Belmont Park Betting Tips myracing

Chicago GO Fest Travel Tips

Here are some tips that trainers that went to GO Fest last year and trainers going this year have suggested if you're attending Chicago GO Fest this year:
The following tip is from immewnity

"Traveling to Chicago

Getting around Chicago

How to prep

Hotels

Since I live downtown, I can't help much for specific recommendations of hotels, but there are definitely a lot to choose from. For hotels within walking distance, there are a bazillion on Michigan Ave - north of Grant Park will likely be more expensive than ones directly west or just south of Grant Park, but the higher concentration of hotels there means greater availability north of the river.
There are also a lot of hotels near the airports (more near O'Hare), so those are options as well."
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A/N: The tips listed here have been obtained from the Pokemon GO Summer Tour / Silph Road Meetups! Discord Server and this Reddit Thread. This list will be regularly updated as I receive more tips. Feel free to comment below with some tips too and I'll add them to this list.
FYI, if you would like an invite for that server, just ask :)
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Preview of the Haskell Invitational and more...

Saturday July 20, 2019
Saratoga Race Course
Race: 3 (2:10 PM EST Post)
Coaching Club American Oaks
Cancelled
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Monmouth Park
Race: 8 (3:29 PM EST Post)
Molly Pitcher
I’ve been pontificating about Midnight Bisou, and her mega talent, since last year and that seems to be coming to fruition. Off of back to back impressive Grade: 1 wins, and with all due respect to Elate and Monomoy Girl, this big, dark filly is the pro-tem older female division leader and I’m not seeing anything or any horse who will stop her come Saturday………………..Albeit she showed little last time out, throughout her career Pacific Wind has been chasing the likes of Abel Tasman, Marley’s Freedom, Farrell and Come Dancing and has held fairly well. Other than Midnight Bisou, she meets no such rivals in this race…………………Electric Forest has won three of her first five races and seems to have improved through each one, topped off by wiring a Grade: 3 field in her last. Steps up but figures prominent throughout……………………Honorable Mentions: Cosmic Burst is much better than her 0 for 3 record this year would indicate. Consistent filly has hit the board in 12 of 15 career starts…………..Ditto for the speedy Breaking Bread, who has hit the board in 15 of 21 lifetime tries and has been training light out for this.
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Race: 10 (4:31 PM EST Post)
Monmouth Cup
After zooming to wins in seven of nine career starts, including the Godolphin Mile in Dubai, Coal Front got hooked in a protracted speed duel in the Met Mile and was overhauled in the stretch by the supremely talented Mitole and equally as talented McKinzie in his last. This $575,000 son of Stay Thirsty takes an enormous drop in class off that effort (from Grade:1 to Grade:3) in this spot, which appears to be exactly what he needs and I’m not expecting any him to have any problems with the distance……………………..Monongahela seems to have a touch of “second-itis” as his 24-6-11-2 career mark would indicate. That said, he clobbered his rivals in the Philip Iselin last time out and ran the best race (speed figure wise) of his career. The Iselin was his Monmouth debut so obviously like the surface………………………Bal Harbour finished fairly close to Monongahela in the Iselin in his last and gets the nod for the show dough based off that fact and his 10 on the board finishes out of 15 career starts……………………Honorable Mentions: Moon Gate Warrior will be making his 47th career start in this spot. This six year old veteran won an astounding nine races last year and is 2 for 2 on this oval….could better this rating…………………….Lemonade Thursday ran a hole in the wind off an almost eight month layoff in his last. So the question is has he comeback from his hiatus a completely different animal and run huge again in this spot? Or does he bounce over the moon? Your call from there………………….I’m still not understanding why the public bets the heck out of War Story just about every time he runs. Perhaps they will back off of him now after a 50 length drubbing in his last.
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Race: 12 (5:49 PM EST Post)
Haskell Invitational
If Mucho Gusto duplicates his race in the Affirmed Stakes, where he laid off the early pace, took command at the quarter pole and held sway all the way to the wire, in this spot he probably wins. Trainer Bob Baffert tipped his hand earlier this week by saying that the key for this $625,000 son of Mucho Macho Man was to “relax early.” With a plethora of early speed signed up in this race, that’s the exact tactics it will take to win. Moreover, he is three for four this year with a legitimate excuse (set scorching early fractions and understandably tired late) in his lone defeat. Although eight to eight and half furlongs is this colt’s wheelhouse, I’m not worried about the distance for him. Lastly, for this horse, who sports a 7-5-1-1 career mark, is his works. It looks like Baffert has him “revved up” for this……………………Yes, Maximum Security, who of course won the Kentucky Derby but was controversially DQ-ed, had two legitimate excuses while going down in flames as the 1/20 favorite in the Pegasus last time out. This drop dead gorgeous colt by New Year’s Day broke poorly and ripped an opening half mile in :46.4. But truth be told, he did not look like the same dominant colt we saw in the Florida Derby and in the Kentucky Derby. In fact, all reports indicate he was “lackluster” for several weeks after the Derby and it showed in the Pegasus. He was in deep water leaving the 5/16ths pole as I notice Luis Saez was “asking” him at that point and not getting too much of a response. Is it possible he is “over the top”? Did he just have a bad day? Or are the other three year olds catching up to him? I’m not sure….but I think this race will tell the tale. There was no how, no way he should have lost the Pegasus but he did. I’m not worried about the slow works leading up to this, after all a turtle could have outworked him before the Derby yet he still won (kind of). Listen, if he beats me….he beats me….I’m just having a hard time backing him after what I’ve seen (and heard) since his Derby win…………………….King for a Day has certainly improved from last year. Good looking colt by Uncle Mo opened the year with an authoritative win in a restricted Stakes race at Pimlico and then conquered Maximum Security in the aforementioned Pegasus Stakes to improve to 2 for 2 in 2019. Versatile colt from the Todd Pletcher barn has speed (if necessary) and draws the rail, which in turn should (tactically) make him prominent throughout. Love the fact he has a race/win over this track as well…………………Honorable Mentions: Joevia set a good, solid pace in the Belmont Stakes and, although being overtaken at the eighth pole, he held very well for third, beaten by less than two length in the end. This son of Shanghai Bobby should come out running once again in this spot. I love the cut back in distance as well as the supersonic work last week (5F- :58.2)…..could better this rating………………Couple of long shots to consider include Everfast, who although is just 1 for 12 in his career, does sometimes close like a runaway freight train (see the Preakness Stakes where he came from some 22 lengths behind to grab second behind War of Will at 29-1), and Spun to Run, who although is taking a huge step up class, won his last two very impressively.
