Wild Weekend

It’s taken me a few solid days to recover from a marathon day of handicapping. Weeding through past performances from 9 different tracks across the country from 9:30am until 7pm can definitely take its toll on you physically and mentally.

Luckily, the folks at Emerald Downs, who were once again hosting the Ultimate Qualifying Tournament at their lovely track just SE of Seattle. The folks who ran the day really hooked it up. Non-stop buffet food options and unlimited liquid beverages, capped off by post contest hosted bar. A staff that was beyond friendly, helpful, patient, and in some cases distractingly attractive.

With that said, many of you who read this blog know there was some controversy and yours truly was right in the middle of it all.

Seems there were some official scoring snafus in the final, official scoring. In my case, I initially was told that I finished 8th, taking home $750 and a free trip to Vegas in January to compete in the invite only DRF NHC at Bally’s.

Less than 24 hrs. that result would be changed to an 11th place finish, and my trip to Vegas washed away. In hindsight (and put fully into perspective) 11th out of 400 seems not to be too bad of a showing.

Needless to say, Susie Sourwine, VP of Marketing at ED came to the rescue and offered me a very considerate “compensation package” to make up for their mistakes. Ms. Sourwine acted as an experienced, courteous professional and I appreciate the way she handled the whole situation.

Even more so than ever before, go check out Emerald Downs if you ever get a chance. Besides the fantastic facilities and gorgeous vies of Mt. Rainier, you will be certain that you will be taken care of appropriately by their staff.

I had planned on live blogging form the tournament, but when I inquired just a few days before the event, I was told they had no Wi-Fi. I knew the girl I spoke to really had no clue, but I opted not to bring it anyway. In the end, even though there was internet access that many took advantage of, it was probably for the best that I didn’t have my laptop. Between placing bets on two cards, touting, talking on the phone to m partner and trying to keep track of everything else going on, I don’t think I could have handled another distraction.

Oh well, it would have been cool. Now we all have to settle for the slacker, secondary, abbreviated version!!

I am getting settled into my new place and hope to have my regular internet connection ready to go this weekend. In the meantime, I am lugging my 1947 Dell laptop to and from work so I can stay connected while setting up my new residence.

-It looks as though we have ANOTHER new TBA member. I will post that information tomorrow. I have some other projects I need to go work on before I pass out.

-Finally, I don’t think I’ve pimped it yet, but PLEASE go check out Saratoga Racing Daily. This is one of the best blogs going out there. The site covers everything Saratoga from the t-breds to the trotters to the nightlife. As the tagline says, “Racing Saratoga – All day. All night.