Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Two weeks of major stakes racing at The Red Mile concludes today with the 12-race card featuring the 129th renewal of the Kentucky Futurity for 3-year-old colt trotters. Two racetracks will be racing this afternoon in Lexington, the other being Keeneland, but why go to that Thoroughbred track where total purses today add up to $1,376,000 when you get $2,146,000 of action at The Red Mile? Post time is 1 p.m. at The Red Mile and the weather looks to be spectacular as the predicted high is 82 degrees.

After an early night I woke up early this morning and was relieved to find Lexington still standing. In front of a sell-out crowd at Commonwealth Stadium/Kroger Field, Kentucky walloped LSU 42-21 to go 6-0 on the season. Big crowds gathered on the streets but nothing got out of hand. To be realistic, I think reality is going to set in next Saturday afternoon when Kentucky travels to play Georgia, who will be the top-ranked team in the nation after Alabama lost yesterday. The early line has Kentucky a 24.5 point underdog to the Bulldogs.

The only thing hotter in Lexington than the UK football team is the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, which wrapped up its record-breaking five-day session on Saturday night. The total gross sales was an all-time high $56,692,500, an average of $65,692 for the 863 sold. Speaking of 863, Hip 863 Last Call Larry was purchased last night for $40,000 by trainer Brian Brown from the Hunterton Sales Agency consignment.

Kathy Parker with Steve and Cindy Stewart, the sponsors of Backstretch With Gordon. Gordon Waterstone photo.

I can’t thank Steve and Cindy Stewart enough for their continued sponsorship of Backstretch With Gordon. I was standing on The Red Mile apron yesterday afternoon with Boss Kathy when Steve and Cindy arrived, and that gave me a chance to take a photo. Steve and Cindy were smiling, and they should be, as the 97 horses they sold brought $7,863,000. That placed them second on the list behind only David Reid’s Preferred Equine, which led the way at $8,128,000 from 134 horses sold.

David and Randy Manges, sales managers for Lexington Selected, also have to be smiling. I spoke to Randy and he told me that while he was optimistic, the results were beyond his expectations.

“The sale was great. The sale was way up over last year, and last year was the best sale we had ever had,” Randy told me. “I was confident we’d have a great sale, but I didn’t expect this. The sale was very strong from top to bottom and it showed in the results.”

After a whirlwind Friday when it seemed I never stopped walking or talking, I decided to try and go a bit incognito yesterday afternoon at the races. So I put on a Keeneland cap and sunglasses, and it seemed to work. A couple people did figure out that I was trying to keep a bit of a low profile. A couple of people thought it might make a good photo if I could somehow stand taller than seven-footer Sam Bowie, and Sam was gracious enough to try when I saw him upstairs in the grandstand before the card started, but the end result when I looked at the photo was that it just didn’t work. But I thank Sam for crouching over as I’m sure it wasn’t easy getting back up.

A memorial was held for Hall of Famer Ron Gurfein after race two. Red Mile photo.

Race one on Saturday was the Kevin Thomas Memorial, with a memorial held for Hall of Famer Ron Gurfein after race two. Several drivers and trainers came up to the winner’s circle and Boss Kathy and I joined in as we all made a horseshoe in tribute to Ronnie. I stood next to Brittany Farms’ George Segal and Art Zubrod and his wife, Leah Cheverie. Several people noted the irony of having a moment of silence for Ronnie, who was never silent.

Pete/Thor Solverson had earlier given me an extra program that included written tributes to Ronnie, so I went back to my car to put it in a safe place. Bob Heyden and Ellen Taylor were heading the other way toward the track, and I threw my hands up in the air and said, “Enough, I’m going home!”

When I was heading back to the track I saw Bob Wingfield walking across the parking lot. Bob had told me earlier that he and his brothers Charlie and Tom had rented a house near The Red Mile, but I was surprised when Bob told me it was directly across the street from the track.

The Wingfield brothers are great guys; actually the entire family is. Make sure you check out the next Hoof Beats where I have a feature story about the bond Charlie, Bob and Tom share.

I was standing by the USTA tent on the apron near the winner’s circle with Mark, Rich and newbie Kyle — who gets an ‘A+’ for his efforts during his first-ever Red Mile meet (Rich and Mark are vets at this and always get an ‘A+’). Michiganders Ed and Cheryl Sayfie came over to say hello. I didn’t know they were in town so it was great to see them. I stopped by the picnic bench to sit with Lee and Denna Sattelberg and the late-arriving Patty Wright, and then I walked past fellow Michiganders Ed Burke and Wendy Janes, who worked at Northville Downs. I saw Jim and Mary Van Boven standing by the wall near the winner’s circle so I walked over to chat with them.

Jim told me they drove down last night from Michigan but stayed overnight in northern Kentucky near Turfway Park to make the morning drive a bit shorter. I told Jim that Claudia Davidson, who sits on the Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association board of directors called me a couple of weeks ago to lock me up to again host the MHHA’s annual awards banquet next January.

We had a delay before race eight when the starting gate malfunctioned. Trackman Greg, who is also Starter Greg, went for car number two, but that didn’t work. So we went to car three, which is a 1974 Lincoln Continental. Starter Greg gave it a test drive down the stretch to the applause of the crowd, and the racing resumed. I talked to Starter Greg’s brother, Trackman Dan, this morning and he assured me all was good for today.

AJ, who I mentioned in an earlier column had driven here from Indiana, came over to tell me that AJ are his real initials. Bob Darrow, who emailed me about gas prices, also came over to introduce himself. I was sitting in an apron box by myself late in the card when Bob Wingfield came over to join me. He was wearing a shirt with the logo of that school in Columbus so I thought he was going to tell me his team crushed Maryland 66-17. Bob said he just wanted to give me his appreciation of this year’s Backstretch columns and that I had to be worn out after two weeks of non-stop action. He’s right.

Nick, Dave and I had dinner reservations last night at Cole’s, and we were joined by Scott Warren and Jeff Billings. We sat outside in the patio under a tent which was over what used to be part of the parking lot. The tent went up during COVID and remains. Great conversation and great food; I had duck compressed into three balls. When the server came up with the plate she said meatballs, so I told her that it wasn’t mine, but she told me it was my duck balls. Because I was tired I headed straight home around 10. I also didn’t want to get caught up in football traffic and celebration as I did last Saturday night.

I know that I left out of this year’s Backstretch many people who spoke to me, but I didn’t want to wear out my Brother P — Paul Ramlow — in checking for typos before he did the actual posting on the USTA website. Thanks to my Brother K — Ken Weingartner — for doing some extra stories on Red Mile starters. Thanks to USTA teammates Rich, Mark, Wendy and newbie Kyle for their great efforts while in Lexington. Thanks to Boss Kathy for her support. Thanks to Mike Tanner, TC Lane and Dan Leary for giving me the green light to do a 19th season of Backstretch With Gordon. And another thanks to Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Farm/Sales Agency for their support and sponsorship.

And thanks to all of you for reading. Just as the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale had overwhelming results, so too was the response to this year’s Backstretch. And for that I am most appreciative. Now I’ll go back to my mundane and boring life, which will make my cat Willow extremely happy. She’s been a tiger these past two weeks and I know she’s really missed me as I’ve been in and out and in and out. So much so that over the last few days she’s wrapped her paws around my legs as I tried to go out the door.

And…..if you’re heading out of town it’s still around $3.12-$3.15, except of course that station on Versailles Road at $2.89.