Running on empty

by Gordon Waterstone

Well, I almost made it. I filled my gas tank a few days before things got underway for the two-week Grand Circuit meet and the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, but I had to stop to refuel on my way to The Red Mile for Saturday’s (Oct. 10) closing-day race card.

I was thinking about trying to hang on for one more day, but I’ve been pretty much running on empty the last couple days, with my range meter showing I had about 20 miles to go.

I wrote this early Saturday morning before making my way over to The Red Mile, and as I looked out my window it was a gloomy day, with the rain beginning to fall around 11 a.m. A great week of glorious weather has turned a bit, as what’s left of Hurricane Isaias has made its way to the Bluegrass. You will know exactly how things went when you read this, but temperatures weren’t expected to reach only the high 60s, with rain — sometimes heavy and wind gusts of 25-30 mph — to play a role in the racing.

In a final look at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale results, 746 trotters and pacers were sold for a gross of over $60 million. That was an all-time record average of $81,230.

Congratulations to my sponsors, Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency as they led the consignors list in gross sales as 106 yearlings sold brought $11.717 million. I’ll be expecting a little bonus check soon from Steve and Cindy as I’m sure my mentions in the Backstretch column helped immensely.

With lots of people heading to Fasig-Tipton for the night’s final session of the yearling sale on Thursday, I again received no dinner offers. So, while I had lunch at Drakes on my way to the afternoon races, I landed back there for dinner. And while the place was packed with people, I got lucky and a table opened up just as I walked in. I ordered off the Malone’s menu and enjoyed a delicious filet with a shrimp cocktail appetizer. Rest assured Tom Charters, I was my own sponsor this night.

I didn’t intend on giving away my dinner plans on Thursday but I had to as I had to mention who was sitting at a nearby table. Huddled together was a group of about 10 University of Kentucky football players, including quarterback Kenny Minchey, who was the only one I recognized.

I skipped lunch on Friday and arrived at The Red Mile about an hour before post time. With Gabe Prewitt needed to be at Harrah’s Hoosier Park for duties on the FOX Sports show highlighting the Indiana Sires Stakes finals, Northfield Park announcer Kenny Livengood was enlisted to be his replacement for the day.

As usual my first stop was to see Bessie and beg for a program, and she always obliges me. As I was sitting and going through the races, Jessica Otten came in. Jessica also asked Bessie for a program. Jessica is also a native Michigander, and we talked for a few minutes.

Jessica told me recently somebody else had fetched a program for her, which she had ready when she started her handicapping analysis on the in-house simulcast show. She told me that she had handicapped the card in advance, but when she opened the new program things didn’t match. The program she was looking at was from 2025. So, she quickly found her correct program and carried on as the professional she is.

I walked around the apron a little bit before making my way up to a grandstand box to watch the races. As usual, agent Nick was nearby as was Bill Bigler. John Fodera walked by and said hello, as did Jason Nielsen. Jason told me he was in search of me to say thanks for the Backstretch mention in the previous column. He invited me to have lunch in the clubhouse but I declined as I wanted to soak in the sunshine and great weather.

The first race on the card was won by the Andy McCarthy-driven, Marna Shehan-trained Captain Crujido. It was the first win of the year in 22 starts for the 4-year-old gelded son of Captain Crunch, and the 1:53.2 effort was a career best. Captain Crujido is owned by Red Mile photographer Amanda Stephens, and I checked the winner’s circle to see if she handed off her camera to somebody else so she could join in the photo. Alas, she did not. After the race, Andy was congratulated by Red Mile officials for recently reaching the 4,000-win mark for his career, and interviewed by Hollywood Heyden.

After a few races I took another walk on the apron and saw Trackman Greg Coon standing with Red Mile president/CEO Joe Costa and CFO/COO Shannon Cobb. I pulled Joe aside and asked if he could definitively tell me where the new Margaritaville hotel was going to be built as I had heard a couple different locations. Joe told me the new hotel will be built attached to the outside part of the clubhouse building and extending into the parking lot toward the Round Barn. I asked Joe about the parking lot that is currently there and he said the hotel will be taking the space so the main parking lot will be expanded. Joe said the hotel won’t be ready in time for next year’s Breeders Crown cards, but should be done sometime in 2028.

Over the past two days I had looked around as my longtime Michigan friends Ed Burke and Wendy Janes (both longtime mutuel tellers at Hazel Park and Northville Downs) had texted they’d be in town. I never saw them, and as I got home from the track yesterday, I texted Ed that they either didn’t come or went to Keeneland. Ed replied that they were indeed at The Red Mile both days, and his search for me had the same result as me looking for him. Have no clue how I could miss them.

Also, when I got home, Joe Holloway called and said that he and Danny Ray were again going to enjoy the weather and have dinner at the Merrick Inn patio. Actually, Joe’s words were, “We’re going there and didn’t want to be chastised as you did to Brian and Jennifer Brown for not inviting you when they went there for dinner.” So, I joined Joe and Danny and a lot of people had the same idea as the patio was full.

Thanks to Tetrick Racing for posting a photo on its social media pages of me talking to Tim Tetrick on Thursday at The Red Mile. I’m still trying to figure out who actually took that photo. And can anybody photoshop Razor out of there for me please? Tim and I were talking about the drivers getting from Kentucky to Indiana Friday night and I saw that they all made it in time.

Yesterday morning I asked Yannick Gingras, who captured an INSS consolation, how the trip went. He told me the flight went fast and they all got to Hoosier with about 25 minutes to spare. Yannick said they landed back in Lexington at 12:45 a.m.

“It was a smooth trip for once,” Yannick told me with a laugh. “So, it wasn’t too bad stress wise.”

I want to stop for a sec and give a shout-out to Maddie Angus who, while driving in an amateur race last Wednesday night at Northfield Park, got bumped and then dumped backwards out of the sulky. Maddie’s foot got caught in the bike and she was dragged by her horse for nearly a-quarter-of-a-mile. My agent Amy Hollar also serves as the OHHA rep at Northfield Park and she told me the outrider came to Maddie’s rescue and stopped the horse (the race was declared a “no contest”).

Maddie, 20, posted on her Facebook page that her injuries were minimal, suffering only scraped-up arms and a sprained ankle. And that’s good news.

Because of the iffy weather, I earlier asked Red Mile director of sponsorships Emily Ratcliff if she could get me a table in the clubhouse to have lunch, and she of course said “yes.” I’ll have a full wrap-up of not only the race card but also the entire past two weeks, racing and yearling sale combined in the Oct. 14 HRU. I’ll also fill you in on what I paid for gas, which I believe will be $3.14 a gallon as I have a dollar off a gallon with my Kroger points.

On my way home Friday from The Red Mile, I saw a couple of stations with a price of $4.09 and diesel at $6.39. I also saw a photo of $3.52 a gallon at the Wawa in Nicholasville, so if you want to drive about 30 minutes to get that bargain price you can certainly do so.