a skunk. The skunk went under a car for a moment and then went running across toward Andy’s barn. Ernie Hendry was there and as the skunk approached, Ernie bailed. I’m pretty certain that’s the fastest Ernie has run since he was a teenager. He might have even beat Tyson Gay in a 100-yard sprint. Without any spraying involved, the skunk then went on his way.

It was still drizzling as I walked up to the back of the backstretch as I usually like to do and Shelly Grieco, who works for Linda Toscano, came by me on a golf cart. “You picked a great day for your first day over travels here, didn’t you?” Shelly said with a laugh.

Dr. Andy Roberts was in a nearby barn and yelled over hello to me and I then reached the barn of Joe Holloway. Somebody missed me, and it wasn’t Joe. It was Holloway assistant Diane Lewis’s dog, Roxie, who came flying up to me with her tail wagging a million miles an hour. Diane and I talked weather for a second and she told me the lightning was pretty intense earlier over The Red Mile.

Dr. Karl Nagle was also there and I again thanked Karl for inviting me to a birthday dinner at OBC Kitchen last Thursday to celebrate Joe’s birthday. Also joining in that group was Diane, Linda Toscano and Tahnee Camilleri. I hadn’t seen Tahnee in some time and I’ve always loved talking to her as I love the Australian accent that she brought with her and when made the move to the U.S. in 2018. It was a great night of conversation at the table, and we covered a lot more items than just racing.

It was starting to rain a bit harder so I thought it best to depart, but not before I stopped at the judges’ office. The door was locked so I couldn’t get in, so I headed to the race office where I had better luck. I poked my head in and said hello to Dill and Curby.

I made it to my car and realized I had forgotten to grab a Lexington Selected Yearling Sale catalog in the race office so I drove over to the other side of the grandstand so I could grab one in the office. I said hello to Bessie at the switchboard and then went in to chat with announcer and VP of racing operations Gabe Prewitt.

Gabe was at his desk in front of his computer and I looked at the screen and while I was expecting to see some mutuel reports he had the local radar up instead. We talked about the poor forecast for this week’s three days of racing. Gabe also told me he was going to miss the first three days of the sale at Fasig-Tipton next week as he was heading east to fill in as the announcer at Parx thoroughbred racetrack outside Philadelphia on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Obviously, we all hope the weather is better than predicted. On Saturday afternoon, six duos of horsepeople will compete in the Lexington Team Sulky Relay Race for the University of Kentucky’s Children’s Hospital. The teams will pull a sulky 60 yards one way and then go the reverse route. A total of $15,000 will be donated to the hospital, with the teams including Lucas and Mikaela Wallin, Todd McCarthy and Hannah Brady, Scott Zeron and Jenna Otten, Carter and Makenna Pinske, two reps of Diamond Creek Farm, and Marvin and Lynn Katz. Looks like the teams might be needing mud fenders.

As for the sale, things get underway on Monday night, Sept. 30 at Fasig-Tipton at 7 p.m., with a cocktail reception in the Kentucky Room at 5 p.m. to celebrate the life of Randy Manges, the sale manager who passed away last December. The sale continues Tuesday, with festivities beginning at noon for a cocktail reception in the Kentucky Room. The sale begins at 1 p.m. with the first offerings being breedings to eight stallions to benefit the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge. The eight stallions are: Chapter Seven, Confederate, Downbytheseaside, Karl, Muscle Hill, Sweet Lou, Tactical Landing and Walner.

The sale then continues Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at 1 p.m., before a final session Friday night at 7 p.m. Racing during the second week will be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with the closing day card highlighted by the Kentucky Futurity. If you can’t make it to Lexington for the trotting classic, the race will be shown as part of Fox Sport’s America’s Day at the Races that afternoon.

Also, mark down on your schedule this Sunday night (Sept. 29). The special night of dinner and music at the Stable of Memories, AKA The Round Barn, at The Red Mile, gets underway at 6 p.m. and a highlight of the three-hour gathering is the celebration of George Segal and Brittany Farms, as well as all Kentucky breeders. Trophies and memorabilia of Brittany Farms was recently moved to the Stable of Memories. Before I left the track on Tuesday, I stopped by to check it all out. Former Boss Kathy was there still arranging some of the items, and there are some fantastic trophies won by Brittany over the years on display. It was impressive for me to see the list of 29 Breeders Crown champions who carried the Brittany banner.

Also of note this year there are no Kentucky football home games competing against the races. UK plays Ole Miss on Saturday at noon this Saturday, and next weekend the team is on a bye. Maybe some of the players can come out to the track for some great harness action?

Drum roll please… If you asked me yesterday the price of gas, I would have said $2.85. Alas, the six stations I went by on my way to and from The Red Mile on Tuesday all were up 20 cents to $3.05.

Thanks again to Boss Dave for allowing me once again to grace the pages of HRU, and a special thanks to Steve and Cindy Stewart. I’ll be back with you on Friday and let’s hope I can write that the sun is shining!