January 8 - 12
The best part of the week came on Thursday....Kim had received the news that her knees were not progressing correctly and she'd need to have a manual manipulation done under anesthesia. We were both very disappointed and somewhat emotional about it. Later that afternoon I was talking with our son Brad, as he often calls on the way home from work, and I was complaining about the neighbors blocking the street by parking in front of OUR house. When I'd finished the story he said, "Well, all I can tell you is I didn't have any problem pulling into your driveway." I said, you are NOT in our driveway, and he replied, "Maybe you should come look." I opened the door and there stood our amazing son. Just started crying :) As I told him later, how he knew that THIS was a time when we really needed our boy I'll never know but it was one of the highlights of my adult life to have him come to support his Mom and I. Sigh..... There's not a lot of racing stories to talk about this week. I've found that since the "Championship Meet" started, the quality of racing has steadily declined and it's reached a point for me that I've had to come to the realization that just because it's January at Gulfstream does NOT make the horses better if they are not. So over the first two days of the week I only had a combined seven selections - which would be typical for even a nine-race card in the past. And I only managed two second place finishes of those seven. On Friday I continued the skid with a 2nd, 3rd, and 5th before in R8, finally, Stormy Mitole went right to the front and never looked back.
Saturday was a stakes day in Tampa and Cal Cup Day at Santa Anita. But the wildfires raging in southern California postponed those races. Brad and I went to the hockey game for an early start as we played the Boston Bruins. I watched during the period break as I had the winner in the Tampa second and in the 3yo colt stakes when Owen Almighty drew off as much the best.
But during the second intermission when I looked for a photo of Owen Almighty online the first thing that came up was "Owen Almighty DQ'd From WIN In Tampa Stakes." WHAT?????? In what was a very poor judgement call by the stewards as he ran a straight line around the turn the rail runner took up when trying to squeeze thru and he got the punishment. Set the tone for the day as I only had one more win on the entire day's selection sheet - that when Dream On won a 3yo entry level allowance turf sprint at Gulfstream. And I topped the week by going winless on Sunday.
What turned out to be the highlight of the racing weekend was when Keith and I went down to the track for their "Breakfast at Gulfstream" program and saw Kentucky Derby winner Mystic Dan work, then took a backside tour by tram.
The Panthers Game was so very exciting and it was such a treat to enjoy it with my boy. We rallied with 1.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, but lost on a fluke goal with 1.2 seconds left in overtime.
Social Media this week......
This week was difficult when we found out Kim needed to have a new procedure on her knee. I reached out to my gal-pal Kimmy and she was very helpful and encouraging, answering me right away. Then on Saturday when I sent her my pic from Breakfast at Gulfstream she replied right away with a photo from where she and her family were for the weekend.
Former weekend anchor at CBS-Miami, Karli stays in touch but is frequently multiple days behind my messages, so I was "understanding" when her New Year's wishes came somewhat delayed :) It's all good knowing she knows I still follow her and she recognizes me :)
I shared the story about Brad with my gal-pal Teri and she messaged me back, again while on the air about what a good son he is :)
Both Teri and my other CBS-anchor gal-pal Lauren reacted to my photo I sent them about the chilly morning and getting to wear my leather jacket :) Lauren too replied to my story about Brad, she's a great pal :) And finally I sent the pic of me from the GP Breakfast to Lauren and got her "like" reaction.
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