Well, no Triple Crown winner this year...

I haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but I love horse racing. Back when Saratoga had a paddock tent where you could sit and have a lovely lunch and see the horses up close as they got ready, my brother was able to get tickets for that for the Travers every year -- standing birthday present for me, yay! -- and since they took down the tent, we've been in the grandstand.  I like the festivity and the fancy hats, but most of all I love to watch the horses run.  I've never been to another track, though, and have never gone by myself.  (Well, ok, when I was in elementary school, I went to Batavia Downs with my friend Debbie, to watch her father's horse run in a sulky race.  I recall he asked me what horse I liked in a race and it won. Sometimes this still happens; sometimes it doesn't, LOL!)

I think California Chrome is a fabulous horse, and I really felt he was going to win the Triple Crown. The more I thought about it, I decided that I wanted to see it happen in person, so the day before, when I read that the LIRR was going to run extra trains out to the park, I decided I was going to go.  I got my train ticket on the way home from my dayjob, and was very glad the next day that I had done this, as the lines for the ticket machines were crazy--easily 300 people waiting to use 6 kiosks at the first area at Penn Station I came to.

I didn't have to wait too long for a train, as they were running extras out to the track.  Everyone on the train was in a party mood, and everyone cheered when we started to move.  It was a short ride, although we had to wait a couple of times for other trains to go by so we could cross to other tracks.  As advertised, the train station is right next to Belmont Park -- you can see the park from the walkway over the train tracks.

I paid the general admission ($10) and got a program ($6) (this was also the first time in years I haven't gone to the track without a Daily Racing Form--I felt not only spontaneous, but unprepared!) and looked at one of the monitors to see what race was next.  I had obligations in the morning, so didn't arrive until mid-afternoon.  They were just about to start the 7th race, so I walked over to where I could look out over the seats and see the track and watched the race, after which I used the ladies room. (Train ride, etc... The lines for the ladies room were insanely long, if you ever plan to go...)

After that, I looked at the program for the next races -- the Belmont was the 11th race on the card for the day, so I had 3 races before. I don't remember who I chose for the 8th, but he lost. While watching it, though, I thought, I don't want to stand way up here--I want to be right down by the rail if I can!!  So I chose my horses for the next 3 races, placed my bets and then figured out how to get closer to the track.  Well, you really have to be there at the crack of dawn to get right by the rail!  No, seriously, while I was getting dressed around 8am, the news anchors were reporting people had been there waiting to get in since 6am-ish! But I got pretty close:

I had not brought a hat, and with the wonderful sunshine, I wished that I had one!  I liked 2 long shots in the 9th race--#11, Broadway Empire and #12, Romansh.  I don't recommend my method for choosing horses--I do go by history and sire/dam, but I'll also consider the jockey's outfit and color, the name, the look of the horse, and just my own gut instinct.  One of the fellows near me also had money on #11 and we were jumping up and down together, as the horse took off like a shot and was way in front until well after the far turn, but he couldn't hold on.  #12 came in 3rd though.  He was my win for the day.

I liked a couple of horses in the 10th, one of which was #10, Chamois.  I joked on Facebook that I expected him to "clean up" (ayuck-ayuck), but alas he didn't.  He was a pretty horse, though...

After this race, close-to-the-rail-territoriality set in.  So many people had been waiting for so long, that they weren't going to let just anyone get close to the rail, LOL, with good reason--I was amazed at the audacity of some people that just wanted to squeeze in where there wasn't any room! (For those who know I don't deal with crowds well, I was uncomfortable, but with the big open sky over me, I was ok.  Oh, and also to do with the sky--there were a bunch of barn swallows flying around and one buzzed my head while trying to catch a bug, and then I saw a pair of Red-tailed hawks flying right over the upper level, but I missed getting a picture of them!)  I had been down close to the rail long enough and was friendly and chatty enough that I was "accepted by the natives."  A little bit of photo-bombing went on and we all felt awful for the girl who had waited all day and then, 20 minutes before the big race, had to go to the ladies room. She tried to wait, but couldn't...I hope she was able to get through the crowd!!

I was really surprised that there was going to be an entire hour between the 10th race and the Belmont -- I suspect this is for NBC to sell more advertising...  (And I'll add that my feet are really feeling all the standing on concrete that I did yesterday!)  They had LL Cool J perform for everyone, but he was down by the winners circle, so we watched him on the giant-screen tv they have in the center of the track.  That's also where we saw the bugle call -- I was rather shocked we really couldn't hear it.  Finally it got to be riders up time and the horses came to the track.  Everyone cheered as California Chrome trotted in front of us:

(As you can see, everyone was taking a camera phone picture!)

The race was exciting, and people kept waiting for him to make his move and take first place, but as we know, that didn't happen.  The cheering was still thunderous as the horses raced in front of us:

I don't think I've ever heard such a loud crowd go silent so quickly, though, as it became apparent that he wasn't taking the lead.  And then there was a photo finish, with everyone questioning, "Did he make it? Did he catch up--was he one of the horses they're looking at?!"  Nope...

I'm glad I went--it was an experience I'll remember.  However, had I known what was going to come next, I might have stayed home and watched it on tv.  I didn't run straight for the trains, as I had to cash that ticket for my 3rd place horse way back in the 9th. ($7.90, woo-hoo!)  However, I went to the windows upstairs (the level I needed to be on to get to the train) and around the back and didn't have to wait too long--maybe 10 minutes?  Well, holy moly...this is what I was confronted with as I headed toward the little attached train station:

 Oh my gracious... it took me =two hours= of standing in this line, advancing with teeny steps once in a while, to even get to the train!!!!!  That is twice as long as it takes to get the 36 miles from the track at Saratoga back to Albany where we stay when we go!!!!! It took me 4 hours total to get home from the track and that was just ridiculous.  I did have an interesting conversation of all sorts of things about horses and racing with one of the writers from Horse News, but still--4 hours???? People were furious at the LIRR and at one point either some water fell from an upper level or came bursting out of a pipe and started soaking the crowd and I thought we were going to have a panicked mob, but then we were able to move forward again.  "The Desert Highway," an Eagles tribute band, was playing down on the grass where we could see and hear them from the walkway to the train, so that was a bit of a distraction, but only a very small bit.

The day seemed rather like California Chrome's run -- an exciting adventure with a frustrating finish.