When I was 13-14 years of age she thought I was cute.  I was giddy with this new (albeit childish) infatuation.

From 15-17 I vied hard for her attention, only to be spurned for my lack of knowledge and experience.  I vowed to get better.

As I grew older and wiser my skills did improve and I thought I had what it took to Win her over.

It was a give and take relationship, with me doing the majority of the giving.  But she would occasionally humor me, build me up, and make me feel good about myself and our relationship.

Although she was much older than me I thought I could make it work.  Silly me.

Eventually, as was her way, she would humiliate me, and send me, forlorn, on my way.  But being a stubborn young adult, I would always go back to her, hoping to make it work.

At the end of my tumultuous teens she and I reached an accord, with me (as all of her suitors) making most of the concessions. 

We could see each other annually, on and off between four and six weeks during the heat of the summer.  But once that time frame was over, that was it until the following year. 

I have learned to live with this arrangement and squeeze every drop of joy out of the limited time we have together.

The 156th meet at the Saratoga Race Course begins Thursday afternoon.

Riders Up !

The feature event for opening day is the Quick Call.  It’s the 9th race on a card of ten.  It is for 3 year-olds, run on turf, at a distance of 5.5 furlongs.  The Morning Line favorites are #6 CALL PAUL (5-2) and #4 LISTING (4-1).

The Daily Racing Blog is not fond of favorites, especially at Saratoga.  So we will try to beat those two with; #1 ABYSSINIAN (7-2), #2 ELEKTRONIC (10-1), and #10 SOMBEYAY (6-1).

Best of luck to all, and welcome back to The Spa.