by Gordon Waterstone

I went to sleep Wednesday night (Oct. 2) on cloud nine after my hometown Detroit Tigers completed their two-game sweep of the Houston Astros to advance to the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians. Sorry, Guardians.

I was still on a high Thursday when I arrived at The Red Mile, only to discover that while the breakfast tables were set up, only donuts were being served. I wondered what happened to the bagels and cream cheese, especially since Emily Ratcliff, the track’s director of sponsorships, had texted me for my requests on Wednesday.

So, I texted Emily to tell her of my disappointment, and she replied that the local bagel shop, just a five-minute drive from The Red Mile, needed 48-hour notice for such a large order. So, Emily has now promised me that the Friday offerings — by the way, the daily breakfasts this week are sponsored by my sponsors, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farm — will indeed include bagels.

I do have a confession to make though. Despite my holding out from having a donut, I finally gave in around 11 a.m. — about two hours after I arrived at The Red Mile on Thursday — and grabbed one of the last five donuts available. And Emily came by just at that moment and saw me stuffing my face with the glazed donut.

I decided Wednesday to pass on going out for the third session of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale so I could watch the Tigers game. I had thought about heading out for a few minutes prior to the game starting, but what was I going to see out there in addition to many more horses selling? It’s not like I’d see guys rolling around on the ground wrestling, or anything like that.

But I did think about going and checking to make sure that Greg and Natalie — my two favorite bartenders at Frank and Dino’s — weren’t still wandering around like nomads in the desert.

When I was leaving Fasig-Tipton on Tuesday afternoon I bumped into Greg and Natalie, who were in desperate search of Natalie’s car as they had forgotten where they parked. I’ve done that before so I had some sympathy for their plight. Since Frank and Dino’s reopened Wednesday night after being shut down for power issues since last Friday, I assumed that they had indeed found the car.

I had dinner Wednesday night at OBC Kitchen, which is located across the street from where I live. Unlike Tuesday where I was in a dinner party of nine, it was just me and Moira and Tom Fanning. It was a quick dinner and as we were leaving, I heard somebody call my name. I looked over and saw it was Ex-Boss Kathy’s brother, Norm Parker. Norm said he was waiting for his wife Paulette, who was in a shop, before heading over to Malone’s for dinner.

Norm invited me to join them as he wanted to buy me a shot to celebrate the Tigers victory. So, I joined his group for a moment. While I was excited receiving congratulatory texts immediately after the ballgame ended from John Campbell and Ken Weingartner, among a few others, toasting the Tigers with Norm topped it all.

Thursday morning was a bit foggy in Lexington. With the post draw for Sunday’s Kentucky Futurity scheduled to take place at noon, I had decided to head to The Red Mile a little bit later than usual, but since I was hungry, I still made it their shortly after 9. Did I tell you about my disappointment when I arrived that there was nary a bagel to be found?

There was some buzz Wednesday night and Thursday morning as when Saturday’s sheet came out there was a familiar name listed to drive: Ron Pierce. Yes, that Ron Pierce. The now 68-year-old Hall of Famer — who has not driven in a race since March 2015 — was listed to drive Blown Call from post 10 in race 5 for trainer Ron Burke. I had texted associate judge Jeff James Wednesday afternoon for an explanation, and Jeff replied he didn’t have one.

So, when I arrived at The Red Mile on Thursday, I quickly sought out Ron Burke. Ron told me that he named himself to drive but something got lost in translation so instead of Burke it came out Pierce, who has been traveling the country since his retirement. So no, it will not be a momentous occasion for Ron Pierce to return to the home of his famous wave.

I made a lap around the backstretch, running first into Burke assistant PJ Fraley. After talking baseball to PJ, I continued on my way and I went over to chat with Tina Duer for a moment. Tina is now selling supplements and she was waiting by the Butenschoen Stable for Tyler to return to the barn. I did a U-turn and made my way the other way and saw Debbie Daguet coming with a horse. I had talked to Debbie last week about the miserable weather, and I laughed when she again asked me today about the glorious weather, we’re having this week.

Yes, wonderful weather expected all weekend in Lexington. High temps are expected to be around 80 degrees for all three afternoons of racing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. With post time daily at 1 p.m.

It’s here I have to interject that the Saturday card is in direct conflict with my Tigers playing the Guardians. I had earlier called my good friend MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to ask if he could move the Tigers game to a 7 p.m. start, and was disappointed when he told me that I should instead ask Red Mile VP of operations Gabe Prewitt to move the race card to an evening post.

I had plenty of time to kill before the Futurity post draw so I made my way up to the old paddock. Pat Dellavecchia had texted me earlier this week about making the hike up to see him and Tricia Adams, so this was a chance to do so. Tricia was there when I arrived brushing down Sweetie Hill, a 2-year-old trotting filly who races Saturday afternoon with Pat Curtin driving.

Trish and I talked for about 20 minutes before Pat D came back from the track. We talked about a pair of horses they have in to go on Saturday, including the 2-year-old colt trotter Gimme Fifty in an overnight. After several qualifiers where Gimme Fifty couldn’t stay focused and made a break, he finally stayed flat last time out in a Sept. 30 qualifiers with the addition of trotting hopples. Scott Zeron will drive and I’ll have my fingers crossed that Gimme Fifty gives a nice effort.

Both trotters are owned by John Barnard, and as I was leaving, the stable manager arrived. I received a nice parting gift of a shirt before I made my way back to The Deck to wait for the Futurity and Filly Futurity draw. As I left, I had a chance to wave hello to Phil Knox, who is also stabled there.

Nick Salvi and Vicki Gingras were together so I joined them on the couch. The USTA’s Wendy Ross arrived with her dog, Stella. Putting together The Deck in preparation for the draws for the two trotting classics were Ross’ co-workers Kyle Creditt and Rich Johnston.

Hosting the show that was broadcast on the USTA’s Facebook page were Emily Ratcliff, Jessica Otten and Bob Heyden. The Filly Futurity was up first and the horses came out of the box in alphabetical order. Post positions were random though, with 3-1 morning-line favorite Date Night Hanover landing post 9.

Hambletonian favorite Karl drew the trailing post 11. Karl was installed the 6-5 morning-line favorite, with Highland Kismet the second choice at 3-1. After the draw I walked over to Karl’s driver, Yannick Gingras, to ask about drawing the second tier, and he told me that he was OK with it and it was much better than the outside post 10.

A request was sent to Yannick and trainer Nancy Takter for an on-air interview. Things became exciting as Yannick and Nancy did the rock, paper, scissors thing to decide who would do the interview. It was best two-out-of-three, and after they split the first two duels, the tension became palpable for the third heat. Yannick won that battle and was almost as happy as when he won this year’s Hambletonian with Karl, which sent Nancy to the podium for a chat with Bob Heyden.

Speaking of Yannick, he told me that he was extremely lucky last Saturday night when he made the drive in the rain from Lexington to Hollywood Dayton for their stakes-laden card. Yannick told me that he was nearing the exit when his car hydroplaned on the extremely wet road. Yannick said somehow, he managed to avoid squarely hitting the huge wall alongside the exit. He admitted he was a bit rattled from the incident, and the car emerged largely unscathed except for one tire that must’ve brushed the wall.

I’ll have a sale update for you tomorrow, and I’m sure I’ll be reporting that it’s been a great week for my sponsors, Hunterton Farm/Hunterton Sales Agency. Also, that gas prices continue to drop into the low $2.70s.