Dear
Reader’s,
I am so sorry I didn’t get the blog
posting out yesterday, as I’d said I would. The heat we encountered on July 4th
at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds was basically a 100 + unbearable. Yikes! Yesterday
I felt like I had a hangover.
I must admit I am getting pretty soft.
Gone are the days of training horses in the summer heat. When the shedrow would
get so hot, I would wipe my streaming brow with a dripping wet towel, before draping
it over a stall fan. This was a rather effective way of putting a bit of cool
moisture into the stalls of my overheated horses. Unfortunately it required a constant
reapplication of cold water to the towels. But the horses loved it, they would
hang their heads as close to the covered fan as they could get.
Then there were the winter months. I still
recall those freezing fogs in January. I would be so cold; I would lose contact
with the end of my nose. The horses would come back from the track with frost
on their whiskers and eyelashes. We won’t
even talk about the rain and the mud. Ah those were the days. Now my temperature
tolerance is so narrow, that the air conditioner comes on at 71◦ degrees and the heater at 69◦ degrees.
Having said that, if I could drive up to a barn full of the kind of
horses I saw on Thursday, I would soon acclimate myself to the changing seasons
with alacrity.
The Casual Lies Handicap was a thrill for me as you know. But my
enthusiasm couldn’t hold a candle to the owners of Ourwestcoastghost, and in
particular Ron Lang. Ron and Lillian Lang own Ourwestcoastghost in partnership
with their trainer D. Wayne Baker.
It would be hard to find two more delightful people than the Lang’s. For
me it started as soon as I left the stage of the handicapping seminar, held
daily by Dennis Miller and Frank Mirahmandi.
Ron and Lillian approached me, smiling from ear to ear, and hands
outstretched, anxious to introduce themselves and share their pride in having a
horse in the Casual Lies Handicap. Ron was the first, that day, to secure a
copy of “Casual Lies – A Triple Crown Adventure.”
While I inscribed his book with my best wishes for his horse to be successful
in the Casual Lies, we handicapped the race. Our conclusion? They had a heck of
chance of taking home the trophy in the first running of the Casual Lies
Handicap.
When the horses left the gate in
the Casual Lies, I started for the winner’s circle, keeping a close eye on the
big screen television. As the horses rounded the turn for home, it looked to me
like the speed was fading and Ourwestcoastghost, despite a lackluster start,
was reeling them in on the rail.
Pleased, I dropped my gaze from
the screen to see a tightly bunched group of spectators down by the outside
rail, straining to see the horses as they pounded towards the finish line.
It was the Lang’s. I stepped towards them just as their horse flashed
into view, clearly in front, and clearly a winner.
As one this small group of
people exploded in celebration, they spotted me and I was wrapped up in their
enthusiastic arms, jumping, kissing. I felt like I had won the race myself.
After the presentation, Ron said the nicest thing he could have possibly
said to me, when he commented; “this is our Casual Lies,” referring to his
lovely horse Ourwestcoastghost.
What a day at the races for me,
another moment of joy that I can attribute, yet again, to that moment, so many
years ago, when Stanley’s eyes first met mine.
Take care,
Shelley Riley
PS What a joy to see so many of the great people
I have come to know over the years because of Casual Lies.
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