Sunny and spectacular

by Gordon Waterstone

Let’s get right to it as we have a lot to cover since we last met. But first and foremost, let me tell you something about the outstanding weather forecast for the upcoming week in Lexington. It’ll look like Groundhog Day here in the Bluegrass as it looks like we will have sunshine and highs in the high 70s and low 80s all week. That forecast is real and it’s spectacular.

I do have to admit it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening on what day. Moving the Kentucky Futurity to the first weekend and changing the race days from Friday-Sunday to Thursday-Saturday has thrown me off. Also, the Kentuckiana Farms Pre-Sale Party, which is normally held the Thursday night of the first week of racing, was moved to Friday night this year.

I attended the Kentuckiana gathering, and it’s hard for me to come up with an excuse to not go as it’s held across the street from where I live at the Malone’s Prime Events Center. As a sidenote, the Events Center has been sharing space in the same building as the OBC Kitchen, which closed last Friday but is reopening today across town on Leestown Road. I know a lot of people like to go to OBC, but remember if you make reservations this week that you are going to be dining at the new location.

When I arrived at the Kentuckiana party I thanked both Ken Jackson and Bob Brady for the invitation. I found a seat at a table between Perry and Annelee Soderberg to my left and Linda Toscano and Andy Cohen to my right.

I obviously can’t name all I spoke to throughout the evening as there were a lot. I will say that I hung around the Pinske family for a while and had some nice conversations, including congratulating Carter and Makenna Pinske on their victories over the first two cards. I also congratulated Andy and Julie Miller on their 2-year-old filly trotter Wall Of Fame’s gutsy victory in a $94,000 Bluegrass division, keeping the daughter of Walner unbeaten in 10 career starts.

I did have to ask Julie about her double congratulatory kisses afterward though. As Andy brought Wall Of Fame back to the winner’s circle, Julie jumped off the golf cart after riding from the paddock and gave a big kiss on Wall Of Fame’s lips. Then she went directly over to Andy, where she then gave Andy a big kiss as well. I asked Andy if he was aware that Julie went from horse to husband, and he told me it happens all the time and he doesn’t mind it.

Denmark’s Karsten Bonsdorf came over to see me at the party, and he told me he is really enjoying writing columns for Travservis.dk. Karsten actually began writing his first-person columns a few years ago in an effort to duplicate Backstretch With Gordon. But as my former co-worker Greg Schuler always told me, Backstretch may be imitated but never duplicated.

I’ve been able to translate some of the columns by Karsten, who also covers European racing for the USTA. He is a long-time racing journalist who has been coming over to the U.S. for the big trotting races for more than 25 years. I told Karsten that I was really flattered that he has copied the Backstretch column. I guess I need to give credit to ex-Boss Kathy (Parker), who came up with the idea 24 years ago.

With the Kentuckiana party being held in the past on Thursday nights, I never overstayed my welcome as there was always a NFL game to go watch. But this year on a Friday night, and no football game, I didn’t leave the premises until after 11 p.m. While I tried to duck out a bit earlier, the now-retired Hambletonian COO Moira Fanning had Ubered to the party and I offered her a ride back to her hotel. So after “last call” was finally given, I cut my night short after about four hours to become Moira’s Uber back.

Friday’s card was raced primarily on an “off” track, with a 30-minute delay between races early in the card as Trackman Dan led the track crew in shaping up the race surface. I did take a moment to walk over to see guitarist Devin Hale, who has been entertaining the crowd during the races with some great music. Devin told me he is really getting interested in harness racing, and was actually glad I stopped by as he had just signed up for the Harness Racing Update newsletters and had read the first two Backstretch With Gordon columns this year.

Devin also told me he is writing a song about harness racing, which he hopes he can finish and debut on Saturday’s closing-day program. While I’m sure it’ll be a hit song, it might be tough toppling Ella Langley’s stronghold at the top of the charts with Choosin Texas.

Saturday’s weather was much better than Friday as the rain had cleared out. Shortly after I arrived, I bumped into Boss Dave (Briggs) and DRF’s Derick Giwner. Both remarked how long it had been since they actually were able to attend the Kentucky Futurity program in person. With it being in the past after the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale had concluded, both had work duties keeping them away. But with the change in schedule, both made it to The Red Mile this year. I later sat in HRU’s box with Boss Dave, and “quotes provided by James Platz” joined us for a bit.

