Junior, the blue roan harness trotter racehorse known officially as Pay Me To Knight, had a birthday yesterday.
He also raced yesterday, and despite my hopes that he would finish in the money … he came in sixth place in a field of eight. And that was only because one of the other horses in the race, Tantra Blue Chip, broke sride and had to go to the back of the pack in mid-race.
It didn’t really help that Junior was slotted in the #8 position on the track. The outside positions force a horse to fight for the front of the pack in the opening moments of the race, because they’re coming up to the first turn rather quickly. And Junior is a racer that turns on his horsepower in the final stretches.
So … yeah. Another $20 that would have gone to his nose ended up as a losing bet Sunday.
But let’s get back to that “birthday” thingie.
In horseracing, no matter when a horse is officially birthed, race horses have an official birthdate of January 1st. This keeps a horse from entering one race as a two-year-old, and then next week showing up in the draw with the three-year-olds. I get that.
But still … it was nice to see this image on the grandstand scoreboard prior to the race.
Then again … I kinda wish that the scoreboard also listed him as the winner.
Next week, for sure. 😀
Chuck The Writer 
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