5/2/2009 Derby Day in Monterey

Ahhhh, Kentucky Derby Day. The day when we all have a favorite horse. The day when we all wish we a hundred dollars to put on the nose of that horse. The day we all wish we had a hundred dollars to put on the nose of that horse and we did and that horse won!

We spent this day at Monterey Fairgrounds, just outside the entrance of the RV Park we're in. A huge complex with a lot going on today. The first thing we noticed were all the signs ROTA PHYSIC FAIR that were placed everywhere. Just down the street from that we could hear a lot of....MOOOOO's, BAAAAA's and OINKS! There was a FFA competition going on and I'll tell you more about that later.

The place we wanted to visit was called the Monterey Bay Race Place.

I thought we were going to a place where there was a big screen TV to watch the Kentucky Derby on. You know, get caught up in the excitement of the crowd. A beer for Bob and a soda for me. I actually thought we were going to a bar! But then it did occur to me that we were walking into a building on the fairgrounds and it certainly wouldn't be a bar. Then again, I didn't give it any thought that we would be walking into an Off Track Betting parlor either. This was a first for me.

I was first taken with all the TV screens. Every wall had a bank of screens. Big screens, smaller screens, some with crystal clear pictures and some with subdued colors.

Races and stats for dozens of racetracks around the country. Racing forms and newspapers littered the long rows of tables in the room.

I didn't see anyone dressed for Derby Day! Not one pretty pastel dress and big hat ensemble nor one seersucker suit in sight. This attire for this Derby Day group was definitely jeans and a T-shirt. Now of course we didn't go into the Winner's Circle room so maybe that's where all the appropriately attired for Derby Day crowd was hanging out. Everyone seemed to be drinking beer too, I didn't hear anyone order a mint julep when I was standing near the bar window.

We arrived about two hours before the actual race started. I guess we didn't take into account the pre-race show when we left the rig. I can't be sure but I think Bob knew a lot more about this place than he was letting on.

It didn't take long and I was bored. Since I had my trusty camera with me (you never ever know when you'll find blog material!) I decided to go for a walk and take some pictures.

I wandered down the section of the fairgrounds where we heard all the animals when we first arrived.

I came upon a competition going on with teens and their cows.

I was standing next to this young man's parents and struck up a conversation to see what I could find out about what was going on. Well, it seems that this is a competition for a school project. John, the fellow in the picture above with his cow, Clyde are part of the FFA, Future Farmers of America. When I first heard that I was thinking FHA and couldn't imagine why the Federal Housing Administration had anything to do with cows! I questioned the mom and she explained further.

John's mom,,,sorry, I didn't get her name, darn it,,,explained to me that this is quite a project for these kids. Especially the "showing" part. These cows are very well taken care of I hope to tell you! They are just not put out into a pasture and left. Oh no, these animals are shampooed and blow dried and clipped and hair sprayed and polished and primped and pampered. I had NO IDEA all of this went into a competition like this. Well, if the truth be known, I didn't even KNOW there were competitions like this. My school didn't have a Future Farmers of America club or organization. Oh sure I had heard of 4H clubs but I never belonged to one and there weren't any in my suburban neighborhood but I had at least heard of them.

These prods are gently used to make the cow stand in "competition form". Now I don't know if that's the correct terminology but it sounds good to me and this is my blog so I'm going with it.

See this cow's back leg in the picture below? Uh, that's a no-no. She better get that leg even with the other one before the man walking in the background looks over. He's the judge and evidently he doesn't miss anything!

Well, as it turned out John and Clyde did win. Congratulations John!

I don't know exactly what he won but I do believe it was a cash prize. His parents told me that it cost $14.00 a day to feed that cow. Yes, that's a lot of money to put out on a school project. His mom explained to me it isn't so bad because after all she still had half of last year's project in the freezer! Clyde will be sold for cash.

One thing that I really liked about this competition was the judge. As these young competitors were standing next to their cows, waiting to hear who won, he took the time to tell each one where they excelled, what points they needed to work on and gave pointers to help them in their next competition. It was truly evident that this gentleman cared about these kids and their competitive experience. Had I been wearing a hat I would have certainly tipped it to him.

