horse racing

Day 157: Sports Saturday

image

A change in plans today meant I could watch some sports while cleaning up the garage. What a day! I woke up to Serena Williams winning her 20th Grand Slam title. Next, FC Barcelona completed the Treble by beating Juventus. Finally, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, becoming the first horse in almost four decades to do so.

I had planned on watching the opening of the Women’s World Cup, but after the Belmont Stakes I was wiped out. There’s still work to do in the garage, but that’ll wait until tomorrow. For now, a tip of the cap to Victor Espinoza and American Pharoah. A misspelled name never looked so good.

Day 154: Triple Crown

My favorite horse racing game

My favorite horse racing game

It’s hard to believe that no horse has won the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. That’s 37 attempts and no winner; the closest was Real Quiet, who lost by a nose in the heart-breaking 1998 Belmont. I’ve got my fingers crossed that American Pharoah can break through this Saturday. I’m not a horse-player anymore, but I still follow the Sport of Kings on occasion, especially during the Triple Crown season and the Breeder’s Cup.

Pictured above is a horse racing game my parents gave to me and my brothers after Affirmed joined the exclusive Triple Crown winners club. We loved that game and it had the same thrill for us as watching the real thing. We would name each of the game’s six horses before every race: Affirmed and his nemesis Alydar were regular names, while Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, and a few others made it onto our little racetrack.

It’s currently listed at $99.00 on ebay, so unless I make it out to the track and hit a few exactas or trifectas, the game will remain on my wish list for another 37 Triple Crowns.

Day 53: World Record

World Record for Largest Beer Tasting.

World Record for Largest Beer Tasting.

One year ago today, my wife and I helped set the Guinness World Record for Largest Beer Tasting. Yelp hosted the event at Santa Anita Park, the historic racetrack in Arcadia, CA. To set the record, 490 people blind tasted three different beers. My wife isn’t much of a beer drinker and didn’t care for two of the beers, but she liked the Shock Top Wheat Chocolate Stout beer. I liked them all, of course.

Alas, fame is fleeting: our record was broken at the end of last year. It’d be great if we could get another crack at the title. Until that happens, we’ll have fun referring to ourselves as former world record holders … and we’ll always have the glassware to prove it (as seen above).