Halloween Morning Breeders’ Cup Workouts at Santa Anita Racetrack

My alarm woke me at 4:30 a.m. this morning (brutal). Thursday night I got it in my head that even though I didn’t have a ticket or press credentials to the Breeders’ Cup, I would swing by Santa Anita Racetrack anyway.

The idea came to me after I stopped by the Zenyatta statue on Thursday during my conference period to lay down a pink rose in honor of her filly Princess Z. (Sad story–Zenyatta’s gorgeous weanling filly had to be put down after a paddock accident earlier this week.)

Happier note: Would you believe my school is only 2.5 miles from the historic track? How could I not go to see what was going in with the Breeders’ Cup festivities?

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of California Chrome, but instead I caught a glimpse of his outspoken, cowboy-hat-wearing owner posing with fans at Clocker’s Corner.

I was wearing my riding boots and breeches. Our school allowed students and staff to dress up for Halloween this year. I had no time to plan an outfit, so my neighbor (shout out to Kristen) said to come in my riding gear. Easy!

On my way in to the track area, a shoe shine guy stopped me and asked if I wanted a free shine. I said yes! My boots looked horrible and I had even thrown a damp rag in my car to try to clean up my boots before I went into my classroom.

As I sat in the chair it dawned on me that the man thought I worked at the track and that’s why he gave me a free shine–so I’d promote his business with my race track colleagues. Oops! He was originally from Chicago so we talked about pizza and the Bears, so it was really okay.

My boots have never looked this good!

In the short amount of time I spent at the track, I saw plenty of very fast horses (click here to see my YouTube). I thought about what it would be like if I could trailer Knight in to experience how fast his gallop must be. A girl can dream.

I’m not really sure which horses are in the above video, and I’m really not a videographer, but it sure was fun to be there with the throngs of fans–yes they were already showing up for the Super Bowl of racing at 6:00 a.m.

As they began arriving in a steady stream, I had to turn around and leave. My seventh graders were waiting for me.

 Are you planning on watching all or some of the Breeders’ Cup this weekend? If so, do you have any favorites?

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