My final Tuesday at Colonial was somewhat eventful compared to the usual nights.
The first race went off as planned, but a heavy storm soon took over and flooded the track. We even had lightning strike an office next to mine, causing all the betting to go down momentarily. The races were delayed an hour while the storm passed and were all moved to the sloppy dirt track. That meant a lot of work for me, since I had to constantly update the website with changes to the races (off the turf and scratches).
I also had to write a newsletter to send out for the week as well as a closing release on the end of the meet titles. I had to wait to write the final one since two of the titles were so close -- leading trainer and leading apprentice rider were both won by only one win.
I was fortunate enough for the meet to not see any breakdowns. Molly saw some pretty awful ones, but the worst I saw was a horse flipping over a railing after he got loose. However, one of the last races saw Luis Garcia accidently come over on his younger brother's horse and cause that horse to stumble, dropping Geovany Garcia. Geovany got trampled, and had to be loaded up on the ambulance. It was pretty heartwrenching watching Luis jump right off his horse after galloping out and running the whole way down the track to where his brother lay. It turned out that he was fine, however. His agent even called up to me seconds after it happened to see if I knew anything, but all I had heard was that he was up and in the truck.
Entries and results were sent, and I left my key in the office before saying my goodbyes. I worked over 200 hours at Colonial and it feels good to be done. Now if I can just catch up on my summer reading...
Friday, August 7, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day Twenty-One: Handicapping Classic
Saturday was the day we had been warned about -- the Handicapping Classic. Apparently, it was supposed to be the worst day for us considering all the people who would be asking questions and would be upset about losing out on the $8,000 and the trip to Vegas.
I arrived at 9:30am, with a missed call on my phone from Darrell. I tried calling him back but, since he never answers and didn't answer once again, I went ahead upstairs and started stuffing envelopes again. Molly texted me that there was an accident and she would be a few minutes late, but I told her not to worry since Darrell wasn't answering his phone. About twenty minutes later, she texts me again saying that Darrell told her to go straight to the Jockey Club, where the Handicapping Classic would be held. When I walked down there, Darrell, Molly, Pete, Peter, and Jerry T. were all gathered around a table having a meeting. Darrell looked at me in complete disbelief, pointed at his wrist, and whistled as everyone looked my way. Before I could say anything, Molly told him I'd been upstairs for a half hour and had been trying to call him. He got a little nicer and said "Oh, well, you missed the meeting," but I'm sure I looked like the dumb intern who couldn't follow direction. I wish Molly and I had been informed of a 'meeting.' Jerry T. tried to give me a low-down of what was going on that day, but I was still completely confused and Molly wasn't too sure of what was going on, either.
I went back up to the Press Box and had to get scratches/changes put up online as soon as possible. Once those were up, I printed out a page and Darrell made copies of them to give to the handicappers so they would know the scratches and changes ahead of time. After that, I went to the Jockey Club and helped Jerry T. greet people. He kept saying how important confidence was and how I had the look but was too shy and, because I have anywhere from -5% to 2% confidence on any given day, that wasn't too encouraging. But we got into a system of welcoming people, always asking where they were from and telling them the layout of the Jockey Club. Every person I went up to was angry about something...one lady was weirded out that I asked where she was from, another was upset that he was a horseman and couldn't sit in the horsemen's section because he didn't bring his license, another couldn't find a table with an internet hook-up, etc. But as much as I hated it, I had to be down there because I was waiting on the betting tellers to come in. Once they got in, I had to get 100 copies each of the scratches at Belmont and Monmouth, since they would also be betting the races there for the contest.
After that was taken care of and after a lot of running around for people who had torn up betting slips accidently or lost their ID numbers, I unhooked the printer from the press box and brought it down so that Ryan could use it for the day.
