Last Saturday, I was at the Saratoga Race Course. No, I didn’t win any money. Trust me, the only thing I won that day was a nasty farmer’s tan.
That being said, I was busy testing out some new film techniques along the pathway that connects the track to the paddock. I brought a few cameras with me – Leica Green, the Infrared Minolta, etc. And in an era of iPhones and selfie sticks, I had to answer the same questions over and over from patrons and from guards. Yes, there’s film in the cameras. Yes, I can get film. Yes, I can get it developed. No, there’s no flash on the cameras. Yes, it’s a Leica. No, it doesn’t normally come in green.
And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the jockeys being escorted to the paddock area. Normally, I wouldn’t make much notice of the jockey’s wardrobe – they all wear colored silks that represent the horse’s stables of origin – but that day, the jockey wearing #12 – Angel Arroyo – was wearing a very distinctive racing silk. Arroyo’s horse, a four-year-old horse named Charitable, was part of Ricardo E. Legall’s Kentucky-based stables. And Arroyo’s silks? They contained a big fat blue 1970’s-era peace symbol on the back.
As Arroyo walked to the paddock area, he was escorted by a security officer. Ha ha, peace and security, I smiled. I gotta get a picture of that.
Oh crap. I missed the shot. They walked too fast, they’re out of range.
Maybe this stable will race another horse today. I checked with a track official. No dice. This was the only time today that the Legall stable would run a horse. Dang it.
Okay, so after I put a few dollars on Charitable – by the way, you don’t get any money if the horse comes in dead last – I ran over to the one possible location where I could get a second chance of photographing that jockey and his security escort. There is a walking path from the track to the jockey’s changing room; and I had to move fast.
And sure enough, Angel Arroyo and his escort walked past me.
One chance. Leica Green, do your thing.
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Damn I like this Leica Green camera. And I hit the marks just right – the security officer’s “SECURITY” is clear; the jockey’s silks are clear; he’s carrying his 12 armband; he’s walking in the “jockey lane,” it works.
By the way… is it too early to start thinking about any of my photographic “seasons” for 2016?
It’s never too early. Hee.
Chuck The Writer 