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Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Race: 4 (6:30 PM EST Post)
San Diego Handicap
I’m not sure who will be a bigger favorite in their respective races Midnight Bisou in the Molly Pitcher or Catalina Cruiser here as this hulking chestnut absolutely lays over this field. After his BC Dirt Mile debacle to end 2018, this son of Union Rags could NOT have looked any better while taking down the True North at Belmont on June 7. The now five year old tracked sizzling fractions, surged to the lead in deep stretch and won by a half length while stopping the clock is swift 1:14.4 for 6 1/2 furlongs. He has worked well since and returns to Del Mar where he is 2 for 2……………………..Dr Dorr seems to have a lost a step or two from early last year as, after rattling off three straight impressive wins, he’s gone 0 for 6 since. The 0 for 4 on this oval is no confidence builder either but he still looks the best of the rest………………………Draft Pick, a $450,000 son of Candy Ride, seems to be getting better with age. This handsome colt is 3-2-0 in his last five races and 10-3-2-2 overall in his career…………………………Core Beliefs, who showed little in his last, has a habit of popping a big race now and again.
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By: Gerard Apadula
Director of Equine Operations and Development
Knights of the Round Stable Thoroughbred Racing Team
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
2019- Record: 43-124 = 35%
2018- Record: 107-261= 41%
2017- Record: 92-235 = 39%
2016- Record: 91-229 = 40%
2015- Record: 67-180 = 37%
2014- Record: 29-73 = 40%
2013- Record: 20-59= 34%
2012 -Record: 24-73= 33%
2011 –Record: N/A
2010- Record: 24-74= 33%
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Little Bets N’ Pieces
**** Osare, a stakes-winning half sister to Arrogate (by Medaglia d’Oro) trained by Jonathan Thomas, has been retired following a poor effort in the July 6 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park.
"She chased a fast pace at Delaware," Thomas said. "She's already a stakes winner, but with her pedigree, you want to give her a chance to be Graded Stakes placed. We're going to retire her to be a broodmare”.
"She went back to Bridlewood, and they have a lot of time until the breeding season to decide who she will be bred to. With her pedigree and the fact that she is a stakes winner, there's nothing but upside."
Thomas also said Catholic Boy, a Grade 1 winner on turf and dirt, will ship to Saratoga at the end of the month with the $750,000 Woodward Stakes, slated for Aug. 31, as his next start.
"I'll bring him up here in a week or two," said Thomas. "I'm just letting him get over his race down there. He came out of it OK for the most part. The Woodward is still the primary target."
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****1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers winner Sea Hero died earlier this week in Turkey. At 29 years of age, he was the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner.
Trained by Mack Miller, Sea Hero broke his maiden in his fourth try on the grass as a two year old, but won the 1992 Champagne Stakes before closing the year with a seventh behind Gilded Time in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Defeated in his first three outings in this three year old year, Sea Hero upset favored Prairie Bayou in the Derby but failed miserably in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.
Unplaced in the Jim Dandy Stakes, he did bounced back to take the Midsummer Derby by two lengths. I’m not sure why but they erected a life-size bronze statue of him in the Saratoga paddock.
Originally retired to Lane’s End, Sea Hero was responsible for 13 U.S. black-type winners.
Sea Hero was sold for $700,000 at the 1999 Keeneland November Sale and continued his stud career in Turkey before being pensioned from stud duties in 2015.
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**** Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress recorded her first work on the Saratoga main track following the renovation break July 14, going four furlongs in :47.3.
Trainer Tom Amoss was pleased with the work and is still pointing the dark bay filly toward the Aug. 3 Test Stakes.
"Serengeti Empress had a very good workout today," Amoss said. "It was her first time over the Saratoga course. We went right after the break, which is a very busy time, and there was a lot of traffic throughout her workout. She handled it fine, and she was a pro when it comes to that, so I was very happy with how she did."
Amoss was satisfied with how Serengeti Empress was moving over the Saratoga course.
"She seems to be herself, and that's good news," Amoss said. "I think the most important thing to point out, and certainly what I observed, was how quiet the rider was on her during the last portion of the work and how well she was moving over the racetrack. We'll see her breeze again before the Test, maybe twice, and we'll take it from there."
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My 2018 Ky Derby Picks With Comments.

I will go over the list of every Ky Derby entry and give you the reason(s) I like or dislike their chances in the order I like most of them. You can agree and use them to form your ticket or you can go with tip sheets and experts and who knows, they may make you a few bucks. They will hit more often than me because they normally pick two of the favorites, but I normally take a big swing and when I connect, it will take anyone 10-15 straight years of correctly picking the derby winner and most exactas to even get close to what I will give you the opportunity to earn for a few bucks. And it is all free.
I like Enticed the best of these to win this year's derby. First, he is one of the better bred horses for the distance in this year's derby. But after taking a look at his races is what made him my choice, especially at the odds he is expected to go off. After breaking his maiden in his first start on a muddy track at Saratoga, he ran 3rd in the G1 Champagne S after chasing a hot pace while angling out six wide in the stretch at Belmont Park, a major prep race for the derby for many years and still very important. He then won the G2 Ky Jockey Club S in a roughly run key race to this year's derby. No less than eight horses have come out of that race to win again, but most key races produces 3-4 that return to win at max. Then in first start this year, he ran 4th to Audible in the Holy Bull while pinned near the rail but this race was designed to get him some much needed racing experience. If you were a front runner, the rail was the place to be at GP this year, but if you liked to run late, your chances increased by getting outside horses and waiting out the speed duels. He then won the G3 Gotham S and for the first time was on the best part of the track that helped him. But comments by the trackman read "wrapped up late" meaning he felt the horse had more to offered. Then in the Wood Memorial, he again got on the dead rail on Aqueduct outer dirt track and look like he offered no resistance to the winner. But you can rest assured his trainer was more interested in getting to the Ky Derby with a healthy horse than winning a race that has lacked prestige over the last dozen years. McLaughlin has won most top races in his career but he is missing the race he wants to win most(the derby in his hometown). He will be the only horse I will wager on to win and place in this year's derby.
Good Magic, I feel, presents the biggest challenge my top pick will face. He is a son of Ky Derby third Curlin and his broodmare sire Hard Spun ran 2nd in that same derby, beating Curlin by almost 6 lengths. They also represent the 1-2 finishers in that year's BC Classic. If he is not bred to like the 1 1/4 mile distance in this year's derby, then there is no one in here that is. After running second in his maiden debut, he ran 2nd in the G1 Champagne S sitting just off a fast early pace, taking the lead in the stretch and just failing to last while still a maiden. He then won the G1 BC Juvenile Dirt, using the same tactics, but this time he was long gone before anyone else had the chance to challenge him. Then in his first start this year in the G2 Fountain Of Youth, his trainer used that race as nothing more than a workout to increase his chances of being ready for the first Saturday in May. I have rarely seen so many handicappers abandon ship on a horse off a race his trainer and owner was not really interested in winning, especially if they want him at his best for the ultimate goal. Then in the G2 Blue Grass S, he again displayed the characteristics that netted him the biggest race up to that point, by sitting just off the pace and moving to the lead on a track listed as fast, but was not even close. These top two will be my main exacta bets, but I will probably box these two with a few more horses I think have a good chance, but only one at a time($12 each box).
