Sunday, May 07, 2006

Satin Halo and the Margaritas

A friend of mine took me to the horse races this past week. He’s a big racing fan and I have a less passionate interest. We sat behind two married couples.

The two men in front were rigorously analyzing the race forms, comparing the prior race data of the horses. They were looking at previous race times, furlong splits, recent training times, the weights of the jockeys and entering the data into a laptop one of the men had with him. When they were satisfied they decided ‘Appealing Air’ was the horse to place the money on in race 5. They marched off to the betting windows having completely researched the issue. I was impressed.

Meanwhile the two wives chatted happily about their grandchildren. When the horses came through for the pre-race walk-around, they turned their attention to the horses. Both of them were particularly partial to “Satin Halo’, a brilliantly colored black 3 year old. He was a grand animal. Sitting atop “Satin Halo” was a female jockey with baby blue silks trimmed in yellow and black checks.

The ladies declared her to be strikingly elegant in the baby blue and they were thoroughly won over by the combination of the blackness of the animal and the attire of the jockey.

Following the example of their men, the women also skee-daddled for the betting windows before the race. I was not impressed. I even laughed at them.

Satin Halo won the race in a breeze. It was no contest. Appealing Air limped home in fifth.

The men were disgruntled and frustrated. The ladies? They missed the race. They were inside buying a margarita in a lovely etched souvenir glass.

8 comments:

xwy said...

Now I don't feel so bad about how I pick football teams.

Robert Shapiro said...

Great story rick - enjoyed it completely.
Goodlife

Anonymous said...

That's the way I do it! Sometimes, several jockeys look cute and it gets hard to pick!

Monogram Queen said...

That cracked me up Rick. That is SO how I would do it!
Stacy: "quotes stats, margin of error, percentages etc."
Me: "Ooh I pick the pretty one"!

Patti:Wins
Stacy: Loses

Every.Time.

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

Never been to a horse race...but I think I'd go with the coolest named one I could find.

My brother-in-law used to go to the dogtrack a lot...and he'd always watch to see if any of the dogs would poop during the walk-by. If a dog did poop, then that's the dog he'd bet on because that dog was bound to be a bit "lighter".

Never asked him if that theory really worked...but I guess it couldn't hurt, huh? :)

Grant said...

Yeah! Satan Halo rulz! All hail our horsey Satanic Overlord. Oh, wait...

Seven said...

Stormy,
I bet you pick pretty well, don't you?

Robert,
Things surrounding us can be so entertaining can't they?

Molly,
You need to go to the track with Angie!

Cakes,
Guess you should join the other girls above.

Queen of Nuts,
Well....I guess they would be lighter, but one would have to assume that the other hounds were carrying a load, creating a flaw in the analysis.

Grant,
One track mind; though 'one trackers' are capable of curing cancer and harnessing electricity among other things!

Reach said...

Years ago, my relative and I would venture to the track. As our tradition so stated, our first visit was to the track bar. The more he would drink, the more he spoke like "Mumbles", of the "Dick Tracy" movie. As our conversation would carry many subjects, if I heard or misunderstood any comment, which sounded similar to a participating horse's name, that was our bet.
Funny part- It really worked!

Reach