Countdown Set to Begin

It is true that I have been slacking in my posting over the past week. It is also true that my life has been an up and down whirlwind over that time span. I think not coincidentally, the excitement of both summer highlight meets has worn off on me as each approach their 3rd and 4th weeks respectively.

Which brings us to Saturday’s Arlington Millions day. For some reason, every year this race day kicks off for me the early stretch run leading up to “the greatest day in racing.”

The annual kick off of both the Del Mar and Saratoga meets stirs up a unique brand of excitement in my horse racing mind. Those annual summer meets just feel right and smell right. Evoking similar feelings to those of the fall when football season rolls around and it begins to “just smell right.”

The running of the Arlington Millions and the Beverly annually at Arlington Park for some reason bridges the gap between the summer meets (which I can’t get to) and the upcoming fall extravaganza which I (and millions of others) anticipate immensely year.

Maybe it’s the grass. Maybe it’s the million dollar purse. Nonetheless, Saturday’s stakes filled day in Suburban Chicago mark 78 days from The 2005 Breeders Cup at Belmont. This Saturday I will be tuned into the Breeder’s Cup as Kitten’s Joy tries to backup all of the hype he has deservedly gained from impressive pp’s.

I will be looking forward to the live television broadcast and a high class turf field preparing for their own respective runs to the top of the racing world. Whoever comes out on top, we will all still be 2 months and 16 days away from horse racings greatest day.

I am certainly excited. For those of us stuck in the summer doldrums away from the pomp, circumstance, and excitement of Southern California and Upstate NY, this is our wake-up call from a brief hiatus of the excitement that these beautiful animals and colorful characters bring us on a daily basis.