In this time of world crisis, it hardly seems my place to say anything more about the trials and tribulations of our society. So I thought this time, instead, I’d simply share a light, hopefully enjoyable story about another one of our sojourns. Our friendly band of handicappers usually numbered anywhere between 3 and 10, depending on the destination and time of year. For this particular trip, we were a foursome. Put down your books and turn off the television: it is now March, 2004, and we’re headed for the Big Easy, New Orleans.
This was the year before Katrina, and NOLA was in full flower. This was not our first trip there; we’d gone several years earlier, mainly due to the fact that one of our gang had wonderful and generous relatives that owned a B&B and let us stay for free, a significant plus for us “motel cheap” travelers.
At the Bryant Museum
These trips south would take us two days: it’s a shade over a thousand miles from our homes in the Cleveland area down to the Crescent City, and, of course, we stopped off to appreciate the cultural and historic places along the way, like casinos and other race tracks. Now, we are not entirely without couth, so on these southern drives – made either in an old Dodge van or in a much nicer Chevy Blazer – we also visited such cultural sights as the Paul Bear Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which honors Alabama football and the legendary Crimson Tide coach, and Old Alabama Town, a restored village of early settlers, which is in Montgomery and definitely worth a look if you’re in the area.
After we’d spent some decent time riding down the interstate, it was time to get off the road well-traveled, and, in the spirit of the late Charles Kuralt, take in some local flavor. We approached Lynchburg, Tennessee thinking they might have something interesting to see. You may be able to tell where this is going. After some time roaming down small back roads, we stumbled upon the Jack Daniel’s Distillery.
At the Jack Daniel distillery
The home of Old #7 whiskey, Jack Daniel’s is the oldest registered distillery in America, founded in 1866. The tour of the distillery was educational, smelled great, and concluded with a group photo. We were somewhat surprised to find that the gift shop sold just about everything – except whiskey, since Lynchburg is in a dry county. Who knew?
And then, as Willie Nelson would sing, we were on the road again, with the home of Mardi Gras in our sights. We stayed in a place in Algiers Point, a neighborhood located across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. A free ferry took people and cars from the Point on a five-minute ride across the river to the dock right near Canal Street. It ran about every half hour, but service ended around midnight, so you if you missed the last one, an expensive cab ride was suddenly on your itinerary. Another interesting fact about this ferry was that the dock was next to the only casino in NOLA at that time – another cultural site we just had to visit.
The racetrack in New Orleans, the Fair Grounds, is widely recognized as the second oldest track in the country and has hosted racing off and on since before the Civil War. A horrific fire in 1993 burned the grandstand to the ground; now rebuilt, it houses both the horse races and the world-famous music extravaganza called JazzFest. The track itself is in a residential section of town, nestled amidst houses and businesses, just a few miles west of Bourbon Street and the Cafe du Monde. We’d take the ferry downtown to tour the city but needed to drive to get to the track. Fortunately, on this occasion, a friend who had connections at the New Orleans Bureau of Tourism got us seats in the grandstand. When we arrived, we were led to the front row of the section, right up against the glass on the finish line. Seriously great seats for regular old handicappers like us.
Behind the scenes at the Fair Grounds
As seems to usually be the case, before we knew it the feature race was about to begin. Right around then, the seat attendant, a very friendly and outgoing woman whose name unfortunately escapes me, approached us and asked if we wanted to go down into the paddock and see the horses and owners up close. We, of course said yes, without much thought, and she escorted us down to the paddock to watch the horses being saddled for the feature, a stakes race called the Budweiser Cup. We took a couple of quick photos of ourselves in the saddling area and were just about to go back to our seats when the same attendant asked if we would like to view the race from inside the winner’s circle.
Inside the winner’s circle? Are you kidding?
It turns out the woman was more than an attendant; she was, in fact, some kind of a director of hospitality for the track. Within minutes, the four of us were standing in the winner’s circle as the race was about to begin. As if this all wasn’t enough, a moment later she approached us again and asked us if we’d be willing to hold the Budweiser Cup banner up in front of the eventual race winner for the official photo.
Again: are you kidding?
I think we agreed to hold the banner before she even finished talking. The day had taken on an increasingly surreal cast, but who were we to argue? We’d come expecting to play the card, watch some good races, maybe make a few bucks and enjoy the atmosphere of the Fair Grounds. Now we were watching the race from inside the winner’s circle, and she wanted us to hold the banner in front of the winner? Sure, keep it coming!
Silverfoot crossing the finish line
And then she said something that made the entire afternoon come into focus.
“Are you sure Dodge won’t object to you guys holding up a beer sign?”
All of a sudden, we realized why we’d been treated so well. Lord only knows who the seats were, in fact, meant for, or who she thought we were. But we were gentlemen, and, not wanting to hurt her feelings or leave her with no one to hold the banner, one of our guys said, “Oh, we’re sure Dodge won’t mind.”
Dallas Stewart, jockey Jose Martinez Jr., and four guys who definitely don’t work for Dodge
A horse named Silverfoot, trained by D. Wayne Lucas protégé (and successful trainer in his own right) Dallas Stewart, won the race. That’s Stewart in the photo at left, right in the middle of four of the happiest old handicappers on Earth.
Note: I sincerely hope this tale took you away from thinking about the impacts of the virus, even for a minute or two. Please, for both your own sake and everyone’s, stay home whenever possible, and use social distancing if you must go out. These are extraordinary and virtually unprecedented times, but a little inconvenience now means that, sooner or later, we will all be able to once again have wonderful and exciting adventures. Be safe. – Bernie