I stuck my head in the clubhouse for a minute and the Hambletonian Society’s new COO Gunjan Patel, who was there with her dog Zeus, invited me to join her for lunch. The Hambletonian Society’s stakes manager Nadia Tarnawa and Bluegrass Staking’s Erin Freibert also sat down at the table. Boss Dave sent me a text that he had plenty of open seats at his table if I wanted to join him, but I had already accepted Gunjan’s invitation.

After a great lunch — the food was outstanding so kudos to all those in the clubhouse — I made my way back outside. It was then that I saw a big group from Winbak Farm. I’m glad to see they brought their mascot this year, Michael Carter.

I also had a chance to talk to Dave McDuffee for a while, and with no disrespect to anybody else, Dave is one of my all-time favorite people in racing. I also stopped by Jim Campbell’s box for a few minutes, and he and I talked hockey. Specifically, about the Detroit Red Wings. Scott Farber was also there, so while I was embarrassed at first when I didn’t recognize him, it was great to catch up with Scott.

I plopped myself down in a box and Sally Bolon stopped by for a few minutes. I was then sitting alone when Will Alempijevic came over. Will, who long ago was a Canadian correspondent for The Horseman And Fair World and then later was general manager at Portland Meadows thoroughbred racetrack in Oregon (where, by the way, he lined up a local writer to pen a column similar to Backstretch With Gordon), told me he had been at Keeneland for a few races before getting to The Red Mile to see the Kentucky Futurity.

Will, who is now the COO of AmWager.com, also told me that he and his longtime girlfriend Annise Montplaisir, co-founder of Amplify Horse Racing, are getting married in two weeks. Congratulations to both, who are now residents of Kentucky.

Congratulations go to the connections of Nix Nacken, who won the Kentucky Futurity at generous odds of 17-1. Owned by Anders Strom’s Courant Inc, Nix Nacken was driven by Bjorn Goop and trained by Marcus Melander. I went to the winner’s circle after the race to congratulate Anders. I also gave a high-five to Marvin Katz as he went by me after She’s Moni, who he shares ownership of with Brittany Farms, after she won the Filly Futurity. Congrats to trainer Nancy Takter and driver Yannick Gingras.

I went to dinner Saturday night at Malone’s Palomar with Moira Fanning, Jay Farrar, and Maggie LeClair. Moira had been wanting to go to Malone’s as she had a hefty gift card she wanted to use. Since Moira wanted to use up the balance on the card, which she said was a lot, we all had appetizers, nice main entrees (Moira and I had filets), a few bottles of wine and desserts. I had coupons for half-price bottles of wine which helped some. The waiter brought the bill, Moira handed him her gift card and said she hoped it covered the entire amount. Our server, Caleb, told Moira that the balance on the card was $1.33.

Yep, Moira brought the wrong card with her, which resulted in only $1.33 being taken off the bill. And because she did the dinner inviting, she still insisted on paying. Thanks Moira.

Sunday night was the Stable of Memories fundraiser at the historic Round Barn. As always, it was a nice gathering and a chance to casually chat with people. That group included Heather, Mike, and Scarlett Wilder. I even spoke to Dr. John Mossbarger, even if he is a big fan of that school in Columbus.

I made it to the backstretch at The Red Mile on Monday, and was greeted at the breakfast table with two young ’uns, who offered me coffee and donuts. The young girl is kin to Devan Tharps, while the boy was Logan Shehan, the 10-year-old son of Tyler and Marna Shehan. Logan is the sole owner of the 5-year-old Lazarus gelding The Phantom, who won an overnight race early last month at The Red Mile. All of The Phantom’s earnings are going toward Logan’s college fund, which now totals $5,910.

And a word of warning about those two at the breakfast table. The young lady, who sadly I did not learn her name, told me they were $8 short of the goal. So, I pulled out some cash from my pocket, and gave her a dollar. But then she said, “We can break that $20 if you want.” I have a hunch that a degree in business is in the future of those two.

With an early deadline on Monday, any report from last night’s opening session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale will have to wait until tomorrow’s Backstretch. I’ll also let you know if anything big happened at the welcome reception this morning, which was then followed by the auction of several breedings to top stallions.

Apologies to all those who didn’t get a mention today, there was just so much. And, gas prices are creeping down. Driving home from The Red Mile yesterday I saw $4.14 for regular and $6.39 for diesel.