A Day at the Races (Father's Day)

This morning, my oldest daughter Gina skyped me from the Netherlands. How amazing technology has become! Where only a few years ago, phoning home from Europe involved a complicated series of phoning cards, odd pay phones and $30 charges leading to a bad connection, now we enjoy video calls for free. Gina is in Amsterdam as a keynote speaker at the UEP 2012 Conference on Creating Healthy, Liveable Cities. Before she left her New York home, she also skyped me on my granddaughter Emma's birthday Friday, so while she was nowhere near California this weekend, she still feels close.

My youngest daughter Amy phoned me on Father's Day from New York City, where she is working as a copy editor for the New York Times.  Our cell phones made it possible for her to wish me a Happy Father's Day, and she emailed this picture taken when we cooked together at home in January this year.

My son Jay, whose career choice landed him at Universal Music in Santa Monica, is still in the area, and I'm happy to say he took time from his busy schedule to join Julie and me for a memorable Father's Day.

We walked along the beach, between the piers of  Manhattan Beach to Hermosa Beach plus a little more for good measure, engaging in lively conversation.

When we got home, we changed into clothes suitable for admission to the Turf Club at Hollywood Park.  General admission is $10 for the races, but for only $10 more, you can instead enter the Turf Club and enjoy your own chairs and table, with a TV screen for close-ups on the action.  The view from the fourth floor allowed us to really enjoy the beauty of the lakes and greenery of the infield.

We were at first rebuffed, told that it was sold out, but a phone call to the Maitre D' showed their was a table for us, and we settled in for a wonderful afternoon.  I didn't bring my reading glasses, so Jay read the program to Julie and me, helping us choose horses and making it more fun than just reading in silence.  Jay and I did a pretty good job picking horses, and between the two of us, we were in the money every race. 

I had one horse that looked great but for whatever reason it seemed like the jockey pulled up rather than following through to the finish, and on another ticket, I think it was so wrinkled from being in my pocket that the reader failed to pay me for one of my two winning bets.  Still, I won $34, enough to cover my share of lunch and admission anyway, while Jay and Julie broke even.  Julie accomplished that by not betting at all, but Jay would have won had he bet the horse he picked in the 8th race. 

My strategy is to pick the best longshot or two in the field and bet them to Show, which means finishing first, second or third.  As Jay said when I contemplated betting a favorite along with my favorite dark horse, "Why bother even betting the favorite, when you're only going to win a few cents if it wins but still lose the same bet if it loses?"  I skipped betting the odds-on favorite in that race, despite the fact that it looked like a winner, and it came in fourth while my nag won.

Lest you think we took our choices less than seriously than great handicappers, don't believe it.  Often, we ended up going with the horses that sounded good after just reading the names and colors, but that was reinforced by "A Closer Look" in the program.  (By the way, general parking and program are free with admission, a nice change from the usual incremental nickel and diming of events these days.)  Then, we would watch our television to see what the horses looked like up close in the paddock and as they came onto the track.  Sometimes, we were influenced on our way to the window by what the horses looked like in person, but usually those happened to be the same horses we'd already chose.selected.



The meal in the Turf Club was not outstanding.  I was downright disappointed to learn that they didn't have delicious corned beef or pastrami on rye sandwiches like I remembered from when I was a child going to the races with my parents.  The steak sandwich was okay, the service proved adequate, and the grilled chicken sandwich was pretty good, while the company and view were awesome.

We viewed the horses for the 9th race at the paddock and headed out the gate without betting to avoid any end of the day traffic.  It was a great day at the races.

Afterwards, we stopped at Von's to buy some ribs and dry seasoning rub, and Jay grilled us a great dinner of ribs and veggies.  Julie had ealier whipped up a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, so you can see I enjoyed a lot of pampering for Father's Day.  Jay stuck around to watch "Burn Notice," "House Hunters International" and "The Glades," a nice finish for a great day.