KY Oaks: the good, the bad, the ugly

Well partly because I only cashed 2 meager tickets all day and mostly because I could kick myself in the tail for not putting a few bucks on Lemons Forever, my excursion to the mecca of horseracing left me understanding clearly that the Derby Party scene has clearly displaced the horse racing as the attraction. In one of the more familly unfriendly environments, we enjoyed the beautiful day but our seats were less than optimal, we could glimpse the horses as they came through the final turn, otherwise we were forced to watch on a large screen that apparenly was left over from some high school's yard sale. I never did clearly hear one call of a race as the sound system would not pass muster for a local garage band and if that wasn't discouraging enough, the constant drone of "Get your Mint Julep"($8) and "Get your cold Beer"($6) really made hearing the race impossible. Also, the lines at the windows were unbelievable, the lack of automated betting machines was appalling and overall I would not go back to those seats, ever again. I have been at Churchill before but sat way up high and it is like being at a different track from the bleacher bum seats we were in today. My daughter did squeeze down to the rail for a couple of races and also in the paddock for the Oaks, but otherwise we see more horse racing in our own backyard! Well, what did I expect? I knew the crowd would be large and I knew the partying would be the focus of many racegoers and for the most part, the behavior was mild. I blame the track management who let the garbage cans overflow, basically held you up to place an armband on you to get you to your bleacher seat but then sold mint juleps in glass glasses....not the most briliant plan. Oh well, I will be having a small Derby party and watching on tv and placing bets on Bodog from the comfort of my home tomorrow and I now know that unless you are in a real seat, the bleachers are not where you want to be if you want to see a race
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