Preakness 2009

So, here it is. My blog about The Preakness. Just in case you didn't know, The Preakness is the second leg in American horse racing's Triple Crown and usually attracts the Kentucky Derby winner. It's held in Baltimore, Maryland and for the past two years Jeff and I have been invited up for the weekend by his college roommate, Billy. The night before the race we went to a huge party at Sagamore Farms. It is a huge, beautiful farm owned by Billy's friend who basically created UnderArmour. We parked in a field and were taken up to the house by golf carts. When we arrived at the party, we were blown away. It was decadent. Because there was an UnderArmour connection, there were lots of sports figures there. Boomer Esiason, Rick Nueheisel (head football coach at UCLA) and if you look in the picture below, right under the sign, you can see Cal Ripken.

There was so much going on at the party. There were gambling tables (of course), a big movie screen set up in a field showing movies like Seabiscuit, and hot air balloon rides.

There were several tents that were all connected. They all had delicious food and in every tent there was a different kind of bar.

There was a cake made by none other than the Ace of Cakes himself, Duff Goldman. We heard he was at the party but never saw him. Here is the cake.

In one tent there was a band playing and in the corner was a mechanical bull. Here's my husband thinking he can outdo everyone else.

I, of course, did not attempt the mechanical bull as I would surely hurt myself and the pervert running the bull made the bull shake and shimmy whenever a woman was taking a turn. Just use your imagination...no, wait...don't.

The day of the Preakness was a little rainy and cloudy but for the most part we stayed dry and the cloud cover insured that it wasn't blazing hot out. Here is the group we were with.

The tables were once again dressed beautifully.

Two of the girls we were with amazingly (and unfortunately) wore the same dress. From what I heard, one was designer and the other was a knock off. I didn't have the nerve to ask which was which.

One crazy thing happened that day. Spike and Kelsey from Top Chef and Next Food Network Star were there. They have an internet show on http://www.food2.com/ that they do for the Food Network.

I was approached and interviewed for their show and I just checked this morning and I made the cut! Nutty! Maybe I'll be the Next Food Network Star! Ha, ha, ha!

You can see it here.

One of the really fun things about being on the infield is all the special treats. There were ice cream carts everywhere that you could just open up and take what you wanted.


There was a place where you could get cigars. I'm not sure if those were free.

But there was an open candy tent with table full of candy bins. You just grabbed yourself a little fancy bowl and loaded up.

That's about it. A great time was had by all. Rachel Alexandra was the big winner of the day. We bet $5 for my stepdad on her and I think he got back $9. Woo hoo!

We are really making some budget cuts this year so I don't know if we'll make it for 2010, but I sure hope so.