Dead Heat Travers Reflections

Another Travers, another memorable race. I'll let others argue about the quality of the horses in the race, all  I can say I was among the 46,000 plus fans who witnessed the dead heat photo finish between Alpha and Golden Ticket.

Here's my reflections on this years Travers Stakes Day:

Alpha ended up being a pretty good bet. I know many prior to the race were bashing Alpha, but I felt the combo of Mclaughlin and Dominguez would be enough and publicly (on Thorofan's website) picked him as the winner. Yeah he was the favorite, but getting $4.10 back and doubling your money is not bad.

The betting day for me on the whole was a wash. I had a small win bet on Alpha, but missed all day on my exotics and the 3 pick 4's.

Made a bad audible call on leaving my Clubhouse seats to join friends at the Porch for table seating. We were at the far end of the porch, where the view of the track from our table was not all that good. Plus we got hit with the $18 "seating" fee which applies per person, not per table. My salad dish with 2 bottles of Bottled water cost me $50 not counting the tip (which the waiter expects to be calculated on the lunch and seating fee).

Next time I stick with my usual method of watching the races from my seats and grabbing lunch at the Shack Shack where I grab a Shake Burger and Beer for the more manageable $9 cost and mingle with friends at the Paddock Bar.

The post Travers fun included a fantastic dinner at The Wishing Well where I had Swordfish and for desert the classic creamy New York Style Cheeseake from the Nuns of New Skete followed by drinks downtown at the Adelphi and Sperry's.


So there you have it, another year older for all of us, another Travers Stakes in the books. They are unique, all so different, and this one will be etched in my memory bank forever.