"The Gray One To Show" − 23 July, 2006

Heather and I took Micaela to Del Mar for her first horse racing experience. It was a beautiful day and we started out by going to the Infield, as they were having a Family Fun day. Heather and Micaela made a paper hat there with arts and crafts to clue to it. Red glitter was everywhere.

The carne burrito was good and the girls shared a giant turkey leg. I had never seen that served before, it was quite good. We then traveled over to the seating area just before the 3rd race and started teaching Micaela a little bit about horse racing. I let you choose a horse that I would be on for each of the races. She had quite the strategy. 1) we would read through all the names that were going to race, 2) we would then read the stock analysis in the program 3) we would then wait for the horses to be introduced onto the track. Once that was done she would make her pick. What was it every time? "I like the grey one!"

Her first choice was on the 3rd race, "GE Consumer Finance", on dirt, 6 furlongs. She chose horse #7 "Glacken Power" to show. Despite setting the lead pace for more than half the race, big "G" came in well below finish. I didn't fare any better with my bets.

She finally hit pay dirt when in she chose "Getback Time" to show in the 7th race on dirt at 7 Furlongs. Getback Time came on strong the last 100 meters to place and got Micaela a $1.10 payoff. I hit a Quinella for $25. Heather, although her strategies were sound and she chose the winning horse almost every time, did not get the right combination for a win.

We had a blast and can't wait to take her again.

For dinner we met up with Kelly and Steph and I bombarded Kelly with questions about Dandelife with lots of suggestions for how I would like him to develop it. He humored me and now I feel a lot better about the whole thing.