The Nexus of Work and Entertainment
I'm glad most people that go to the race track do it for an afternoon's entertainment. It is a good show, the horses are pretty, Hialeah Park is pretty, it is an interesting place to watch people and it can be reasonable, many places offer free entry and free parking. You don't have to buy anything but it usually doesn't happen that way. You start out with a plan and then go a little crazy.
I know folks who are looking forward to the dark days of Tuesday and Wednesday. The track is closed but stalls still need to be cleaned twice, the sheets need to be changed (new shavings in the stalls), the feed buckets need to be filled and the water buckets dumped and refilled before dawn. Almost all the horses will leave their stalls for a time on the mechanical walkers, after which there feet will be washed inspected. Others may have poultices applied to their legs. Hay is distributed. What you cleaned from the stalls is shoveled into the wheelbarrow and run out to the dumpster.
The races were cancelled on Monday. The track was swampy. The jockeys thought it would be dangerous to run in conditions like that. Danger on the race track is always a relative thing. Usually, a sloppy track is more of a mess than dangerous, but who am I to question a job action by the guys who make the races go. Not enough of them wanted to ride.
Tuesday morning, the breakfast burrito was good, the races from Monday would be rescheduled. Randy(trainer and buddy) was frustrated because another race when his horse was ready to go was scratched. I had wasted about an hour commuting to and from the track.
The Director of Security asked us to be on the lookout for somebody who seemed to have it in for a trainer and would let his horses out of their stalls. There was no damage done this time, but a 1200 pound animal can be a danger to him/herself and the person trying to catch a scared animal.
One of the last things done every day and night is raking the shed row. Foot and hoof prints are obvious on the freshly raked surface. There are cameras but the coverage has holes.
Breakfast over, swampy conditions after Monday rain will require an extra trip to the laundry, but along with looking at the condition book for a couple of rested runners, the Flamingo Pick 6 has a carryover pool of over $70,000 and the pps are available for Friday.
I know folks who are looking forward to the dark days of Tuesday and Wednesday. The track is closed but stalls still need to be cleaned twice, the sheets need to be changed (new shavings in the stalls), the feed buckets need to be filled and the water buckets dumped and refilled before dawn. Almost all the horses will leave their stalls for a time on the mechanical walkers, after which there feet will be washed inspected. Others may have poultices applied to their legs. Hay is distributed. What you cleaned from the stalls is shoveled into the wheelbarrow and run out to the dumpster.
The races were cancelled on Monday. The track was swampy. The jockeys thought it would be dangerous to run in conditions like that. Danger on the race track is always a relative thing. Usually, a sloppy track is more of a mess than dangerous, but who am I to question a job action by the guys who make the races go. Not enough of them wanted to ride.
Tuesday morning, the breakfast burrito was good, the races from Monday would be rescheduled. Randy(trainer and buddy) was frustrated because another race when his horse was ready to go was scratched. I had wasted about an hour commuting to and from the track.
The Director of Security asked us to be on the lookout for somebody who seemed to have it in for a trainer and would let his horses out of their stalls. There was no damage done this time, but a 1200 pound animal can be a danger to him/herself and the person trying to catch a scared animal.
One of the last things done every day and night is raking the shed row. Foot and hoof prints are obvious on the freshly raked surface. There are cameras but the coverage has holes.
Breakfast over, swampy conditions after Monday rain will require an extra trip to the laundry, but along with looking at the condition book for a couple of rested runners, the Flamingo Pick 6 has a carryover pool of over $70,000 and the pps are available for Friday.
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