The Eagle has landed

Somebody in payroll must have contacted somebody in scheduling and informed them that since I was still receiving my salary, the only decent thing to do would be to make me, you know, actually earn it.

I tried to fly under the radar as long as I could but The Man managed to find me. After Living the life of Riley, since November, I now find myself in the state, obtained through the Adams-Onis Treaty, for states to be named later.

I paid my first visit to the track of the Eclipse and Financial Restructuring. I made it 6-1 I would see no earth tones and odds-on somebody would be wearing linen pants and loafers sans socks. One out of two aint bad...

I was surprised to find I liked the track. I have no idea what it looked like before but the set up seems friendly enough. I came early, to watch the morning workouts, so I had great parking and just walked up the side walkway, by the little beach thing they have going there. Probably very nice in the spring. I stayed outside the whole day so I did not see a single slot machine.

The feature today was the first running of the Tallahassee, one mile on the turf for Florida breds, and the attraction was Smooth Air. I loved the way this horse was coming up to the Derby and had he not come down with that cold, a week out, he would have figured somewhere in my picks. This was his first race back, after the BC Classic and it looked like an easy spot for him.

The day was on the cool side and breezy but Smooth Air was washing out pretty good during the post parade.










I also got a picture of Babe. He's pretending not to know who I am.




I know he reads my blog. He's a fan.




I stood right next to Bennie Stutts during the post parade and the race; I of course did not engage him in conversation.

I did, however, eavesdrop on his conversations with his family and friends and learned that the trip out to Santa Anita took a lot out of the horse. He was dehydrated and lost weight. Mr. Stutts talked about this year's Breeders' Cup and how he would go if the owner wanted to but his idea was to let the horse mature, since he(GASP) is only a four year old, and take on the Classic next year when he is five and in his prime.

I took some Eclipse worthy pictures of the race. Enjoy.









Smooth Air, left to do all the dirty work, reeled in the leader inside the eighth pole only to get jumped on the wire by this unknown Alan Garcia kid, on Vanquisher. Similar to the dirty loss suffered by Papa Clem in the Robert B. Lewis.

That sucked.