Once bets started coming in, we had to organize the registration numbers numerically and get them into the right piles. My job for the day was reading the registration numbers and the horses they chose to Ryan so that he could insert them into the computer. It's difficult to explain, but it was very difficult keeping everything together. The handicappers had to bet on six mandatory Colonial races, so those were the worst because we had 250 bets coming in all at once. Otherwise, the races were optional and they weren't so bad. So for the entire day, I sat beside Ryan and read out numbers: "31 - 5," "67 - 8," "101 - 11." My voice was practically gone by the end of the day, since we were going nonstop with the exception of maybe twenty minutes. Ryan and I also ran into a couple issues where Molly or Pete had sorted a bet into the wrong track and we input it incorrectly or someone didn't bet a mandatory race and we were giving people the wrong horses because we missed our mistake, but we worked everything out. We also tried to post a leaderboard after every group of races at the three tracks.
By the end of the day, we were rolling and got the final results out within maybe 10 minutes. Ryan said that in previous years when Darrell's old assistant, Kyle, had run the contest, people were very angry and waited for results for around an hour. So Ryan and I ended up getting a lot of 'thank yous' from the handicappers and tons of people came up to tell us we did a great job keeping up with everything. It felt horrible at the time and my voice is a little gone as I'm typing this, but I suppose it was worth it. Three people walked out with trips to Vegas for the NTRA/DRF Handicapping Classic and thousands of dollars went with them and seven others.
After everything was cleaned up, Darrell told me I had to write a story on the two stakes that ran that day, so I went upstairs while Molly clocked out. I wrote the release (and the typo at the end is killing me), and I waited for an hour for photos from the photographer but none came. At around 7:30pm, I sent out the release to the media and clocked out for the drive home.
I arrived at 9:30am, with a missed call on my phone from Darrell. I tried calling him back but, since he never answers and didn't answer once again, I went ahead upstairs and started stuffing envelopes again. Molly texted me that there was an accident and she would be a few minutes late, but I told her not to worry since Darrell wasn't answering his phone. About twenty minutes later, she texts me again saying that Darrell told her to go straight to the Jockey Club, where the Handicapping Classic would be held. When I walked down there, Darrell, Molly, Pete, Peter, and Jerry T. were all gathered around a table having a meeting. Darrell looked at me in complete disbelief, pointed at his wrist, and whistled as everyone looked my way. Before I could say anything, Molly told him I'd been upstairs for a half hour and had been trying to call him. He got a little nicer and said "Oh, well, you missed the meeting," but I'm sure I looked like the dumb intern who couldn't follow direction. I wish Molly and I had been informed of a 'meeting.' Jerry T. tried to give me a low-down of what was going on that day, but I was still completely confused and Molly wasn't too sure of what was going on, either.
I went back up to the Press Box and had to get scratches/changes put up online as soon as possible. Once those were up, I printed out a page and Darrell made copies of them to give to the handicappers so they would know the scratches and changes ahead of time. After that, I went to the Jockey Club and helped Jerry T. greet people. He kept saying how important confidence was and how I had the look but was too shy and, because I have anywhere from -5% to 2% confidence on any given day, that wasn't too encouraging. But we got into a system of welcoming people, always asking where they were from and telling them the layout of the Jockey Club. Every person I went up to was angry about something...one lady was weirded out that I asked where she was from, another was upset that he was a horseman and couldn't sit in the horsemen's section because he didn't bring his license, another couldn't find a table with an internet hook-up, etc. But as much as I hated it, I had to be down there because I was waiting on the betting tellers to come in. Once they got in, I had to get 100 copies each of the scratches at Belmont and Monmouth, since they would also be betting the races there for the contest.
After that was taken care of and after a lot of running around for people who had torn up betting slips accidently or lost their ID numbers, I unhooked the printer from the press box and brought it down so that Ryan could use it for the day.
Once bets started coming in, we had to organize the registration numbers numerically and get them into the right piles. My job for the day was reading the registration numbers and the horses they chose to Ryan so that he could insert them into the computer. It's difficult to explain, but it was very difficult keeping everything together. The handicappers had to bet on six mandatory Colonial races, so those were the worst because we had 250 bets coming in all at once. Otherwise, the races were optional and they weren't so bad. So for the entire day, I sat beside Ryan and read out numbers: "31 - 5," "67 - 8," "101 - 11." My voice was practically gone by the end of the day, since we were going nonstop with the exception of maybe twenty minutes. Ryan and I also ran into a couple issues where Molly or Pete had sorted a bet into the wrong track and we input it incorrectly or someone didn't bet a mandatory race and we were giving people the wrong horses because we missed our mistake, but we worked everything out. We also tried to post a leaderboard after every group of races at the three tracks.
