I enjoyed a great day at the 132nd running of the Preakness for my Birthday weekend.

A close friend and I traveled together to Pimlico raceway on Saturday. I have never been to a horse race before, never mind one of the Triple Crown races. We scored tickets for a section on the inside of the final turn called the "Top of the Stretch". What a view we had, just stunning really.



You know there are some things about getting older that are not fun. However let me say that one nice thing about getting older for me is that I have the means to enjoy some of the finer things life has to offer. And I am also very fortunate to have friends around me I enjoy and who enjoy me, I am thankful for that most of all. There were 121,000+ people at this event, the largest single day sporting event on the Mid Atlantic coast! Our Section was separated by a fortress like wall from the general admission infield. That was a scary looking place in there. The general admission area was a combination of lord of the flies, a rock concert mosh pit, and girls gone wild; Not my cup of tea!


Our area "Top of the Stretch" was very civilized, yet not overly formal like I imagine the Grand Stand area was. The event truly was an interesting cross section of American society. I spent more time people watching than horse watching.


I was a bit nervous about spending 8 hours in the stands to see 12 races. Thats a lot of down time in between. As it turned out the interesting people watching opportunities made the time fly between races. There was much laughter for us as we spent the day alternately people watching and watching the horses race past.


The races themselves were actually very exciting particularly as the day went on. And the 12th race the Preakness was amazing! The crowed was unbelievably loud and the drama of the race was incredible. My horse # 7 was in the lead most of the race and was still in the lead as he passed our seats on the final turn, but alas he was overtaken by two horses on the outside who ended up having a photo finish. Thats my horse in the red and white out front at the beginning of the last straightaway directly in front of our seats!


I bet on 8 of the 12 races and ended up being down a mere 10 bucks on the day! Not bad for a rookie! I am not a fan of gambling, I work too hard for my money, but I have to admit the races were much more fun when I had a little cash riding on them.



Enjoy the photographs, I enjoyed taking them.

Until the next turn down a road less traveled.....

~Paul

As always there are more photographs in my Preakness Galley.