Free Drop Billy will be one of the ones I will use in my exotics bets. He broke his maiden in his first start at CD in 5 furlongs, using a late kick and finishing in good time. He then ran 2nd in the G3 Sanford S & G1 Hopeful S, both at Saratoga and both times getting to the winner using his late kick. He then rode a perfect trip to victory in the G1 Breeders' Futurity. Next, in the G1 BC Juvenile Dirt, he broke last and sat on a dead rail at Del Mar and offered no challenge to run the worst race of his career. After a 3 month break, he ran 2nd in the G2 Holy Bull S, sitting closer to the early pace that he ever had and offering a brief bid but in need of that race to move forward. He then revered back to his old style in the G3 Gotham but was no match for my top pick that day, but he, too, was on the best part of the track. He then was placed third through DQ in the G2 Blue Grass after he was clearly impeded by another horse late that made his late kick less impressive. But in 8 starts, he has shown up in major races and gives a honest effort each time and you will get odds that makes it worthwhile to take a shot.
Bolt D'Oro will be another I will be considering using in a few exotic bets. He was the early favorite for the derby last year and if you like him then, it boggles my mind why you would abandon ship now. True he has lost his last three races, but none were really that bad. From getting a bad break in the G1 BC Juvenile Dirt but running on to finish a good third and both races this year, he ran against an only speed horse that controlled the pace. If you name is not Secretariat, that would have spelled defeat for most horses, but at least he tried to run them down. So what, Castellano decided to get off, but rest assure, it is not the first time a jockey thought he had a better chance elsewhere in America's biggest race. However, Espinoza is an upgrade simply because he has already won the derby 3 times and Castellano is looking for his first and he has ridden several with solid shots but were no factor.
Lone Sailor is another that can get at least a minor reward. The Ky derby third and fourth is usually filled by one of two types of horses; 1) horses that the betting public gives no chance of winning or 2) a horse that the public thinks highly of but his pedigree suggests otherwise. As far as Lone Sailor goes, his races suggests he may have a bigger shot than most believes. After breaking his maiden on a sloppy track at Saratoga in his 2nd start, he then ran 3rd in the G1 Breeders' Futurity to Free Drop Billy with more traffic problems, a narrow 2nd in the ungraded Street Sense S, 5th in the G2 Ky Jockey Club S after going widest of all to avoid trouble that effected over half of the field and became a key race. In his first start this year in the G3 Lecomte S, it was used as a race to point him to the derby as he contested the early pace before tiring after six furlongs and fading. Entered back in an O/C, he came from last and ran 2nd chasing a loose on the lead speed horse that slowed the pace to a crawl. Then in the G2 La Derby, he sat near the back, made a solid move to take the lead in mid stretch before a Pletcher horse fought back and nipped him at the wire. Still not a bad race in his third start of the year and it should set him up perfectly for his best race in the Ky Derby. While I do not believe he can win this race, I do feel he has as good shot as any to get a minor reward. And at his projected odds, the trifecta and super will pay big if he was to land there.
My Boy Jack will take a lot of money due to the Desormeaux brothers factor. While almost anything can happen in the derby, he seems a cut below some of these and will need a career best to even get a minor reward. While I will not be using him because I have to draw the line somewhere, I am aware he is one that can mess up my bets. Keith Desormeaux has trained 3 G1 winners in his career and wins with 15% of his starters. However, with two of his best G1 winners, Exaggerator & Texas Red, they both under achieved compared to what their bloodlines suggested they would do on the race track, IMO. Both were very good, but both should have been great.
Mendelssohn is a 1/2 brother to Into Mischief and Beholder. He is one I would like more if I thought he could get a clear lead and slow down the pace. But there are several in here that will probably make him work hard and he will probably be grasping for air as they turn into the stretch. For this reason, I can not, in good faith, recommend anyone to include him in their exotics. He is one of 15 that could win if everything goes his way, which is not likely.
Vino Rosso will sit in mid pack and try to close by them all in the stretch. But before you bet him, there are a few things you may want to consider. In the G2 Wood Memorial, he stayed outside on the best part of Aqueduct's main dirt track and herded my top pick(according to footnotes from the trackman) to the inside part of the track, the worst place to be. I have known for years that your horse needed the rail on Aqueduct's inner dirt track(used during winter months only) and have waited every year for them to open the outer track, where I cash monster pay offs betting on late runners in the middle of their main outer dirt. I did not realized they ran on the outer track all winter until earlier this week. Second, it seems Pletcher has always used Johnny V to draw attention away from his top contender. Or maybe Johnny V is a terrible judge at figuring which Pletcher horse is live. Either way, it makes it impossible for me to consider this horse, since his races are average at best. Another I am willing to take a stance against.
Solomini is Baffert's best shot at winning another derby this year, IMO, as I have mentioned on several occasions. For starters, he has ran a decent race in every start. Since breaking his maiden in his first start, he has shown up in the biggest and most competitive preps, barring no one. In the FrontRunner, he ran second to early Ky Derby favorite Bolt D'Oro. Then he ran second to expected 2nd favorite, Good Magic, in the BC Juvenile. Then he won the G1 CashCall Futurity(formerly Hollywood Juvenile) but was DQ to third and ran the fastest time at 1 1/16 mile recorded by a 2 YO in California in a G1 race last year that I found. In his first start after a three month break, he got a horrible trip in the G2 Rebel S but still managed to finish second to highly regarded Magnum Moon. Then he run 3rd in the G1 Arkansas Derby behind Magnum Moon's and Quip's extremely slow pace for a G1 race and got exactly the type of race he needed to move forward. A couple of more interesting facts concerning Solomini is his broodmare sire Storm Cat is in the pedigree of the last 3 Ky Derby winners. Yes, he was broodmare sire of Bodemeister, who was sire of 2017 Ky Derby winner Always Dreaming and he was the broodmare sire line of both Nyquist, the 2016 Ky Derby winner and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Storm Cat was also sire of 2006 Ky Derby 2nd Blue Grass Cat and 1999 Ky Derby 3rd Cat Thief and grandsire of 1999 Ky Derby 2nd Menifee. 2) Baffert has always tried to divert attention away from the horse he thinks is going to run their best race in the Ky Derby. In 2015, he repeatedly marveled about Dortmund, but focused on Pharoah. In 2002, he scratched 2 front runners the week of the derby, making War Emblem the only true speed in the race. In 2001, his build up was all about Point Given but Congaree was the one that almost got there. And in 1998, he built Indian Charlie up, but his trainee Real Quiet came within a nose of sweeping the TC. So if you still don't believe Solomini is live, there is nothing I can say that will change your mind. A must include on my saver bets.
Magnum Moon is one I will not include in any of my bets. Bloodlines wise, he is right on the edge on being able to handle 1 1/4 miles in G1 company. However, to me, that means if he has a perfect trip and can slow the pace down enough, he will be tough. Not likely though, IMO. His last race was a perfect example of that, He slowed the pace to a crawl and still was trying to bear out in the stretch which signals one of two things; he was getting tired or he was still green. Either one is not the way you want your horse to go into the derby. Pass.
Audible is another I will bet against. In both his starts as a 3 YO, he was kept out off the rail and at GP late running horses that stay away from the rail won almost every time when a speed duel developed. If a late runner tried to get near the rail before making his run, he was usually not a factor in the outcome. Audible got perfect set ups in both his starts and his bloodlines says he will not want to go this far. Pass.
