by Gordon Waterstone

The weather. That’s all anybody wanted to talk about Thursday morning (Sept. 26) at The Red Mile. With the remnant low of Hurricane Helene expected to reach the Bluegrass Thursday night and last through the weekend, who can blame anybody?

You probably weren’t aware since it fizzled out as quickly as I do, the previously named Atlantic storm was Gordon. The Little Brown Jug’s Jay Wolf texted me last week that there was a “weak Gordon” out there, but nobody paid attention since it was gone in a minute. Just think, I could have been writing about Gordon wreaking havoc instead of Helene.

The forecast for Friday is bleak as Lexington is expected to receive 3-4 inches of rain with sustained winds of 40-50 mph. I asked around — and a few people asked me — the status of Friday’s race card. I’d say that any decision won’t be made until Friday, so stay tuned.

While the Bluegrass was in severe need of rain, the timing obviously couldn’t be worse for The Red Mile. Sure looks like there won’t be a “fast” track for the last two days of scheduled racing this first week.

Another hot topic for me Thursday was talk about the red-hot Detroit Tigers, who have come from nowhere a month ago into a likely spot in the MLB playoffs. Although I now reside in Lexington, I will forever remain loyal to my hometown Tigers, and on Thursday the first person I saw was Burke Brigade assistant PJ Fraley, also a native Michigander. PJ and I talked baseball for about 10 minutes. As I walked away Ernie Hendry, who is a huge Tigers fan, asked, “How about them Tigers?” Dewayne Minor came by and said the same.

There was a breakfast table set up Thursday with offerings of donuts and coffee, sponsored by my sponsors Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farms. I’m more of a bagel guy so I declined the donuts, but I had more Tigers talk under the tent with Eric Patalan, another Michigander.

Before I continue with Thursday, let’s go back a sec to Wednesday. It had poured rain again overnight but by dawn it had stopped. I thought I could safely make a trip to The Red Mile, but while driving to the track the skies opened up. I thought about turning around while driving through the monsoon — and also crawling along a side road where I had to wait for some ducks to cross the road — but I stayed on point. By the time I made it to the track the rain had subsided into a slight drizzle.

My first stop Wednesday was in the “She Shed” by “The Deck” where I found Chris Tully and Nick Salvi. We chatted briefly before I decided to head out on my backstretch travels. Nick asked if he could join me and I said “sure,” but I made sure to throw a leash over him since I know he loves to stray.

It was very quiet again Wednesday morning as we began our walk. That quickly changed when Tahnee Camilleri came walking by. “My panties are wet,” Tahnee said with a laugh. Before anybody gets upset for me using that quote, I asked Tahnee for permission and she said to use it. We talked for a moment and Tahnee said she will likely be moving to Lexington, although she is unsure of the exact timing.

I had to grab the leash to get Nick to follow. We went by the Melander barn which is now the barn of Andrew Harris as Team Melander is now based on a nearby farm. We then made our way to the top where we saw Joe Holloway standing outside his barn. Joe asked me about the weekend weather and that he had to alter — as everybody did — his training schedule.

I felt something staring at me and it was the 2-year-old filly pacer Point Breeze, who had her head out of her stall and focused on me. So, I went over to pet her head, which she seemed to love. Point Breeze has won two of five starts this year — including a lifetime-best 1:51 last time out at Woodbine Mohawk Park — and will be starting during week 2 of the Grand Circuit meet at The Red Mile.

Without much else going on we made our way back up toward the shed where we saw Jane Garverick. Jane, who is now 83, works for Randy Jerrell, and as a wise man once told me, “Was country when country wasn’t cool.” Jane used to train and drive a bit back in the day, making her last driving start in 2006. Her last driving victory came in August 2005 with a mare trotter trained by Gary Lewis. Ah, the good ole days.

