As I arrive at the Vermont racetrack I'm freezing my tail off. On Wednesday, I was uncertain as to whether I wanted to take the long trip to cold Vermont to watch my 3-year old horse, Grand Furnace, run in Jahskunk's $75,000 Green Mountain Maiden Challenge. After perusing the SRF, I was almost certain that I sent my horse to slaughter considering both the 34-1 odds and my calls to VT top jockeys went unanswered. Apparently, the only jockey that was willing to take this mount was T Maguire. Talk about encouragement.
I finally decided to make this trip because I feel guilty that my long shot has drawn into this 10-furlong race on turf, while Jahskunk's horse did not. I also have not had an opportunity to see the new Pastures facility in person. The Pastures team has done such an impressive job with the stables, that the fields racing at Vermont are usually more competitive than that of any other track in the sim with comparable purses.
I walk to the owner's box, I see bigred77, so I take the seat next to his right since he conveniently has a box of Kleenex ready as his horse Junior Inspector is also longshot (25-1) in this race. Sitting next to him is ldyssecret, who already looks sad. Red casually mentions to me that one of ldys horses, Maine Ruffian, was injured during his race. ldys accidentally gave the jockey for Maine Ruffian the instructions for Queen Prospector and vice versa. Realistic Tan, her 18-1 longshot in this race, was her last hope to visit the VT winner's circle today.
I hear some laughing, so I casually glance over and see Kate in the winner's circle. Red tells me that somehow she managed to get her horses to finish in first, second, third and fourth place in her birthday bash race a little while ago.
My mind is wandering and I'm wondering if Kate also bet that trifecta, I hear, "And they're off!" At the break, longshots Junior Inspector owned by red and 26-1 longshot Off The Manta vie for the lead. At the halfway mark, Junior Inspector is still vying with 9-2 shot Saint Civil. Grand Furnace is settled in comfortably in the middle of the pack. All of a sudden, going into the clubhouse turn, my horse, Grand Furnace and another longshot Talkin Trap start to make a move. This is unreal! Grand Furnace and Talkin Trap vie for the lead in the stretch and the winner is…….Grand Furnace!
I look over at red, red's also pretty happy since Junior Inspector finished third. I think more than anything, we're relieved that our horses weren't slaughtered. I also notice that ldys is sobbing, so I invite both her and red to come over with me to take pictures in the winner's circle. The invitation seems to please her quite a bit. As we rise from our seats to walk over to the winner's circle, I notice that horse number 1 is just crossing the finish line. I think to myself that it's probably best not to mention this since ldys has already had a pretty bad day.
While we walk to the winner's circle, I'm wondering if anyone had the kahunas to place a token bet on the $89K trifecta. Miracles do happen occasionally in the sim.
Written by Zgreat