Justify will be near the lead but I really do not believe he can out break several of these, much less dictate the pace to give a good opportunity to last. His bloodlines suggests he can get near the 1 1/4 under idea circumstances, but definitely do not see that in this race. And the fact he has only 3 lifetime races only magnifies his inexperience and probability he will face trouble he has yet to encountered. Pass.
Flameaway is a name that has been thrown out as a likely contender. But he, like several others, does his best running near the lead and that alone will be the major factor why I will take a stance against. His race in the Blue Grass S is his only start that is fast enough to compete in this race and since he was near the lead throughout, the track condition helped his cause. He also has nowhere near the bloodlines I look for year after year. Not for me. Pass.
Bravazo is a 3/4 brother to 2013 Ky Derby participant, Oxbow. Oxbow showed promise early in his 3 YO, like Bravazo, but got a couple of less than inspiring rides in both the Ark Derby & Ky Derby. Then when he got a ride worth noting, he won the Preakness and ran 2nd in the Belmont. Bravazo, though, reminds me of Lukas other participant in that same derby, Will Take Charge. He has ran several good races but has yet to put it all together but when he does, you will hear his name pop up in big races. And Lukas is now the most patient and determined trainer to get a horse to realize his potential. However, I will have to pass on this horse as I like others better.
Noble Indy was last seen winning the La Derby. But he done it in a way that is rare for cheap stock to do it and most will not or can not repeat it. He opened a clear lead, then took a breather until late and was able to nipped the late runners at the wire. If he tries that in the Ky Derby, he will be swallowed by at least a half dozen horses. It is one thing to do it against one or two horses but a whole different story to do it against half the field. Actually never seen that happen before. Pass.
Promises Fulfilled will be sent from the gate to cause havoc on the other early speed to set the race up for his stablemate. Several trainers have used this tactic in the past but it rarely works. There is nothing good about running a horse in a race where he does not belong and it can lead to the horse becoming discouraged and never willing to try again. And Promises Fulfilled has given no indication he wants to go 1 1/8 mile, much less 1 1/4 miles. Pass.
Hofburg is, IMO, being asked to do more than I feel should be asked of any horse with such little experience. While he has the bloodlines to run against the best at this distance, it could be the worst decision this barn and owner has ever made. They will look like a genius if they succeed but the special interest groups will be all over them if the horse breaks down or pulls up in distress. But having deep pockets will give you opportunities only others can dream about. But I can not bet this horse against this caliber of a field off his race against Audible, a horse I feel has little to no chance of winning. Pass.
Firenze Fire started his career with a lot of promise. But since he has turned three, he is the one horse that looks like he regressed or others caught up with and passed. That said, he still is not a horse that I can say has no chance because the fact remains he still has not ran a bad race. In his worst outing, he worked much too fast(100 breezing), then boarded a plane and flew from NY to Southern California to race in the G1 BC Juvenile, all in a span of 6 days. Otherwise, he should have ran much worst than his 7th place finish suggested, after making a mild move before flattening out. Most top older horse could not have pulled off what he was asked as a 2 YO to do. Also, probably the main reason for his three year form more than other factors. Not impossible but I like others better at this point.
Combatant is the Scat Daddy son that to me looks like he is best equipped to handled the 1 1/4 mile distance. His race in the G1 Arkansas Derby was not as bad as it looked considering he tracked a slow pace while last early and finished 4th, just missing second. He is one that will not be considered by most, but he may just be more live than others believe. I mentioned the derby 3rd & 4th tends to be runners that are overlooked and he fits that assessment to a T. And his trainer is notorious for having his horses fit when others tends to think they are overmatched. Minor reward very possible and I might be willing to include him underneath, especially if his odds goes up too much.
Instilled Regard looked like he would be one to considered earlier this year. But his SA Derby run was less than inspiring and I realize that was his 2nd race in a row where he had no chance to produce his best run. However, I feel he did not get enough out of each race to improve enough to make him a contender against these. He also has a pedigree that is heavily tilted towards a miler type and that also makes him suspect. If I had only a bunch of pace type horses to choose from, then I would be more likely to use him underneath. But there are several late runners that has a better finishing kick than he has displayed. Pass.
My 2018 Ky Derby bets will be as followed: WP Enticed. Ex Box Enticed(keyed top & underneath) with Bolt D'Oro, Good Magic, Free Drop Billy, Solomini, and Lone Sailor. Tri Box Enticed, Good Magic, Solomini, Free Drop Billy--- Tri Key Enticed with Good Magic, FDB, Bolt, Lone Sailor, Solomini, & Combatant in 2nd & 3rd. Super Key Enticed And Good Magic in first & second with FDB, Bolt, Solomini, Combatant & Lone Sailor in third & fourth. These are the bets I am sure of thus far. I may or may not add a couple of more bets but they will only include the ones I have already mentioned, if I do. If I stick to these bets along with my future bets, I will have more than $600 in tickets, including more than $200 to win on Enticed, roughly half of it locked in at 69-1 and roughly $100 that is no longer in play. Otherwise, I am betting what I believe in and will simply move on to the next time if I am wrong.
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2018 Eclipse Awards Preview

With the 2018 Eclipse Awards scheduled for Jan 24th at Gulfstream Park, it is time we reviewed the year of 2018 and figure out who deserves which award.
Like every year, there are several categories that there will be absolute “slam dunk” winners and others that can be debated from now until the end of time.
The Eclipse Awards are the Oscars or the Tonys of the sport of Horse Racing. The horses, trainers, jockeys, and owners who did the best in their respective categories are recognized as champions in the ceremony and earn a trophy/statue of the racehorse Eclipse.
Eclipse raced in the 1800’s. He amassed a perfect 18 for 18 record with almost half (eight) of those wins being “walkovers” (meaning not one other horse showed up to face him). As a sire he was flat out amazing. Close to 90% of modern day thoroughbreds on the track today trace back to Eclipse.
Champion Two Year Old (Male)
Nominees:
Game Winner
Improbable
Knicks Go
This division is one of several slam dunks. In fact, if Game Winner doesn’t win here, I may never watch another horse race as long as I live. This bay colt by Candy Ride was 4 for 4 with three Grade: 1 wins over three different surfaces including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Although he doesn’t have that visually impressive, explosive, breakaway speed and is more of a grind it out type runner, there is no way he doesn’t win. I’ve watched all four of his races and the one thing that stood out the most is I never saw him get tired at any point of any of his races. The 2019 Triple Crown distances/races should be right in his wheelhouse. I know its some five months away, but if he stays healthy, I already put him in my back pocket for Belmont Stakes………………….. Because he has the looks, stride and remarkable talent level, Improbable is affectionately known around the Bob Baffert barn as Justify’s “mini-me”, which of course is an awfully big compliment. Heck, he even occupies Justify’s old stall. Another unbeaten colt through three races and over three different surfaces, he is probably the most talented horse we’ve seen so far in this division but because of his late start (his racing debut was in late Sept) and although taking down a Grade:1 race, Game Winner simply did more. As a side note, both Game Winner and Improbable both have wins over the Churchill Downs surface already, this is a big advantage should they both make it to the Kentucky Derby………………………..Go Knicks pulled off a colossal upset (70-1) in the Grade: 1 Claiborne Breeders Futurity at Keeneland and followed that up with a strong second at 40-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. But any chance of him winning this award (and they were small to begin with) fell by the wayside when he finished 11th of 14 as the 3-1 favorite in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.
