To most college students including myself the idea of watching a horse race on television is like telling your girlfriend she needs to lose weight: you just don’t do it and if you do you’ll immediately regret it. However accepting an invitation to the tracks at Santa Anita on Sunday might have been one of the best unexpected experiences of my life.
Before you stop reading let me explain.
So I’m sitting in my room checking my e-mail every five minutes or so like usual and all of the sudden I get a notice from the communication department:
“Some guy named Donny Nelson at a horse track in Santa Anita wants someone from the Graphic to cover a race.”
I figured I had volunteered for even less appealing activities in my life so what did I have to lose? Sign me up!
Off I went Sunday dragging my roommate with me in case it was the longest three hours of my life – a stark possibility.
Once we got there my first impression was that we are the only guys not relying on a cane for mobility. Then we walked inside.
Wow.
There were lounge chairs and couches everywhere we looked a mini bar in the corner and TVs every few feet on the ceiling.
I could get used to this I thought.
We gave Donny a call made formalities and he took us up an elevator through a winding corridor and into the press box. It just kept getting better.
There were two rows of desks one upper and one lower facing a colossal window that boasts one of the best views of the racetrack. There was also a cafeteria and a private betting booth in case we decided to try our luck.
The horses aligned behind the wooden starting gates as the first race prepared to commence. The bells sounded and off they went. I experienced no physiological reaction or emotional lift off of any sort – just as I predicted. But then my roommate looked over at me and said “You want to bet a dollar on the next race?” I was hooked.
Off they went again. But this time I was on the edge of my seat watching my horse intently every trot of the way. Back and forth in and out of my vision … then in front of the pack.
It’s the home stretch. The packed crowd is hoot’n and holler’n as the thunderous clamor drew closer to the finish line.
“We have a winner!” Some from the crowd erupted with jubilation overshadowing the collective sigh of the majority including myself. My horse lumbered into last place on 5/2 odds the best of the bunch.
If all that excitement came from just one dollar I can only imagine how it would have felt if I put down 10 bucks. I didn’t imagine much longer placing 10 down with no regrets. Consequently I lost $13 that fateful day but the sheer thrill of the race to me had a price tag much higher than what I squandered.
Between each race there is a 30-minute break to give people a chance to discuss the odds place their bets talk a little trash and re-situate themselves. During this time I had a revelation that a day at the race track would be really fun with a group of friends – just placing bets against each other for a few hours being a part of the mob and enjoying the experience.
Donny came back up to the press box and we started talking all things horse racing: how long the track’s been around the best way to play the odds and special promotions including $1 Fridays. $1 for all food and drinks as well as free admission normally $5 every Friday of the year? I couldn’t believe it at first but then it came to me.
The promotion’s trying to target our generation which seems to have forgotten the allure and prestige that horseracing held for our parents and grandparents not too long ago. Although there was a decent amount of families there it appeared that the majority of those in attendance were elderly. This is something the people at Santa Anita Racetrack are aware of and they want students like us to rediscover horseracing. For many of us it is nothing more than an afterthought.
I entered the racetrack as a skeptic but after experiencing this lost sport up-close and personal I would recommend the diamond our generation’s placed deep in the rough to anyone looking for an experience he or she won’t soon forget.