Bettin' on the Ponies

I'll be honest here. I consider myself a pretty classy dame, but I also have a deep love for county fairs, street festivals, or any other occasion where I can consume a funnel cake. Funnel cake, corn dogs, cotton candy--this is why county fairs are awesome (that, and I like seeing all the different types of chickens.) So, any opportunity where I get to eat funnel cake, have a beer before noon (and be socially acceptable), AND people watch, is an opportunity I will be sure to take up. This opportunity presented itself last weekend, when we went to the Belmont Stakes, which is the third leg of the Triple Crown. I've never actually been to a horse race, although I've watched the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness many a time on TV, so this was new and exciting.I think the best part of the day was truly all the different sorts of people. Here are some photographic records of the best ones:

We are prepared. We bought the NY Times so we could wave it and whack it on stuff. We had massive bottles of water. We had blankets to sit on and gum to chew. We were good for the 6 hours that we sat in the sun, although it did get quite hot. We also won a bit, at least enough to break even (and I only broke even because I had to place bets for my family and my dad let me keep the money he won in the final.) Anyway, here is my stellar cousin doing a solid impression of an excited fan in the Jamaica Long Island Railroad station.

There was a man behind us on the train who was having a phone conversation, which went something like, "well Chris, it's NOT like the derby (note: how did he know? we hadn't even gotten there yet!) We went to Brooklyn Burger yesterday..yep, yep and we paid $40 for lunch. Now, I don't normally hold with paying $40 for lunch, but how often do you eat in Times Square? (note: that's why it was $40!!!) and now we're on the train..." He was right about it being not like the Kentucky Derby in that there weren't as many people wearing hats, but there were some. Nothing too elaborate, though.

Where I went to college, there was a particular breed of male that we nicknamed "Hobies" (to go with "Smithies," which is much more ubiquitous.) Hobies, in general, are gents who wear pants with embroidered golf balls, American flags, or whales on them. These pants are generally pink. They sometimes wear loafers with no socks and smoke cigars. Often, they major in economics. I had to partner with one once for a project, and I got to hear all about his yacht. My friend was in the airport last week, and a similar fella called her "champ." You get the idea. To tell the truth, I haven't missed seeing these men that much. And as I got to see some pink shorts at the races, that helped fill whatever void there was in my life. Melis said that these outfits (and the AMAZING seersucker suits that I didn't photograph) were really similar to ones that she saw in New Orleans on Easter.

A bit of monologue: "hey man, I saw you from across the lawn, and I just wanted to tell you that I think it shows a lot of guts to wear that hat. I wanted to tell you that I admire your style." I should perhaps mention that the best outfit was on my "Belmont boyfriend," but I'm not putting a picture up because it might scar your retinas. Suffice it to say, he had a mohawk which was somehow growing into a mullet, and he was wearing a see-through shirt and two pairs of boxers--black under white--instead of normal shorts.

I haven't mentioned anything about the actual races, have I? They are quite exciting for the 2 or so minutes when the horses are running, and especially during the 10 seconds when they are right in front of you. We saw 11 races, and by the time the actual Belmont Stakes happened, there were 50,000 people at the park, which is actually not that many--last year there were 150,000. There was no hope of a Triple Crown this year, so I don't think people cared as much. It was neat seeing the different jerseys of the jockeys, and betting was actually pretty fun, too. I learned a lot about trifectas and the like. I also saved all my losing ticket stubs (there were LOTS) so I should make a collage with them, or something.

What I don't know is how horse racing is for the horses. It doesn't seem like they are harmed (no whipping) but I just don't know. That will determine whether I go again or not. But either way--the Belmont was fun, the sky was gorgeous, and I got to eat a funnel cake.