Running with the Ponies!

Buenos Aires (Palermo District), Argentina

April 7, 2007
S 34°35.045
W 058°24.500

After a few failed attempts to watch the ponies run at the local horse track, today we were finally successful. The horse track, Hipodromo Argentino, is located in our neighborhood, Palermo, about 3 KM from our apartment. Both of us really enjoy watching the ponies, something we do every year on Thanksgiving which also happens to be our anniversary… according to Marc. For the record, we got married on 28 November 2002 which was Thanksgiving Day that year. Thus, Marc considers Thanksgiving to be our anniversary… I like to celebrate both. J

We arrived at the track a little over an hour before the first race, grabbed a race program and started studying like crazy before we placed our first bet. Deciphering the program was our first challenge especially since programs in English don’t always make sense, but we had the extra challenge of translating the program from Spanish. The first few races were a little tough since we didn’t know the jockeys (Russell Baze doesn’t have any relatives in Argentina) or the feel of the track, so needless to say we lost our first few races.

We hit a low on race three…we decided to go for the long-shot with 20:1 odds when we placed the bet. However, at post-time the odds on our long-shot increased to 110:1. The horse didn’t totally suck based on past performance, but at this point we were just hoping he’d finish. On the bright side, since we bet $6 to win, we figured we would clean up on this one race and head out to a really nice dinner giving. Our horse, XIXALIZCO, had a different plan and seemingly decided to stop for a meal before sauntering to the finish line—he finished dead last and at least 30 cuerpos, or body lengths, behind the winner.

We decided this was our last attempt at a quick win and hit the racing form hard to make realistic picks. We got into the swing of things by the fourth race where we hit the First Place and Second Place horses. And we just kept rolling… at times picking the horses based on their names, like Strong Princess, who came in second for us; other times based upon the winning jockey.

The premier race of the afternoon, Race 7, had twelve horses to choose from. We went back and forth and we each finally picked one horse. When our horses crossed the finish line we had a 1st Place and 3rd Place showing. Thank goodness we had money across the board (Win, Place & Show). Our winnings paid for our next race and even allowed us to pocket $17.

The whole day was a lot of fun, sitting outside enjoying the sun, mixing in with the locals and doing something we really enjoy, watching the ponies. The 2400 meter racetrack was absolutely beautiful. Umbrella covered wooden tables were placed “track side” on a lush green lawn, backed by a shady grandstand and a beautiful clubhouse. The only disappointing feature of the track, which we got over as soon as the ponies started to run, was they didn’t sell beer. An ice-cold beer on a hot day while watching the ponies just makes sense, crazy… oh well, I am sure we will have plenty of other opportunities for beer.

Other notes: Since it is now April, baseball season is in full swing in the United States. We are lucky enough to catch a few games on ESPN in our apartment, but we haven’t been able to see our beloved San Francisco Giants play a single game. We had high hopes for the Giants this year since they paid some ridiculous amount ($10M/year) for their new star pitcher, Barry Zito. We attempt to follow the Giants online by getting scores and stats from each game and downloading the daily KNBR Podcasts when we can poach some free Wi-Fi.

Things are not looking good so far this year, but it’s a long season. Bonds does have a home run on the year and is one step closer to breaking Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. However, only a few games into the season it appears the Giants already need a boost (and some middle and late relief pitching). We’ll be home in a couple weeks and hopefully attend a game before heading off to New Zealand and more soccer, rugby and cricket.