Off to the Races!

Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets!

Hi everyone! Glenn and I had rather long weeks at work, so this weekend was a great respite. Friday night we went to Chad and Lisha's new penthouse condo at the WestShore Yacht Club (yes, it is quite nice!), and had a great time hanging out with them. Gluten free cupcakes were consumed. :-)

Saturday, we mostly hung around the house, but went into Tampa for a delicious dinner at Ocean Prime. Today, Sunday, Glenn had a surprise for me. He had won a VIP day for us at the Tampa Bay Downs racetrack. We had brunch at their Sky Terrace, where they gave us a table for the entire day, which was a very nice place to watch the races.

It was a gorgeous day, and we alternated between watching the races from our table, to watching them from the rail outside.

Being down on the track let us see the horses more up close and personal. Here is Supreme Privilege, the horse that won Glenn $13 (woo-hoo) in the winner's circle.

And yes, we were able to get a selfie with the horse. (Look! He's smiling!)

After each race, they sprayed off the horses with a hose, which they seemed to enjoy.

Here's a shot from outside the Downs - they have benches along the track. Did I mention it was a beautiful day?

We also went up to watch a race from the grandstand for a little shade.

We watched and bet on 9 races, some of which were on the dirt and some of which were on the grass.

Here's one on the turf.

So here are some shots to make you feel like you're watching a race.

Photo finish!

They walk all the horses around the track before the race in what is called a Post Parade. Glenn got some nice closeups.

 

That's about it for our day at the track. We had so much fun! And since we mostly placed $2 bets, it was much cheaper than a day at the casino. Neither of us had ever bet on horses before and it was fun learning how they do things. We both won a few times too. Very exciting.

Hope you all are doing well, and that things are warming up in the Burgh. Take care, everyone!