My Vote: Game Winner
Who Will Probably Definitely Win: Game Winner
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Champion Two Year Old (Female)
Nominees
Bellafina
Jaywalk
Newspaperofrecord
Very deep division here as there are a couple of fillies I like that were understandably not nominated (Chasing Yesterday, Sippican Harbor, Restless Rider). Although I think Newspaperofrecord is the most talented filly in this division, I have to go with Jaywalk, who won four of five starts, including two Grade:1’s with one being the Breeders Cup (Dirt) Filly race by five conclusive lengths…………………Newspaperofrecord was nothing short of sensational while winning all three turf starts and all by wide margins. The Breeders’ Cup Turf Filly winner had a Grade: 2 win prior to that as well. She comes up a little short here but we absolutely MUST keep an eye on her in 2019 as she shows super star potential…………………After winning two Grade:1’s on the West Coast, Bellafina had this division by the throat but her inexplicably poor effort in the Breeders’ Cup Filly race will probably cost her dearly.
My Vote: Jaywalk
Who Will Probably Win: Jaywalk
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Champion Three Year Old (Male)
Nominees
Catholic Boy
Justify
McKinzie
Another slam dunk, Justify won the Triple Crown…..enough said………...Had it not been for Justify’s Triple Crown, Catholic Boy probably wins this division based off him being a Grade: 1 winner on the turf (Belmont Derby) and on the dirt (Travers Stakes)………………..McKinzie won three of five starts this year including two Grade:1’s (Pennsylvania Derby and Malibu Stakes). I expect him to be a major player in the older horse division in 2019 as he can win sprinting or up to about nine furlongs.
My Vote: Justify
Who Will Probably Definitely Win: Justify
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Champion Three Year Old (Female)
Nominees:
Monomoy Girl
Midnight Bisou
Rushing Fall
Still another slam dunk as Monomoy Girl had what I believe is the best three year old filly campaign since Rachel Alexandra in 2009. If not for a very questionable DQ in the Cotillion Stakes, this filly would have been 7 for 7 with six Grade: 1 wins and on six different surfaces. However, with that DQ, her record officially stands at 7-6-1-0 for 2018 with five Grade: 1’s wins, that readers, is still astonishing………….Midnight Bisou, who I still think has a boatload of talent, won 5 of 9 including two Grade:1’s but was beaten fair and square by Monomoy Girl three times, four if you count the Cotillion DQ……………Rushing Fall continues to shine as her 7-6-1-0 career record would indicate. But this mega talented filly only ran four times this year and, although winning two Grade: 2 races and a Grade: 1, she simply didn’t do enough.
My Vote: Monomoy Girl
Who Will Probably Definitely Win: Monomoy Girl
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Champion Older Dirt (Male)
Nominees
Accelerate
City of Light
Gun Runner
Accelerate had a spectacular year while winning six of seven races and five Grade: 1’s including the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Although his one defeat came at the hands of City of Light at Oaklawn, he is still another slam dunk here…………………………….City of Light won three of five including two Grade: 1’s.and defeated Accelerate back in the Spring. In fact, his Tour de Force win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile was one of THE most impressive wins I saw all year along. Logically however, five Grade: 1 wins trumps two Grade: 1 wins………………………Not sure how Gun Runner gets nominated here. Yes, he won the $16 million Pegasus decisively while scoring a titanic 120 speed figure, but it was his only start all year as he was whisked off to stud shortly after that race.
My Vote: Accelerate
Who Will Probably Definitely Win: Accelerate
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Champion Older Dirt (Female)
Nominees
Abel Tasman
Marley’s Freedom
Unique Bella
Tough call…..tight division…but in the end, I have to go with last year’s Champion Filly Sprinter Unique Bella. This gray freak only ran four times this year but made the most of those four starts. The daughter of Tapit took down two Grade: 1’s (and was one nightmare trip away from winning three Grade:1’s) and a Grade: 3 earlier in the year……She gets a slight nod over Abel Tasman, who also won two Grade:1’s (both in NY) but tailed off badly towards the end of the year. This Champion filly recently sold for $5 million at the January Keeneland sale………You can make a case for Marley’s Freedom as well, as she danced all the dances in running eight times this year while Abel Tasman and Unique Bella had nine starts combined. This horse won five races including a Grade: 1 and three other Graded Stakes race on both coasts. That’s impressive, but in the end her having the reputation of a sprinter and only having one Grade: 1 win probably won’t get here there.
My Vote: Unique Bella
Who Will Probably Win: ???
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Champion Sprinter (Male)
Nominees
Roy H
Stormy Liberal
Imperial Hint
After being voted Champion Sprinter in 2018, Roy H successfully defended that title in 2018. Still another with an abbreviated campaign (five starts), he clearly got better as the year went on as he capped off 2018 with back to back Grade: 1 wins in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and the Granddaddy of them all, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint………………Imperial Hint is so small he looks like a pony on the track but goodness gracious, he’s a running fool. He won four of six starts and he too won a pair of Grade: 1’s this year. But…and that’s a big but…. Roy H handled him with no trouble at all in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint………..It took Stormy Liberal a little while to get going after coming back from the other side of the world but in the end he won four of seven starts including the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. That’s a big accomplishment, but not enough against the top two. Honorable Mentions to Whitmore, City of Light, World of Trouble and look out for Promises Fulfilled in 2019.
My Vote; Roy H
Who Will Probably Win: Roy H
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Champion Sprinter (Female)
Marley’s Freedom won five races including four Stakes; two on each coast….that’s huge. I’m going to vote for her but Shamrock Rose, who sprung a major upset (18-1) in the Raven Run and a colossal upset (26-1) when coming “over the top” with an electrifying run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will probably take home the trophy………..Finleysluckycharm won what I think should be nominated for “Race of the Year” in the Grade: 1 Madison at Keeneland. However, this mare only won one other race all year and tailed off badly in the fall.
My Vote: Marley’s Freedom
Who Will Probably Win: Shamrock Rose
Champion Turf Horse (Male)
Nominees
Expert Eye
Glorious Empire
Stormy Liberal
This division was a nightmare all year long as it was just mass confusion. I’ll go with Glorious Empire who although showed zero, zilch and nada in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, he sandwiched that with four wins including a Grade: 1 and two Grade: 2’s………………………Stormy Liberal won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and the six furlong, Grade: 2 Eddie D Stakes but I can’t recall a turf sprinter winning ever winning this award. I expect that trend to continue………………Expert Eye was impressive while coming from behind to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile in his one and only start in this country. But that’s a blessing and curse as I’m not one for giving a foreign horse a U.S. award for winning one race in this country, even if it is the biggest one.
