I'll have another and another...

When I was a lowly minion toiling away, sanding shelves, raising them onto metal brackets, hands encased in a sturdy pair of leather gloves, rubber hammer at my side, music blaring like cool waves through the cavernous warehouse which would become in future years a storage facility housing low circulation books from the great collections of the UC Northern campuses, I learned an invaluable life alerting lesson. The crew was a strange, eclectic, group. Some white collars who were tired of the
suits. A handful of high school grads who were on their first real gig. Some laid off dudes who had nicknames like 'Snake eyes,' and 'Red' who thought nothing of driving to LA for a 48 hour binge, wheeling back in time for the Monday shift stinking of alcohol and ready to bed down at the first opp
in the dark cold empty stacks. The place was filled with misfits. 'Snake eyes' was a pleasant enough fellow, and it was ol 'Snake eyes' who gave me my nickname, 'Lil Bit.'

It was during this strangely exhilarating grunt time (we were all free of admin responsibilities) that a guy named Donnie taught me how to read the Daily Racing Form. Golden Gate Fields was a heart beat away, and everyday coming and going to work I passed the racetrack. It was a glowing mystifying beacon. I had been to the races once, and  I wanted to know more. So Donnie, my work partner, taught me how to make sense of the figs. How to read between the lines.  How to choose a horse. Picking winners came later.

This Saturday, at the 144th running of the Belmont stakes in New York, a chestnut colt, 'I'll have Another' will attempt to win the triple crown of racing. It's been 34 years since the last horse, Affirmed swept the crown (Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont). No horse from Cali
has ever won. If young Mario Gutierrez wins aboard IAH he will become the first Mexican jockey to do so. How hard is it? It is so hard that only 11 horses have won the crown. There is a saying: it takes luck to win the Derby; speed to win the Preakness, and a race horse to win the Belmont. The racing gods are a prickly lot. I hope they let us all have a glimpse of thoroughbred greatness.