Backstretch With Gordon: Days gone by

Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — I don’t know about you, but the days are flying by during these two weeks of Grand Circuit racing at The Red Mile and the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale at Fasig-Tipton. We’ve had three days of racing, three sessions of the yearling sale, and Friday begins the last three days of racing, concluding on Sunday with the Kentucky Futurity and world champion Bulldog Hanover starting in the Allerage.

Wednesday’s third session of the yearling sale continued to set records and as we head into Thursday’s fourth session, the total gross sales are just a bit more than $1 million away from setting an all-time sale record. Congratulations again to Steve and Cindy Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency as my sponsors continue to have a strong sale. Thus far they’ve sold 68 yearlings for $8.712 million, an average of $128,118.

Before I get to this morning, let me tell you about dinner last night. I received an invitation from Karl Nagle to join him and others at Blue Heron Steakhouse, and as I was driving over I was wondering who else would be in the group. In all there were 10 of us, including myself, Karl, Joe Holloway, Howard Perlmutter, Sarah Lauren, Nick Salvi, Libby Jones, Brian and Kathy Boyle and my USTA co-worker Wendy Ross.

Some got steak and some got fish, and Wendy had the fried chicken, which looked great. I sat across from Joe and he had his I-Pad open and was watching the yearling sale action. Actually, Joe had assistant Keelan MacDonald at Fasig-Tipton and he was doing some bidding. Joe ended up purchasing five last night, three while we were eating at the restaurant. Joe kept taking phone calls obviously from Keelan, but he also got one from his owner Marty Granoff, who Joe said told him he does a better job bidding while eating than at the sale itself. And many, many thanks to Karl for picking up the entire tab as I know it had to be a hefty one.

It was another glorious Thursday morning at The Red Mile and when the author arrived at 8:30 there was a big crowd along the fence. Gordon Waterstone photo.

It was another glorious Thursday morning at The Red Mile and when I arrived at 8:30 there was a big crowd along the fence, as you can see in today’s photo. The buzz was that Bulldog Hanover would be training this morning. Of course I grabbed a bagel at the breakfast table, with today’s offering sponsored by The Deck of Dreams trainers and Hunterton Farm.

Howard Okusko came over to say hello and we chatted for a few minutes. Howard had his phone tucked in a shirt pocket and he told me a couple days ago he came off the track and realized he must have dropped his phone somewhere along the way. He had to wait until qualifiers were over and then he and his wife, Jessica, and their dog Maverick went out onto the track to look for the phone and hopefully find it. Howard said he thought it was going to be a worthless trip when suddenly Maverick perked up and was standing over the phone in the grass.

I saw USTA photographer Mark Hall on the track and trying to get into the infield so he could take photos of Bulldog Hanover. As Mark began his way across, dodging horses, I yelled over to be careful as I haven’t had a chance to take out an insurance policy on him and make myself the beneficiary.

It wasn’t long when I saw trainer and co-owner Jack Darling head onto the track with the 1:45.4-winning world champion. I watched alongside Nick and Wendy, who had her 4-year-old dog Stella with her. Wendy told me that this was already Stella’s third trip to Lexington for the Grand Circuit racing. Making his way behind a few of Ron Burke trainees, Jack took a few spins around the track with the superstar pacer and then when he was done I made my back back to Bulldog Hanover‘s stall in the Dewayne Minor barn.

I first congratulated Jack on Wednesday’s announcement that he had been elected into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. We then talked a bit about Bulldog and I told him that the horse seems to know the cameras are on him as there were several photographers back there clicking away. I asked Jack about all the attention and he said he doesn’t mind it, bringing him back memories of 1997 when his pacers Gothic Dream and Northern Luck were stars on the racetrack.

Another USTA co-worker, Rich Johnston, was there. Randy Leipa, who introduced himself to me last year at The Red Mile, came over to say hello and that he came to see Bulldog. Randy is from Detroit, where I hail from, so of course we talked Detroit Lions football, lamenting all the injuries and that the team is better than its 1-3 record thus far. Randy told me that if I get up north for a Lions game to give him a call.

As I walked back to the front, Linda Toscano came by me for what I thought was about the fifth or sixth time this morning. I told her she was awfully busy today. I also saw Kentucky horseman Jack Gray Jr. along the way.

Arrived back by the breakfast table and there were no second helpings for me today as the tables were bare. Dave Brower came over and he told me he had a nice dinner last night at Jeff Ruby’s. We walked up to the fence to join Nick and Frode Fladen, and then after a few minutes I decided to head out.

Dave and I talked about all the things happening the next few days in Lexington. Tonight at Rupp Arena is the Keith Urban concert, with Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line one of the opening acts. I’ve had tickets since last March when they went on sale and myself and my friend Chasity will be sitting in a section next to the stage. Racing starts at The Red Mile on Friday afternoon and it also starts that day at Keeneland. On Friday night, Little Feat will be at the Lexington Opera House. Saturday night will be buzzing as the Kentucky football team plays host to South Carolina and the game is sold out. The yearling sale wraps up Friday night and then there is the mixed sale on Saturday night. And if you’re still in town next Tuesday (Oct. 11), there is a huge concert at Rupp Arena with Chris Stapleton, Dwight Yoakam and Tyler Childers. Yes, I have two tickets to that as well, with proceeds from that night going to benefit victims from the flooding in the eastern part of Kentucky a couple months ago.

Before I forget, I guess that TV piece on Bulldog Hanover on local station WLEX-18 did not air last night as I was told, and now I’ve learned it’s scheduled for Friday sometime.

And gas continues to be boring (laughing) as prices have not changed.

As for the weather forecast, after a warm day today, it’ll be in the low 60s tomorrow, maybe hit 60 on Saturday, and then 63 on Sunday. So bring a sweater, and if not, stop and see Jeremy at the gift shop at The Red Mile and he’ll take care of you as he has plenty of items available, including some new offerings.

See y’all again tomorrow; hopefully I’ll have a voice after singing along with Keith Urban tonight.

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