My Vote: Glorious Empire
Who Will Probably Win: I have no earthly clue
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Champion Turf Horse (Female)
Nominees
A Raving Beauty
Enable
Sistercharlie
I mean no disrespect to Enable whatsoever. She is in the upper echelon of best grass females I’ve ever seen in my almost 40 years of being involved in this sport. She’s won 10 of 11 career starts including not one, but two runnings of one of the biggest races in the world, Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. However, the Breeders’ Cup was her one and only race in this country this year…….. Sistercharlie, who won four Grade; 1 races including two in New York, one in Illinois and one in Kentucky, gets my vote here………………...I absolutely tip my hat to Enable but, again, I’m just not one for handing a championship to a horse who has made just one start in the country…………………….A Raving Beauty won two Grade;1’s but finished behind Sistercharlie twice this year, including on the big stage, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
My Vote: Sistercharlie
Who Will Probably Win: ??
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Champion Owner
Nominees
Peter Brant
Hronis Racing
WinstaChina Club/Starlight
Head of the Plains
Another tough category………………In owning perhaps the two best three year olds we saw in 2018 including a Triple Crown winner.(Justify and Audible), I give the nod WinstaStarlight/China Club/Head of the Plains………………….Peter Brant, who came back to the sport after a very long hiatus, should get mentioned here as he had several Grade: 1 wins and possesses perhaps the best male and female turf runners in the country in Sistercharlie and Raging Bull………………………..Hronis Racing, led by runners Accelerate and Catalina Cruiser, had far and away their best year in their history while winning $5.8 million in purses money as compared to the $1.5 million they made in 2015.
My Vote: WinstaStarlight/China Club/Head of the Plains
Who Will Probably Win: ??
Champion Trainer
Nominees
Steve Asmussen
Bob Baffert
Chad Brown
Another very difficult category as you can me a strong case for all three nominees. Chad Brown had a titanic year in winning 297 races, a nation leading $27.5 million in purses and his horses hit the board 61% on the time……..Steve Asmussen started an eye popping 1,905 horses, while winning far and any the most races by any trainer (513), banked about $26.5 million in purses and won the Remington Park meet for an astounding 14th time………Although Bob Baffert doesn’t compare statistically with the other two, he did have a career year for himself in winning over $21 million in purses and, of course, did I what I believe to be one of the best training jobs I’ve ever seen in taking Justify from a maiden in February to a Triple Crown winner in June.
My Vote: Bob Baffert
Who Will Probably Win: ???
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Champion Jockey
Nominees
Mike Smith
Jose Ortiz
Irad Ortiz Jr.
Irad Ortiz Jr. led the nation in just about every conceivable category including mounts (1,616), wins (346), second place finishes (277) and purse money ($27.7 million)………His younger brother Jose also had a tremendous year while finishing fourth in the nation for number of wins and second (about $900,000) behind Irad, but led in number of Graded Stakes wins (35)…………..Those two dwarf Mike Smith in all the aforementioned categories but he had 22 Graded Stakes wins on only 246 mounts. Of course riding a Triple Crown winner won’t hurt his chances either.
My Vote: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Who Will Probably Win: Irad Ortiz Jr.??
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Horse of the Year:
Nominees:
Accelerate
Justify
Monomoy Girl
I’ll bet you thought I’d open this paragraph by saying this is a very difficult category. I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not. I feel bad for the other two because in any other year, either could win racing’s highest honor, but the decision itself was an easy one.
I’ll start with Monomoy Girl, who as I mentioned earlier, had perhaps the best season by a three year old filly since Rachel Alexandra in 2009. She won five Grade: 1’s, highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and was controversially DQ-ed from a sixth. Unfortunately, after such a tremendous season, she will probably get the least amount of votes here.
Accelerate had an enormous season also. He too won five Grade: 1’s including the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
That said you can argue seven days a week about who was better than who, but if you win the Triple Crown, there is no argument….you are great. The Triple Crown is still the standard in making a thoroughbred “great” as it has been around a lot longer (65 years) than the Breeders’ Cup has. Do you have to win the Triple Crown in order to be called “great”? No….see Man O’ War, Spectacular Bid, Dr. Fager, Buckpasser and about a zillion others, but it clearly leaves no argument.
Since the Triple Crown’s inception in 1919, according to the Jockey Club, there have been 2,118,122 named foals but just 13 have pulled off the trio of wins……13!!!.....That’s one for every 162,932.46 thoroughbreds bred.
What Justify did was unprecedented for this sport….period….end of sentence.
He won six races (four Grade: 1’s, that’s just one less than his counterparts) at six different distances, on four different racetracks (Accelerate won on only two tracks) on fast, sloppy, and muddy tracks and swept the Triple Crown in just 111 days after making his career debut. Moreover, he did in 16 weeks what it took the other 12 Triple Crown winners an average of 11 months to do…..like I said….unprecedented. Yes, his season ended only half way through but it’s halfway, not one race like say Gun Runner this year.
I will leave you with three final thoughts and a few quotes from some of the icons in this sport:
  1. There is a reason why Accelerate, after running in the Pegasus at the end of this month, will stand stud in 2019 for $20,000 while Justify will stand for $125,000. That reason is because Justify won the Triple Crown.
  2. Accelerate will still be a champion in 2018 as he is a slam dunk for Champion Older Horse, which is more than we can say for the ill fated Exceller. If the only thing you know about Exceller is that he met an ugly death in a slaughter house in Sweden, allow me to take you back exactly 40 years ago when Exceller, who had a better year in 1978 than Accelerate did in 2018, walked away with no trophies and completely empty handed.
Here was a horse who won SIX Grade: 1’s (three of the dirt and three on the turf) in 1978. He also became the only horse (and still is) ever to beat two Triple Crown winners (Affirmed and Seattle Slew) in the same race, the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park that same year. Yet Seattle Slew won named Champion Older Horse that year while Affirmed took home Horse of the Year honors….why??????.....Because Affirmed won the Triple Crown.
  1. I don’t think there should even be a discussion/debate about who should win the award but evidently there is. To those of you who are wanting to vote for Accelerate, I simply say this:
If you take American Pharoah out of this equation and Justify was the first Triple Crown winner in 40 years, would there even be a discussion/debate? Hardly…..I’m sure Justify would take every single first place vote.
Steve Cauthen
For me, the Triple Crown winner is definitely Horse of the Year, anytime there is one, in my opinion. I think what Justify did was pretty special, not even accounting for who he beat, but just considering he won his first race in February and supposedly bruised his foot after the Derby. Maybe that’s some of the reason the Preakness was closer than any of others, but basically, that’s what great horses do. They overcome stuff and still win. Nothing less than a great horse wins the Triple Crown. There have been a lot who have gotten close, but it takes a great one to win it.
Ron Turcotte
I don’t believe that a horse wining the Triple Crown should automatically make him Horse of the Year because that sometimes means they still don’t get tested against older horses. But I still feel that Justify should be this year’s Horse of the Year. He won all of his races so easily and the other horse, Accelerate, had a big year, but he didn’t go undefeated like Justify did. I was so impressed with how easily Justify won the Triple Crown that he would be my choice.