Okay, so now back to Thursday. I had a chance at the breakfast area to say hello to Emily Ratcliff, the track’s new director of sponsorships. When I left the breakfast area, I walked past Nancy Takter’s barn. I saw assistant Josert Fonseca so I went over and asked about Hambletonian champ Karl, who was not entered in Saturday’s Bluegrass. Josert pointed across the barn to show me Karl, who was getting a bath after going a training mile. Josert said Karl will be ready to go for The Kentucky Futurity on Sunday (Oct. 6). I reminded Josert that last year, in one of my first Backstretch columns, that I wrote that I had told driver Yannick Gingras that I believed he would finally reach the Hambletonian winner’s circle this year. At the time Yannick told me it was too early but Karl had a chance. I’m so glad I was finally correct about something!

A car went by and I saw somebody waving through the window. The driver parked the car and out popped Mike Vandeheede, from Illinois. Mike told me he got in last night and that his timing was delayed as he got stuck in traffic on I-75. I told Mike I had seen on the news that there was a bad accident on the highway a bit north of Lexington that left the southbound lanes closed for hours. Mike said he was finally able to make his way on an exit ramp and take side roads, which extended his trip by about 90 minutes.

As I was talking to Mike, Tony Alagna assistant Anibal Borjas went by on his way to the track with a horse. He shook our hands and said hello and went off on his way. Chris Ryder went by and I shook his hand and congratulated him on his recent election to the Hall of Fame.

I went back by the breakfast area — which by now had been cleaned empty — and saw Debbie Daguet. “What about this weather?” Debbie asked me. It was then that Bob Stewart came over, as did brothers Dan and Greg Coon. We all talked about Helene’s presence on Friday, but as the saying goes, you can talk about the weather but you can’t do anything about it.

I then headed home before heading back to the track for Thursday’s opening-day action of Grand Circuit racing. Speaking of weather, under the weather is track announcer Gabe Prewitt, who sat out Thursday’s race card with former Hoosier Park announcer Steve Cross admirably filling in. I hiked up to the booth early on Thursday’s card to say hello to Steve as I haven’t seen him in a while, and he told me he was honored to be in the booth where Gabe calls, but most especially where the late Communicators Hall of Famer Carl Becker once called the races.

This was the first time Steve ever called the races at The Red Mile, but not the first time he had been to Lexington. He said he won a Billings amateur race back in 1995. Steve added that he also recently had the privilege of announcing for the first time at DuQuoin, IL.

I walked past the duo of Dean Hoffman and Richard Stone sitting in the grandstand so I stopped to chat for a few minutes. What a wealth of history there is between the two of them. I turned around and headed back to check out the clubhouse where there were a handful of tables occupied. Jan Johnson was at one table and Myron Bell was at another, and when I went over to say hello to Myron, he was deeply engrossed going through the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale catalog.

The races got underway and trainer Ron Burke captured the early Daily Double, one driven by David Miller and the other by Yannick Gingras. The Burke Brigade just missed a three-peat when Looksgoodinloulou finished second to Papi Grad. When I returned to the grandstand after my quick clubhouse jaunt, I saw Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi and congratulated them on the victories. Weaver Bruscemi has gotten so big they now have a security person — his name is Tony — watching over them 24/7.

I looked over and saw Jessica Otten on a bench taking a break from her on-air analyst duties with Bob Heyden. Jessica was sitting with Justin Irvine, who I first met a few years ago when he was named the Rising Star Award winner while I was hosting the Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association banquet.

The Hambletonian Society’s Moira Fanning told me I threw a big scare into Marvin Katz when I wrote about the special charity duo race scheduled for Saturday afternoon. The way I wrote it inferred that Marvin and his wife would actually be competing, but that is not the case as they are sponsors. So, I have to apologize to Marvin, as well as Adam Bowden at Diamond Creek Farm as I also mixed them into the groups that would be on the track.

Another reminder that tickets are still available for the special night of dinner and music at the Stable of Memories on Sunday night. The three-hour gathering gets underway at 6 p.m. and a highlight 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. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased at stableofmemories.square.site.

Finally, gas prices dropped from my last report. On my way to and from the track on Thursday I saw differing prices, ranging from $3.03 all the way down to $2.85 on the south side of town. I’ll be back with you on Sunday, hopefully with a great report that Helene wasn’t so bad after all.