On February 5, 2009, Arcadia Rotary celebrated its annual Day at the Races.  Instead of the Embassy Suites, this Friday the meeting was in Santa Anita’s Frontrunner Restaurant overlooking the race track.

Santa Anita Park is the oldest racetrack in Southern California, having opened on December 25, 1934, replacing the race track opened by Lucky Baldwin in the 1880s. During the 1984 Olympics, Santa Anita hosted the equestrian events, supervised by Britain’s Prince Philip (husband of Queen Elizabeth).

Down below, on the wet track, wet jockeys riding wet horses were approaching the starting gate.  Upstairs in the Frontrunner restaurant, Rotarians (having made their menu selections), were feverishly scanning the program for the likely winners.  They were assisted in this endeavor by the Frontrunner’s expert handicapper, Dan who provided advice, tips, and his choice for each race.  (It wouldn’t be the same without Dan.)

At one point in between races, Santa Anita’s bugler visited the Frontrunner and conversed with Rotarians. (Jay Cohen has been the Bugler at Santa Anita, and several other tracks since 1987.  He has played the “Call to Post” over 80,000 times as well as serving as the bugler in the movie “Seabiscuit” which was set in Santa Anita.)

But I digress.  To the delight of some and the frustration of others, here are some of the results.  The first race was won by “Guerrero Negro” (ridden by Christian Santiago Reyes), followed by “Bettingonthefly” (Joseph Talamo), and then “Fermelia” (Alonso Quinonez)  The second race was won by “A Royal Tizzy” (ridden by Rafael Bejarano), followed by “Sidepocket Lou” (Silvio Ruiz Amador), and then “Saxophone” (Martin A. Pedroza).  The third race was won by “Lady Alex” (ridden by Rafael Bejarano), followed by “Woman Warrior” (Mike E. Smith), and then “Win Allison Win” (Victor Espinoza).  The fourth race was won by “Afleet Magic” (ridden by Joseph Talamo), followed by “Big Jay” (Martin Garcia), and then “Silverado Gold” (Christian Santiago Reyes).  The fifth race was won by “Get Off the Sugar” (ridden by Martin Garcia), followed by “No Grande” (Cosme Rivera), and then “Abalanche” (Victor Espinoza).  The sixth race was won by “Boulder Creek” (ridden by Victor Espinoza), followed by “Ziggy’s Stardust” (Joel Rosario), and then “Brace Yourselves” (Martin Garcia).

Some of the horses were scratched because they did not wish to compete on a muddy track.  Had it not been raining, there might have been a different set of finalists and winners.  There was one bet that was sure.  Those were the menu choices.  The food was outstanding.

Obviously a great deal of ingenuity goes into naming race horses.  (“I’ve got the horse right here; his name is Paul Revere.”)   One is reminded of Doodles Weaver (uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver) satirically narrating a horse race:  “It’s Cabbage by a head . . . Apartment House is second with plenty of room! . . . It’s Girdle in the stretch! . . .  [Every eye is glued on him  He looks very funny with all those eyes glued on him.] . . . Mother in Law is moving in   . .  Locomotive is on the rail! . . . aanndd . . . Beetlebaum.”.  Finally, after trailing the whole race, “the winner is . . . Beetlebaum!”  There is a moral lesson in all this.  (Never give up and eventually you will win.)

Despite the rain, and the luck we had or didn’t have, we all left the track as winners.