Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The 2012 Preakness Stakes

Horse Racing... The Sport of Kings... The thrill of the track... The beauty of the animals... The sun on the white rail... The call of vendors selling, well, alcohol to, well, drunk people... 


So it isn't the perfect experience... But definitely very memorable... :)


The best part for me was seeing all the people. The diversity of people and the enormous amount of stereotypes represented was astounding. There were rich people dressed rich, rich people dressed down, poor people dressed up, tacky people dressed up, preppy guys, hoochy girls, gamblers, partiers, and trackies... There was sooooo much food for the imagination there... 


I tried to get pictures of all my favorite people... And by favorite I mean most interesting looking... :)


Oh, hey, look at those really interesting people!!! :) I was the only one that wore a hat... Meaning I was the only one who didn't get a horrible sunburn on my face and neck!!!! Though, my leg didn't escape... I have a very weird looking burn on the half of my leg that was facing the sun... :)



Dad... I LOVED his outfit... He had on dark jeans, a button up with rolled sleeves and a baseball cap... All of us agreed that he just needed an important looking lanyard and he would have looked like an owner... Or at the very least a trainer... ;)


So this isn't the best picture of my outfit, but I was very pleased with how my make-up came out... ;)


Now... This guy... Was a character...  His name is Ben... And he is the best Black Eyed Susan vendor in the entire world!!!!!! He cycled through the grandstand selling the signature Pimlico drink... I don't consider selling drinks to drunk people a very high calling... But hey, you gotta have fun with what you do... And he was... :)


Ok, these were my favorite guys for the whole day... Believe it or not, I don't think they were gay... The pink shorts, the sports jacket, the nerd glasses, the bow tie... Me and my sisters were drooling... And yes, I stalked them with my zoom lens... ;)


I would say frat boys living off of daddy warbucks... :)



This was the couple sitting behind us... They were actually a nice, non-drunk couple... I loved the guy's outfit... Wrinkly plaid button up with an equally wrinkly sports jacket, linen looking khaki pants, a straw fedora, and mirror aviators... He just needed a British or Australian accent... :) His wife (the middle lady) a straw cloche hat with a halter maxi dress...  To me, they looked like casual money... :)


A cool hat...


Oh, look, some more cool people... Judging by their outfits, I would say they are poor acting rich... Probably on the conservative side, and probably all sisters... :)

Another cool hat... :)


Ok, now this couple was weird... The guy was receding gray hair with wrinkles and the girl was, well, young and sexy... To me, it looked totally like an old guy and his trophy wife... Just like you see on tv... I do so love stereotyping people... :)



And now for the horse side of things... 


This is one of my sisters favorite jockeys... Sheldon Russell...  They like him because he is cute (they may be horse girls, but they are still girls)... And so, to their absolute and utter thrill and excitement, when he was going past them, he looked at them!!!! As in, how a guy looks at a pretty girl... They were absolutely thrilled... ;)



This is Mike Smith... Jockey Hall of Fame-r... This picture completely made my sisters entire day... Even more so than having Sheldon Russell check them out... And that is sayin' a lot... :)


This would be the horses charging down the final stretch of the Preakness... Bodemeister is on the far right... I'll Have Another is... Somewhere on the left... Bodemeister held the front for almost the entire race... Until I'll Have Another overtook him in the last little bit of the race... Exactly like he did in the Derby...


Unfortunately for fans, Bodemeister won't be going to the Belmont... So there won't be a big showdown type of race... But it will still be exciting... :)



A few other neat things that happened... Parachuters... :)



This was actually really neat... A B4 flew over the track... It is some kind of really cool super secret squirell military plane... My dad was totally geeking out... ;)


It looks like a UFO... lol ;)



In conclusion... I think that anyone who aspires to any kind of study of human nature should go to a racetrack... There are so many people there... And you can just sit and watch... :)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Loved reading about your day at the races, you and your sisters outfits are all splendid
Glad I'm not the only people watcher (and zoom lens stalker) out there!

Tory said...

Haha. thanks!!!!! :)

Michaela said...

::coughcough:: the way you describe things, Tory. :P :P The old guy with his trophy wife? too funny. Sounds like you had a blast--and I like your jacket. And your sunglasses. Beauteous ladies. All of you. :)

Rissi said...

Yeah... wow those are some hats! LOL!

Tory said...

Haha, Mich, didn't you like the preppy frat boys??? :)

Rissi... I didn't get as many pics of the hats as I would have liked... Next time, I am going to walk around by myself with the camera... :)