Ellis Park – A Great Place to Spend an Afternoon

The call went out early last week. "Saturday is WBKR day at Ellis Park. We need some folks to attend and present the Blanket for our sponsored race on Saturday. Any Takers?"  It didn't take long for three of us to respond. Sales Manager Steve Cooke, Roxianne Messel and I all quickly volunteered to attend along with our significant others. (That's is politically correct talk for the wife, husband or ???)

With tickets in hand and a valet parking pass we arrived about 12:15 with the first post time at 12:50. Our package included seats in Sky Box, programs, and some $2 betting vouchers. (Ellis Park officials have discovered if you prime the pump early, you pump much more money out of us later) Their plan worked.

Kathy loves to be the Exacta (you pick the winner and second place horse) and some other so called exotic bets. She always had one win the other lose which means she lost every race. I bet across the board and try to back it up with my second horse to also place and show. I won, but not enough.

I am not sure about Roxianne or Steve but I am pretty sure by the 9th or 10th race we had all made a nice sized contribution to the Ellis Park Employment Fund.

The truth is simply that the day was fun. I love the races. Watching the people is great. I love the diversity in dress, actions and reactions of the crowd.

The buffet lunch was very good with beef, chicken and coconut shrimp as the entrees and a ton of other stuff including spring rolls. Great drink deals with the Gardenia (some kind of Pink Vodka drink) at only $3.50.

I has a blast watching the folks a couple of tables down. They were betting which horse would be the first to return to the finish line after the race. Two guys even offered to take off their shirts if their horse won. Thanks heavens the horse didn't come close. I think it is still out there running.

At last our race was next. We went out to the finish line area and were escorted to a fenced in area to await the race. It was all kind neat. After the race we were standing right next to the jockeys as they weighed-in  to make things official. The we held the blanket up with the station call letters. The blanket was given to the winning  jockey.  I don't know what he did with it but I am guessing the stables get cold on winter nights and blankets certainly will keep the chill away.

In closing (now that I am a horse racing expert) let me give you some advice. Get there early so you can study the racing card, come hungry because the buffet is great and BRING LOTS OF CASH.