One thing I did learn here for sure was to watch out for the cow patties! They were everywhere!

Now dear readers, think about this. Who else would go the extra mile to illustrate a blog for YOUR reading pleasure to the extent of photographing cow poop? That's right, no one but me. And why is that? Because I want you to see what I had to go through to get these pictures so you have something to look at visually experience my day as well as just read about it.

On to the goats!

Now I haven't been to a lot of goat competitions in my time. Oh geez, you guessed it, this was my FIRST goat competition. Actually, I didn't even get to see the competition because that was going on when we first arrived. But lots of the goats were still there when I walked down to their holding area. Did you know they SHAVE goats who compete? All except their legs of course. They want the legs to look big.

Doesn't this goat look sad?

I think the sad look is there because this a boy goat and all the other goats are making fun of him because of the PINK harness thing-y. That's what I think.

Because they are shaved they get a chill in the damp air easily, therefore they must be dressed!

Some are definitely more fashionable than others! See dear readers, who else would bring you the latest in GOAT FASHIONS!

From high fashion swirls to flower prints....

...to the goat with no fashion sense at all! I mean really, who would combine these prints....even on a goat!

I wonder what this one is thinking.... Hmmm, maybe I should run a contest and see what kind of captions you can come up with.

CHOW TIME!

I've heard of dog walkers but not GOAT walkers.

The next area I came to housed all the pigs.

This little piggy went to market....

This is 350 pounds of pork chops laying here!

I didn't really spend too much in the pig area. You know it was funny, the term "swine flu" kept going through my head and well, it just turned the whole experience for me.

I found myself in the staging area for the cows where they hang out getting primped before competing.

Here's one getting blow dried after his bath.

There can't be any stray hairs.

The hair on the tail must stand straight up and its hair sprayed in place. Since they are losing their winter coats now everyone seemed to be pretty bummed out that the hair wasn't longer along the tail. Ahhhh, the trials and tribulations of showing cows!

This hair...er, fur....whatever, is as soft as it looks. (Click to enlarge)

Well, I had had enough of the barnyard animals and made my way back to the Race Place. On the way I did encounter this goat being fed an ENVELOPE of all things.

I still had some time before the Derby race so I spent the time in the flower gardens.

When I got back inside Bob was eager to share the news that he had won several races that he had bet on to pass the time. I wonder if he would have been so chatty if he had picked losers? I think not.

It was time to place the bets for the big race. Everyone was reading the racing forms and racing newspapers and I didn't understand that at all. What did they care what the horse did in past races? What did they care how the horse ran on a sloppy track? What did they care who sired the horse? I mean really, everyone KNOWS you pick your derby winner by the NAME of the horse or at the very least what COLORS the jockey is wearing! I just can't believe these grown men get sucked into this belief that you need to buy the daily racing forms and all that stuff. Really!

I didn't have a problem picking my horse at all! I have to admit, I read the names and really was torn between two. CHOCOLATE CANDY was my first pick,,,,hmmmm, wonder why and then my second was DESERT PARTY. Gee, we just came out of six months in the desert of Arizona, do you think that was a deciding factor? YA THINK?

Bob, being the man he is, picked his horse from the more (ahem) scientific formula that men use. His horse didn't come in either!

Bob had the camera in hand just in case there was a question and they needed a photo finish of the Kentucky Derby winner crossing the finish line.

I'm happy to report that the Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Commission didn't need to call upon us for a photo finish picture. Be assured we certainly would have offered up our finish picture if it was needed.

I did hear a lot people asking themselves why didn't they stop in at the ROTA PHYSIC FAIR and ask who was going to win the Derby. No one saw this 50 - 1 horse that came out of nowhere taking the title. Did you know that the jockey who rode this winner had never even seen the horse before this past Monday? That he only took on this ride because he couldn't find a better mount? Amazing isn't it?

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. We may have had a very small part in getting another couple into RV'ing. We struck up a conversation with a couple in the betting parlor and found out he would LOVE to get into RV'ing but she is still a little apprehensive about it. She did say that renting one could very well be in there future to see what it is like. I gave them the blog site so they could follow along. Let me know if you are!

So that was Derby Day in Monterey. Horses and cows and goats and pigs. And most importantly, some really nice people.