D. Wayne Lukas
I would vote for Justify. My opinion is that the difficulty of getting through the Triple Crown uninjured, beating the best horses, I think that’s still one of the greatest achievements there is in racing. The thing that makes it easier for an older horse is that you can pick your spots. If you can pick your spots, pick your races, pick your competition and manage your horses, that’s admirable, don’t get me wrong, but it makes things easier. With the Triple Crown, everything is already dictated for you. You can’t come out of the Derby and say, I think I’ll wait until the Travers because I need a little time. The Preakness comes up in two weeks and there you are again. The job that Bob Baffert did with that horse was extraordinary.
Jerry Bailey
It’s Justify. He won the Triple Crown. He’s undefeated. What he did in a short period of time. All of the above. Take nothing away from Accelerate. I think he’s a really, really good horse. But I don’t know if any horse could have done enough to beat Justify, at least in my mind.
I believe that any horse that wins the Triple Crown should be Horse of the Year. It’s a pretty hard thing to do. We could go another 30 year and not have another Triple Crown winner.
Dale Romans
I don’t see how the Triple Crown winner cannot be Horse of the Year. I go back to the days before the Breeders’ Cup was inaugurated and the Triple Crown is still the engine that fires this game. Justify did all that he needed to do to prove to me that he was the Horse of the Year. I don’t like to talk about other people’s horses, but I will say they were both great horses. It’s just that I’m a little more old school and, to me, the power of winning the Triple Crown is impossible to overcome.
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My Ex-Girlfriend Isn't Taking The Breakup Well Part 12

After Ramsay left I tossed together a sandwich and parked myself in front of the TV. At this point I had no idea what to expect. I still also had no idea why that one guy looked familiar to me. Who was it? Someone who saw Allison and me when we were together and got jealous? That wasn't too far out there, as whenever we went out we got looks.
Let me rephrase that; SHE got the looks, I got the third degree. Guys would approach her even when we were openly affectionate. Allison turned them all down, but I never forgot how invisible I felt. Guys would offer to buy her drinks or give her their number like it was nothing. As an added touch, guys would look at me as if they could not believe we were together. The worst part? I didn't blame them for that. When I first met her and we started dating, I was waiting for the catch. Well, eventually I found that out. Still am in fact, because all I can say is I sure dodged a bullet. That must be why that guy looked familiar. One of the many, and I do mean many guys that hit on Allison when I was around. That also explained why even though I wasn't sure who he was, I didn't like him. Something about his attitude showed through his picture.
As I was going over the past, I took bites of my turkey sandwich, pausing occasionally to add in a Dorito here and there. I felt relief as I remembered this term would be officially over tomorrow. I had finalized Grades and all that remained was to turn them into the Dean.
That Friday I turned in my final grades and celebrated the end of the semester with Chloe. It was a stunning spring day, warm with a light breeze, perfect for grabbing some Frozen Yogurt. I loaded mine with hot fudge, caramel, and crushed up Oreos. Chloe herself wasn't shy either, cramming hers full of peanut butter cups, chopped nuts, hot fudge, and Sour Gummy Worms. We ate them as we walked along the sidewalk.
After I had finished mine and tossed it in the garbage I asked her something that I had been thinking of.
"Well lets see. Now that Millstone is dead, who else can we talk to that knew Allison? Someone who knew her before, knew her family like you did?" She had her spoon raised to her lips when I spoke. She chewed it thoughtfully for a few moments before answering.
"No one around here so that means someone from our old town or elsewhere. She has no family there so that leaves someone from school." She began counting on her fingers as she ticked off people. "Mr. Delany died years ago, Ms. Robinson moved to California before Allison and her family left town, and last I heard Mrs. Edwards has Alzheimer's. So that just leaves Mrs. Hansen. She was an institution at Andrew Jackson. That was our old school," she added seeing the confused look on my face. "You think she knew why the Dunbar's left town?" Chloe brushed a stand of hair out of her face. "Mrs. Dunbar couldn't just yank Allison out of school without saying something. Truancy and all that. Not to mention she was too much of a stickler for appearances to just let it seem like they just went away without a good reason." Good point.
"I'm guessing you want us to take a field trip?" She nodded without saying a word.
"If you don't want to I totally understand. No one could blame you for not wanting to bother."
"You know something? I don't mind. Not anymore. Sort of therapeutic really. I could use a little vacation too. Getting out of here for a little bit can't hurt."
"Cool. Shall we leave Monday?"
"Sounds good."
Before I knew it, Sunday afternoon was here and that meant packing my suitcase. Packing for a trip is one thing I really take seriously. A poorly planned trip can spell disaster. I can't tell you how many Spring Break horror stories I've heard over the years. Attempted kidnapping, robbery, you name it. So I bring all the essentials and make sure to leave word of where I'm going. In this case, that meant calling Ramsay. I also was partially looking forward to seeing Chloe in this setting. If you ever really want to get to know someone, take a road trip with them. You can't hide when your stuck alone in a car with them for hours on end.
After zipping up my black suitcase, I called Ramsay.
"Hey Vince, what's up?"
"Hey Detective. Just wanted to give you a heads up, Chloe and I are visiting Allison's old hometown. She knows someone who may be able to give us more on Allison's family."
"Wonderful. I also have good news for you. We were able to obtain some DNA from the bear. It doesn't match Allison's or Millstone's so its taking some time to eliminate people. But it's a solid lead. Mind if I meet you and Chloe so we can get a sample, so we can eliminate your profiles as well?"
"Sure thing. We're planning to leave tomorrow. She's coming by at 9 am, if you get here before then you can see us before we leave."
"Sounds good, see you then."
Ramsay arrived at 8:45 the next morning. I let him swab the inside of my mouth, and he put the swab safely inside some special kit. Chloe arrived shortly after. Since I texted her before, she wasn't surprised and let Ramsay do the same to her. He thanked us both and was on his way. As Chloe was putting her bags in the car, I stopped by and told Mrs. Arlington where I was going. She immediately pulled me into a hug. I couldn't see her face, but I could practically feel her expression of concern as she whispered "Be very careful." With that, it was time to hit the road.
The drive passed in relative quiet. We made benign chit chat here and there, but eventually silence would prevail each time. The radio would go periodically go to static as various stations passed in and out of frequency, requiring some channel surfing. I drove briskly, but without gunning the engine, deftly weaving past the odd slow driver or wide load carrying semi. Occasionally we passed the odd car off to the side of the road, its hood up while someone was either tinkering under the hood of sitting with their ear to a phone. But mostly it was miles of plan forest, the outskirts dotted with billboards warning of drug abuse, signs for McDonald's, and massive water towers that dotted grass and farms like giant blue obelisks. Here and there, a road would be cordoned off or restricted for maintenance.
