30th B-day at Portland Meadows Pt. I

So, I reached the “dirty-thirty” this past Wednesday and my lovely partner was thoughtful enough to plan a party for me that included all of the things I love most: Friends, parties, and horses!!

My lovely Sara had the brilliant idea to invite 20-25 of our closest Portland area friends for an afternoon at Portland Meadows. What a day it was!!

After the original plan of having the day be a surprise party, I took the helm and went through Greg at Portland Meadows to make sure we had everything we needed to make 20 or so first time horse attendees have a great time.

Our original spot needed to be moved out of the smoking section since a few of our contemporaries have just recently given up the nicotine. So we were placed in a nice spot on the south end of the Portland Meadows Turf club with a few tables and two pretty nice sized TV screens.

I put together a two-page “How To” guide for my friends who mostly have never even been to a track. I provided some basic betting info. etc. and also decided to give everyone my selections for all of the races throughout the day.

My day began at around 11:45 am when I was presented with my first “beverage” of the day: A very excellent Bloody Mary prepared by our fantastic bartender, Paul. As folks arrived, I had to begin my on the fly teaching seminars that included instructions on how to use the auto-tote machines, to the difference between Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. I was pretty shocked to learn that the first TWO races of the day were going to be for the QH’s. Usually PM has the first race slated for the QH”s, but today it was the first two….oh well.

I proceeded to make my first trip downstairs and outside with two of my friends, who surprisingly enough were both named Bill. We tried to get as close as possible to the action, but major rains and flooding kept us off the actual rail. Anyway, both Bills were thoroughly entertained by the on rushing horses flying by us, completing their 350 yd. sprint.

I won’t bore you with too many details, but will provide you with some highlights from my point of view:

-Maybe the highlight of the day: Brenda ____ a local owner, trainer was nice enough to offer our party her horse for the 4th race. Brenda said it would be quite all right if her horse Rose Sea Meridian won the 4th, we could all join her in the winner’s circle. This got the entire party downstairs to the paddock and outside on the apron to watch the fillie give it a go. I got a chance to actually meet Brenda in person (after only conversing on-line over at Oregon Racing.com the previous week). We struck it up for a few minutes preceding the race, introduced her to the party crew, went on to watch the race with her from just inside the first floor-with a full view of the live racing as well as the TV above us. Unfortunately, Rose Sea Meridian didn’t get it done. From what I could tell Brenda was a little pissed at the jockey (forgot who it was-although his two kids happened to be in attendance) for having her TOO far back to be able to make a late move. Oh well….that was fun for everyone.

-After my first bloody at 11:45, some of the drinks I remember having ranged from Bud Light (the Portland Cosmo), Makers Mark and Ginger, and all the way back to more Bloody’s!! All in all, I made it 10 hours straight of consuming alcohol. Not that I’m bragging, but sometimes you just get high from being in a good atmosphere, and I was at that place!!

-Ran into Jolene and Michael from Oregon Racing and even met Michaels mom.

-Later on, I got to meet the entire Loudon family which was nice, although I think I might have been slurring a little bit-sorry guys!!

-In the 5th I was able to make everyone a winner with my picks as the three horses I selected ran 1-2-3, which was nice. Even though it was a small payoff, everyone got to cash.

-I think I hooked my friend Bill as he had me running around like a mad-man giving him selections for any track he could locate on the TV screen

-I met Greg and Dwayne,. The two gentlemen in charge of PM. They were both very helpful and accommodating and provided us with 15 free programs which was very nice.

-In an area with the most rainfall of anywhere else in the states, PM decide that the late rains that besieged the track were enough to cancel the 9th race..hmmmmm

-Finally a brief lists of some of the great gifts I received throughout the day:
Gold money clip engraved with a picture of the 7 horse making a move…
Bottle of Stolichnaya Vodka
A fantastic t-shirt
A $5 win ticket that then turned into $8!!
Strokes New CD
Poker calendar (the 365 day, tip of the day kind)