Growing up and living down that way until 2009, I went to Opening Day almost every year, but I stopped around 2006. It was just too hard to get there and too hard to get out. One year, 2003 I think, my wife, daughter and I went to a family wedding in the Midwest. They stayed for a week, while I had to come back to do some work. I got free just before Opening Day so I got a room and stayed through Saturday--Opening Day was on a Wednesday back then. That was nice as I could wait out the chaos, and then attend the next three normal days after the craziness of the Opener. I've really come to love the Fall Meet. My wife and I fly down the weekend before Thanksgiving and have a great time. The races are over by 4:30 or 5:00 and there is no wait at a restaurant. The weather is nice as well, especially coming from the Seattle area where the weather has turned damp and chilly by then.
I took the train on opening day from L.A. once. Never again, too many drunk people on board, and Amtrak had no control whatsoever. One guy puked on the arm of the poor man sitting next to me.
It was fun betting my friend Dave as to how many drunk young ladies would fall in their spiky heels during the course of the day.
I will never go to opening day - ever again 0 the place is on OVERLOAD = how they think they can handle the Breeders Cup is beyond me ... it is TOO small =
Quote from: Dusty on July 15, 2016, 11:03:33 PM I will never go to opening day - ever again 0 the place is on OVERLOAD = how they think they can handle the Breeders Cup is beyond me ... it is TOO small =
I'm baffled by the choice of Del Mar for the BC too. Very small, getting folks shuttled to and from the track will be a nightmare, let alone the bathroom lines, lol! Forget about grabbing a nite there either, for that matter.
Quote from: Dusty on July 15, 2016, 11:03:33 PM I will never go to opening day - ever again 0 the place is on OVERLOAD = how they think they can handle the Breeders Cup is beyond me ... it is TOO small =
A VERY large percentage of the opening day regulars have absolutely NO idea what the BreedersCup even is, so there will be a completely different kind of crowd, but crowd nonetheless.
As for bathrooms.....well I remember the KyDerby and having to make a choice, stand in line to make a bet or the portapotty, but couldn't do both.
Very little doubt in my mind that Yogi Berra said it best, "nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded".
TVG just put up a list of 'probables' for the San Diego...more horses than I thought might be probable...and a couple names caught my eye; Arrogate and Dalmore. I thought Baffert was thinking of sending Arrogate back East for one of the sophomore stakes, but if he actually goes here, IMO he might be a bigger threat than Dortzilla. Not literally, of course.
CALIFORNIA CHROME 126 Art Sherman DORTMUND 121 Bob Baffert HOPPERTUNITY 119 Bob Baffert NYQUIST 119 Doug O'Neill HARD ACES 118 John Sadler IMPERATIVE 117 Richard Baltas VYJACK 117 Philip D' Amato FOLLOW ME CREV 116 Vladimir Cerin WIN THE SPACE 116 George Papaprodromou SOI PHET 115 Leonard Powell CRITTENDEN 114 E. G. Harty DALMORE 113 J. Keith Desormeaux ARROGATE 111 Bob Baffert
CALIFORNIA CHROME 126 Art Sherman DORTMUND 121 Bob Baffert HOPPERTUNITY 119 Bob Baffert NYQUIST 119 Doug O'Neill HARD ACES 118 John Sadler IMPERATIVE 117 Richard Baltas VYJACK 117 Philip D' Amato FOLLOW ME CREV 116 Vladimir Cerin WIN THE SPACE 116 George Papaprodromou SOI PHET 115 Leonard Powell CRITTENDEN 114 E. G. Harty DALMORE 113 J. Keith Desormeaux ARROGATE 111 Bob Baffert
Well, that is a nice field even without Firing Line.
A G1 field definitely.
4 G1 winners - 2 multiple - no. 1 ranked dirt horse in the world. Wow.
Am I the only one not impressed with Dortmund's last work? Didn't he come home kind of slow?
"And Allah took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath upon it, and created the horse.... Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. Oh, horse" - old Bedouin saying.
