Grants Pass Downs

Jill's Journal: One of my hopes for this journey was to visit each track in America. We’ve failed miserably as we’ve learned it’s impossible to do what we’re doing and still catch every track during the dates it has live racing. We could do one or the other, but not both. So, since we choose to do this family trip though 49 states, my little dream of visiting all racetracks suffers, at least for now. And that’s fine because we coordinate the two whenever we can and thoroughly enjoy the times we do get to see live racing.

We extended our time in Grants Pass in order to catch opening day at Grants Pass Downs. This is not high-class racing, by any means; this is the bottom of the barrel. But “not much of horse racing is about mint juleps, big hats, a huge crowd, high-priced horses, and affluent owners. It is far more about the gritty, everyday work of men and women who love the sport, the animals in it and the blood, sweat, tears, dirt, pride and heartbreak that go with it all (Terry Frei, The Denver Post, May 8, 2011).”

The facility is nothing to look at and may just qualify as the least attractive track in all of racing, or certainly of the 20 or so different racetracks Rob and I have visited in our lifetimes. But that’s okay. By all accounts, everyone at Grants Pass Downs was having a grand time.

That included our girls, who had so much fun rooting home their favorites. They all cashed a ticket. Erika and Victoria came home with $3 apiece and Madelyn with $6. They were thrilled with their small fortunes.

Whoops.

Victoria with a winning ticket. Thatta girl.

Grants Pass Downs had a mixed card today: of the 10 races, only seven were Thoroughbreds. The rest were Quarter Horses, which is always something of a novelty to our Kentucky friends.

Another novelty: Grants Pass Downs is what is called a bullring, a mere half-mile track. That means super tight turns, almost non-existent straightaways, and not the cleanest racing.

I couldn’t resist posting this picture for my Eastern friends…the saddling “paddock!” Chain link fence and dirt…wow. Things are definitely done differently out West.

All in all, we had a great time. I love little facilities like this. As one winning owner told Rob today, “If it wasn’t for the little guys in racing, the fancy racing couldn’t exist.” I paraphrase, but he’s right. In many ways, places like these are the backbone of this tremendous sport.