By the end of the day, we were rolling and got the final results out within maybe 10 minutes. Ryan said that in previous years when Darrell's old assistant, Kyle, had run the contest, people were very angry and waited for results for around an hour. So Ryan and I ended up getting a lot of 'thank yous' from the handicappers and tons of people came up to tell us we did a great job keeping up with everything. It felt horrible at the time and my voice is a little gone as I'm typing this, but I suppose it was worth it. Three people walked out with trips to Vegas for the NTRA/DRF Handicapping Classic and thousands of dollars went with them and seven others.
After everything was cleaned up, Darrell told me I had to write a story on the two stakes that ran that day, so I went upstairs while Molly clocked out. I wrote the release (and the typo at the end is killing me), and I waited for an hour for photos from the photographer but none came. At around 7:30pm, I sent out the release to the media and clocked out for the drive home.
Day Twenty: PokerFest Finals
Friday started an hour late for me due to traffic, so I joined Molly out front as soon as I arrived. We were registering the qualifiers for the PokerFest that evening, and did so from 2-7:45pm.
After that, Darrell actually spent some time with us up in the Press Box. We had to make envelopes for every entrant of the Handicapping Classic -- 154 were registered, but there was enough room for 250. It was a very tedious process of circling a table, stuffing papers and making sure we got the right betting forms in the right envelopes. Once Darrell left us a few minutes later, we were able to rest a bit before having another go. When the races ended around 9:30pm, he came up again and tried to help. We decided to get to number 200 by the end of the night, so we stayed late doing that and decided to come in at 9:30am the next morning.
After that, Darrell actually spent some time with us up in the Press Box. We had to make envelopes for every entrant of the Handicapping Classic -- 154 were registered, but there was enough room for 250. It was a very tedious process of circling a table, stuffing papers and making sure we got the right betting forms in the right envelopes. Once Darrell left us a few minutes later, we were able to rest a bit before having another go. When the races ended around 9:30pm, he came up again and tried to help. We decided to get to number 200 by the end of the night, so we stayed late doing that and decided to come in at 9:30am the next morning.
Day Nineteen: Preparation for Pokerfest
Tuesday was very slow, as usual.
Darrell had sent me an e-mail to write a release on the two year old stakes races, so I finished that early and got the scratches and changes posted online. He just about had a heart attack when he asked what I was doing and I said nothing, having finished everything, but he calmed down. A little later, he came up to the press box and needed me to scan a photo of a couple who was getting married at the track on Saturday so that I could do an ad for the program that welcomed everyone to their wedding that day. I also had to make copies of the forms and checks from every entrant in the Handicapping Classic that was scheduled for Saturday.
I spent the rest of the evening betting the races with Keith, who was spending his last day at Colonial before moving back up to MD for the Laurel Park meet.
Darrell had sent me an e-mail to write a release on the two year old stakes races, so I finished that early and got the scratches and changes posted online. He just about had a heart attack when he asked what I was doing and I said nothing, having finished everything, but he calmed down. A little later, he came up to the press box and needed me to scan a photo of a couple who was getting married at the track on Saturday so that I could do an ad for the program that welcomed everyone to their wedding that day. I also had to make copies of the forms and checks from every entrant in the Handicapping Classic that was scheduled for Saturday.
I spent the rest of the evening betting the races with Keith, who was spending his last day at Colonial before moving back up to MD for the Laurel Park meet.
Day Eighteen: Virginia Derby Day
Saturday started at 7am, with Molly and I arriving early to help set up for the festivities going on. I worked with Pete for a bit to get the Fancy Hat Contest tent sent up, which took awhile, and hung up signs for the band sponsors. When we finally finished at around 11:30am, I had enough time to run up to the Press Box and post the scratches/changes online before changing into my dress and getting back down to the Fancy Hat tent to register people. There were seven categories and three different judging times, so there was a lot of coordination to be done. At 3pm, Molly took the first group back to the stage to be judged while I took more entries, and we continued that until 4:30pm. Immediately after, I got the prizes for the contest and took them to the winners' circle, where Molly had winners of the Fancy Hat Contest (21 in total). They were then interviewed by Darrell on the JumboTron.
