Two Dozen Things We Learned Along Alligator Alley
March 21st, 2010By Jude T. Feld
1) Flying into Tampa on a windy day is not for the feint of heart.
2) Tampa Bay Downs looks better on television.
3) I have never been to a track that served empanadas and Cuban sandwiches but Tampa Bay does and they are both terrific!
4) The ice cream man there needs an assistant.
5) Down the stretch, it seemed like nobody wanted to win the Tampa Bay Derby (G3).
6) Just because Odysseus did doesn’t make him a Kentucky Derby (G1) candidate.
7) Rule wasn’t flattered when Schoolyard Dreams got beat a nose.
8) The weather in Florida ain’t that great this year.
9) It is better to have a few focused buyers at a two-year-old in training sale than 5000 tourists and tire kickers.
10) UK fans are everywhere you want to be.
11) There’s not much scenery between Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale unless you count swamps and wild boars.
12) Michelle at Gulfstream is the best racetrack bartender since Mike at Santa Anita. (Should St. Michael the Archangel replace St. Amand as the patron saint of bartenders?)
13) Contrary to the pre-race hype, Christine Daae is NOT the next Rachel Alexandra.
14) Venezuelan sensation Bambera had a horrible trip but she will be hard pressed to a win a stakes in the United States.
15) Gary Stevens is probably correct. D’Funnybone is the best sprinter in the country. (I hope they don’t screw him up by running in the Preakness (G1).)
16) Rule doesn’t want a mile and an eighth let alone a mile and a quarter.
17) Sorry folks…Lentenor is NOT Barbaro.
18) The mutuel clerks at Gulfstream are without a doubt the rudest in the nation.
19) Frank Stronach’s vision for a racetrack with entertainment surrounding it really works in practice.
20) The reggae band at Cadillac Ranch is sensational.
21) Eskendereya should win the Wood Memorial (G1).
22) Radiohead probably has a quartercrack.
23) Coach Pitino shows up even when the Louisville Cardinals don’t.
24) Jessica and Heidi look better in dresses than Rags to Riches sweatshirts.
25) Hall of Fame trainers are smarter than Hall of Fame jockeys. (Oh…we already knew that.)
