It was a rough day at Monmouth -
 

We were in the picnic area, had 2 Pop-ups for cover and it was still very rough going for awhile but we made the best of it. Not sure what the attendance was but the grandstand was packed. Have some pictures I'll post later. One is them coming out of the gate for the Haskell and Rachel in the home stretch.

attendance 37,090

TVG did a nice job capturing the dedication and extreme interest of the fans in attendance.

They emphasized the abundance of sub- 15 year old kids in attendance, and the fact that the fences were lined in the front row with female fans.

The paddock attention and applause for Rachel Alexandra was special, too.

I was a little worried (no bet) when Calvin had her on the outside for this trip, but he did do a nice job of keeping mud out of her face.

I will say that when I saw the eventual exacta payout I was a little perturbed with myself for not getting a piece of THAT chalk action.

Very glad you were able to go!

I cherish my attendance at every big race I've ever attended, and ususally have kept souvenirs.

Heck, I was just thrilled to see 16 year old Cavonnier make an appearance and walk at Santa Rosa yesterday...

:)

Watching Rachel made me forget about what a horrible day it actually was. This is the one day a year that Monmouth actually has quality races/horses thoughout the card. Then of course the rains came. Off the turf and staring at 3 horse fields. Even worse a couple of horses went down in back to back races. I hope everyone is alright, one jock (I thought it was Channing Hill, but I could be wrong) was down for what seemed like an eternity before being loaded into the ambulance. All this and we haven't even got into the wagering bloodbath between there and Saratoga. But eventually the sun came out and Rachel dazzeled. Her performance truely turned it into a very nice day for me and made me happy that I attended.

Any other day and I think the card would have ended right there.

It was very Breeders Cupesq (another day that definitely been scrapped if it wasn't the BC). I was waiting for Collmus to make the announcement of Rachel Alexandra scratching right after the 2nd horse went down. It would have been a mass exodus.

We were thinking the same thing. It was real ugly with the rains coming down, thunder etc and those two incidents back to back. Thought it was just a matter of time before we heard her and others scratch.

My signature pic is from last years Haskell. Going to have to update it with a very wet looking photo from this year!

A couple of pics from my phone.

Here's the sad/gruesome details.
http://drf.com/news/article/106040.html

Good catch on the up close and personal pictures. If you were close enough to take those with a phone camera, that's really good stuff!

Concentrate on the nice happenings and brightness of your day.

I hope and suspect you are and will be.

i feel bad for the track, they are snake bit with the bad weather.