Molly and I got a half-hour break to go back up to the Press Box right after, but I had to be down at the winners' circle for the Virginia Oaks and the Derby to get interviews for the press releases I had to write. I called Darrell and reminded him about the prize wheel since he had forgotten, and Molly took care of that so I could write my articles. She also recorded the interviews that were done on TV by TVG since it was so hard to hear the interviews I got for the Turf Cup.
After writing on the Virginia Oaks and the Derby, I sent the news releases out to the media and had to stay late until around 10pm before all the media upstairs left.
Molly and I got a half-hour break to go back up to the Press Box right after, but I had to be down at the winners' circle for the Virginia Oaks and the Derby to get interviews for the press releases I had to write. I called Darrell and reminded him about the prize wheel since he had forgotten, and Molly took care of that so I could write my articles. She also recorded the interviews that were done on TV by TVG since it was so hard to hear the interviews I got for the Turf Cup.
After writing on the Virginia Oaks and the Derby, I sent the news releases out to the media and had to stay late until around 10pm before all the media upstairs left.
Day Seventeen: Nicanor Scratches
Friday started at 10:30am for Molly and I. As soon as I arrived, I got a call from Darrell saying that Nicanor, Barbaro's full brother and our big news story for the VA Derby, had scratched and that he would have a press release up to me soon to send out.
After that, Molly and I did some preparation for the Fancy Hat Contest that would be held the next day, which was nothing but tedious printing and cutting.
Around 1, Darrell sent Molly to the rest stop up the road to try to point some people in our direction. We had Nicanor's saddle towel since he scratched, which is now worth a lot of money, so that helped. I was going to head that way around 2, but things got a little hectic with doing ads and going on a wild search around Colonial for a prize wheel. After I found that, I had to design pieces for it for a giveaway Darrell was doing to the local OTB's the next day.
Races started at 6 PM, so things slowed down around then and I spent the rest of the night sending entries/results and answering calls from people about the upcoming PokerFest Handicapping Classic.
After that, Molly and I did some preparation for the Fancy Hat Contest that would be held the next day, which was nothing but tedious printing and cutting.
Around 1, Darrell sent Molly to the rest stop up the road to try to point some people in our direction. We had Nicanor's saddle towel since he scratched, which is now worth a lot of money, so that helped. I was going to head that way around 2, but things got a little hectic with doing ads and going on a wild search around Colonial for a prize wheel. After I found that, I had to design pieces for it for a giveaway Darrell was doing to the local OTB's the next day.
Races started at 6 PM, so things slowed down around then and I spent the rest of the night sending entries/results and answering calls from people about the upcoming PokerFest Handicapping Classic.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Press Box and the Fifth Floor
This is the Press Box on the fifth floor. It's pretty messy inside, but I do my best to find time and cleanup. The whole thing is covered in win photos of horses, so it kept Molly and I pretty entertained for awhile there.
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This is the fifth floor, right outside the Press Box. Mostly everyone who works up there hangs out there in between races -- Molly and I, Dave (the announcer), Keith, Bill, the TV guys, etc. Keith and Bill do their chart calling out of the booth to the right, and the TVs to the left always have races going. Of course, there are programs and beer all over the tables. The track is out the main window, and Molly and I usually sit on the tables and watch the action (action includes: horses racing outside and guys inside throwing things around and yelling loudly after losing lots of money). There's also a machine to the right that takes bets and it probably has about $100 of mine.-----------------------------
This is the view of the track. Maybe not the coolest, but definitely a good one. The track is the second largest (at 1 1/4 miles) and has the widest turf course in North America.
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This is about how close we see the horses from our window. Not too bad. Plus, we don't even really need to watch because we can hear Keith or Bill doing the chart calling and always know where each horse is, and we can always go to the TV room to see the up-close replays if we'd really like. But, of course, I'm glued to the races.
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