Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Although it’s a stunning morning in Lexington, I have sad news to report: Gas prices spiked yesterday afternoon and pretty much every station now stands at $3.15 a gallon. I was going to fill my gas tank yesterday afternoon at $2.94 but decided to wait until last night, and that was a mistake. So I’m going to go on fumes another day as the tank is nearly empty.

I attended the Round Barn fundraiser last night, getting there at 5 p.m. despite battling rush hour traffic. That’s the number one question out-of-town horsepeople seem to ask of me: “Why is there so much traffic?” The roads seem clogged no matter the time of day, including on Nicholasville Road where sometimes it’s five lanes toward downtown and two lanes out, and other times it’s one lane in and six lanes out.

Gordon is going to go on fumes another day as the tank is nearly empty. Gordon Waterstone photo.

There was a nice gathering at the fundraiser, with food provided by Matt Falcone, who used to oversee the dining room at The Red Mile but now does the catering for the Round Barn and has his own restaurant nearby. The food was great — and I told Matt that — especially the turkey and the beef. Oh yeah, the shrimp cocktail wasn’t too bad either.

I enjoyed the food at a table with Moira Fanning, Tom Hicks, Dave Brower, Jennifer Daniels and Sarah Coleman, who writes for Tim Konkle’s Midwest Harness Report. Sarah is also a new member of the U.S. Harness Writers as part of the Indiana Chapter, but when she told me she actually lives in Lexington, I pitched her on joining the Kentucky Chapter. Either way, Sarah said she’s hoping to join in on all the fun at the Dan Patch Awards dinner at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando in late February.

I also saw Richard Stone and Dean Hoffman, and it’s nice to see Dean back after not getting here last year, the first time since Calvin Coolidge was president that he missed the Kentucky Futurity.

The annual fundraiser raises money to support the maintenance and infrastructure to keeping the historic barn a showstopper as you enter The Red Mile. The silent action was held and the topper at $1,000 was the stained glass image of the Round Barn that was done by Dr. Bob Murphy and noted by me in yesterday’s Backstretch. Ryan Conboy purchased the beautiful stained glass for his wife, Bedell. Ryan is the son of Steve Conboy, for many years the veterinarian at Castleton Farm. Bedell’s mother, Polly, bred the great trotter Donerail. Polly’s parents operated Walnut Hall Stud, where the great Rodney was a sire.

Dave Brower and I decided we’d have a quieter night than last, so the two of us headed over to Banner’s — Boston Road and Man O’War — to watch the first half of the football game before we’d call it quits. I texted Joe Holloway that we’d be there since Joe is a big football fan, and he did join us. The night was a bit later than we all wanted, but it wasn’t any fault of ours as the game was delayed 30 minutes by lightning in the area. I’m still trying to figure out how lightning can delay a game in a domed stadium.

First thing I did when I arrived at The Red Mile — a drive that left me cursing at every gas station I went by that displayed $3.15 a gallon — was head straight for the breakfast table, which this morning is again sponsored by my Backstretch sponsors, Hunterton Farms. While I was eating a bagel and chatting with Nick Salvi, Murray Brown came over to say hello. I told Murray I was very, very, very worried about him yesterday with the Facebook outage, and he told me he thought at first he had been put in Facebook jail for something he had posted. In addition to Murray I can give you some names of others in racing who probably went through withdrawal with the inability to post anything for several hours yesterday. But they all made up for it when Facebook came back online.

Earlier I wanted to look back at a Backstretch column from last year on harnessracing.com, and the story included being at the breakfast table when Jessica Dowse and her 10-year-old bull terrier Tank arrived. I then thought to myself that I hadn’t yet seen Jessica this year, but by unbelievable coincidence, this morning who came walking up for some breakfast? Jessica and her 11-year-old bull terrier Tank.

There was some extra training going on this morning since tomorrow could be a washout. Gordon Waterstone photo.

There was a flurry of activity on and off the track this morning. With today being a gorgeous day and tomorrow looking like all-day rain, there was some extra training going on since tomorrow could be a washout. George Ducharme went by on his way to the track and I asked him if my beliefs were correct and he confirmed it.

Marcus Johansson, who now works for Diamond Creek Farm, came over to say hello. As I turned the other way I saw trainer Nancy Takter and she told me the charity bartending she and Julie Miller did on Sunday night at McCarthy’s resulted in $3,600 in tips heading to Standardbred Transition Alliance, which I’m sure Jenn Daniels is very happy about.

Kevin Greenfield and Brad Wallace of Hickory Lane Farm came walking by and Kevin noted to me that for the first time the Ohio-based farm will be selling 11 yearlings at the Lexington Selected Sale that begins tonight at Fasig-Tipton. Remember, the cocktail reception starts at 5 p.m. with post time for the sale set for 7 p.m. Unlike last year, there is no construction on the way up Newtown Pike to the sale so it should be a breeze. Except — and take this as a warning — for the traffic on Newtown Pike at rush hour. Plan accordingly as I’ve been in that gridlock.

I headed over to see Ron Burke to ask about Atlanta’s qualifier yesterday at The Meadows. Interestingly, while Burke’s home base is in Pennsylvania near The Meadows, Atlanta had never before raced at the track until yesterday. With Dave Palone driving, Atlanta romped to a 20-length win in 1:54.4, an effort Ronnie told me “was awesome.” Atlanta will now race in the Allerage on Sunday (Oct. 10) at The Red Mile.

I then made my way as I always do to the far end and of course I saw Tony Alagna heading to the track. I stopped back to say hello to Diane Lewis, and she told me that she tried to make dinner reservations for Wednesday night after the sale and it took awhile as she had to make nine phone calls before she found an opening. Between racing at The Red Mile and the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale at Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland opening on Friday, and a Kentucky home football game against LSU on Saturday night, it’s lucky Diane could find a reservation anywhere.

I saw Greg Wright Jr. tending to Jujubee on the other side so I walked over. While there, Greg introduced me to Lisa and her young daughter Mia, and their young friend Mason, who made the drive from Pennsylvania. Greg took Jujubee out of his stall to get a bath, so he took the two youngsters with him for some help.

Oliver Williams, who I introduced y’all to Sunday, went by on a tractor as he was working away as part of the track crew helping keep the barn area nice and tidy. I talked to Oliver for a few minutes and then decided to head out. But first I stuck my head in the judges’ office, where I met associate judge John “Johnny Z” Zawistowski for the first time and associate judge Patricia “PJ” Cooksey for the first time in a while as we had been introduced years ago. Johnny Z is a native of Illinois and served as a judge for the first time this summer at Running Aces in Minnesota. Johnny Z told me when The Red Mile meet is over Sunday he will be heading south for similar employment at Pompano Park. If you aren’t familiar with PJ Cooksey, she is a retired jockey who won four riding titles at Turfway Park with 2,137 victories over her career. She was the all-time leading female jockey by wins until Julie Krone went past her.

I also stuck my head in the race office trailer and said hello to program director John Yinger. I apologized to John for almost backing over him a couple mornings ago when I was leaving the track, but he told me it really wasn’t that close.

Sorry for the report on gas prices, and sorry for me for waiting too long. See ya’ll at the sale tonight!