As the sun burned brightly in the early afternoon sky, we stopped at the turnpike and got some Subway. I wasn't in the mood for Burger King, Popeye's, or Chipotle. By that time I had been driving for three hours and after a small breakfast of scrambled eggs, I was pretty hungry. Getting out of the car to stretch my legs felt amazing. I also felt much more alert after scarfing down my turkey sub. Chloe also wasted no time in chowing down on her roast beef sandwich. After we got back on the road, we drove for about two more before we came to an outlet mall. We had been making good time and since you always want to stretch your legs, we strolled around for a little while doing some window shopping. While I didn't know exactly how far we had to go, I could almost feel we were getting closer to Allison's old hometown.
As we passed more and more signs, the countdown to Maple Bluffs began. First 20 miles, then 15, and from there it went steadily down to single digits. Before I knew it, the sign welcoming us to city of Maple Bluffs was in front of us, the name written in elegant cursive with the M and B woven together on the thick black and gold sign. Apart from that, it was all a bit anti-climactic, Chloe only offering a small "We're here."
As the car wove its way through the streets of Maple Bluffs, the first thing that came to mind was that it suited Allison perfectly. The place itself reminded me something once nice that had severely diminished over time. When you first saw it, the town looked impressive. Lots of quaint looking Victorian houses with neat front yards.
But as you went in deeper, you began to question that, as other images of the town emerged. I spotted what looked like a closed down Ponderosa Steakhouse and Kmart next to a strip mall, the vendors in there also looking closed. I could imagine the locals sitting in bars with flickering neon signs repeating the refrain of "It didn't used to be like this."
Of course it didn't. Had it always been like this, no family would have ever set up roots here. Places that begin as shitholes and remain shitholes are always reduced to rubble; no survivors, no memories. Main street was neat enough with small, but respectable looking business and offices decorating the road. The place also had wonderful water views and the occasional nice house decorating the landscape. But apart from that, it was a bunch of throwback single story ranch houses. Money, like misery, loves company and doesn't do well alone.
Maple Bluffs was the kind of place that kissed up to the few rich people left in town, all in the hopes that they and their money would stay put. Of course, that doesn't mean people in town like having to brown nose the haves. In fact, odds are they absolutely hate it, having to play the game of who can bow lowest before the town bigwigs. Something tells me the Dunbar family got a front row seat to that little charade.
The center of town was main street, neatly buffeted by a number of brick buildings. Capehart Insurance and a mom and pop restaurant named Josie's stood next to Maple Bluff's City Hall, a looming white building with massive windows that seemed to be peering out over the entire town. It looked oddly out of place amongst the others. There was one other thing I kept noticing; amongst the fast food joints and questionable strip malls were signs advertising something called Hilliard Lake. As we had gotten closer to town, signs has also advertised it on the highway.
"What happened?" I asked Chloe as we turned onto Spruce Drive.
"To what?" She shifted in her seat to look at me, the seatbelt clicking as she did.
"The town. Every town has a story." She took a sip of her water bottle before answering, the cheap, flimsy plastic crunching in her hand.
"Well, it was sort of a handful of things. For starters, the people in charge of the city itself ran it into the ground. We didn't have one awful mayor, we had several. Of course, back then people didn't know that. Decades ago times were great, everyone was happy. Maple Bluffs wasn't wiped out overnight. It was more like death by a thousand cuts or an infection that silently spreads everywhere."
"Right. Corruption, incompetence, or both?"
"Both. Oh and don't forget arrogance. Can't leave out the last member of the trinity."
"Course not."
"People lived high on the hog for so long it was a shock when the butcher's bill arrived. Hell, I can't even remember what the little vanity projects were, but I know some people in town still can. In other words, what comes up, must come down. And down it came indeed. Hard. A town that was doing so well suddenly in the red, people want to know why. I heard it was like a Dam breaking. It seems to happen overnight, but when you look back, the structure was doomed for years. It's just a matter of who can pick up on it."
"What else?" As Chloe was adjusting her seatbelt, a Burger King sign went past her shoulder. I caught a whiff as we went on, the heavy charbroiled smell was somehow both alluring and heavy.
"That was at the same time local industries started to fail," she continued. "This big statewide development corporation diverted river traffic away from local ports and before you even realize it, local business is drying up. The haves families all come out ok, but then the have less families slowly begin to feel the pinch. But there is money, its just a question of what you're willing to do for it."
On the left was an old junkyard complete with body shop, the name on the sign illegible from being weathered down. There was an assortment of car parts in a small pile next to an old vending machine.
"So that's where Allison got the entrepreneurial spirit from."
"Perhaps. The worst part of all is the haves all love to look at the town and say 'Isn't it awful?' when in reality they love it. Not only is stuff cheaper, it tightens their grip on local matters. Less competition for stuff you know?" "I do." "And around here, you know who you can blame and where to find them. You know where they shop, where they go to church, where their kids go to school, where their wife get's their hair done."
"Someone remembers who didn't tip their daughter when they were waiting tables, but somehow managed to afford a trip to Florida."
"That's right. My family did ok while here, but we were one of a small handful. After I got older, we moved a ways away."
"Good to be back?" I asked nonchalantly. She grimaced slightly at this.
"Ask me later."
"Oh and I forgot to ask. What's Hilliard Lake?"
"Local amusement park. One of the few nice things from the old days that's survived this long." Even a shithole town always has one redeeming thing left in it.
"Fun place?"
"Not bad. The indoor waterpark is pretty cool actually."
"Good stuff."
We eventually stopped at our hotel located just outside of town and right near the highway. I had made reservations at the local Best Western. You can usually tell what kind of hotel a place is by the word in the title. Motel usually meant there should be a sign out front that said "25 days without a murder." Inn typically meant the place was a Bed and Breakfast with horrible décor and ran by people with no clue how to run a B&B. Suites usually meant a respectable chain you went to say overnight for business conferences. Traveling as I do for work, I've learned where to stay. We both got checked in without any trouble and were immediately given our room keys; second floor rooms, right next to each other.
My room was decent, clean, and organized. I put my suitcase out of the way, next to the overpriced mini bar. Then I took off my shoes, pulled off the bed's comforter, and flopped down on the bed. That always feels amazing. I wasted no time in finding the remote and surfing my way through the channels. Since there was no onscreen tv guide, that meant I had to find something the old fashion way. About halfway through, I found some old episodes of The Simpsons and kept it there for a few hours until it was time for dinner. Since I didn't feel like going anywhere, I ordered a pizza for delivery. To my pleasant surprise, it came right on time. As soon as I closed the door, I wasted no time in devouring it.
When relaxing before bed, I imagined Chloe next door. I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing. Staying in a hotel must be like nothing to her anymore. But to me I felt like I was staying in a foreign place. I slipped into an uneasy sleep that night, waking up several times forgetting where I was.
I kept it simple at breakfast, some eggs, tater tots, and coffee. The eggs were rubbery enough they could be a dog's chew toy, but the tater tots were hot and crispy, which was the important thing. The only thing worse than cold tater tots is cold pizza. After jumping in the shower, I met Chloe out in the lobby and we headed out.
"Good night's sleep?"
"Not bad, you?"
"Eh, it was ok," I answered as I unlocked my car.
"You have directions to Mrs. Hanson's house?"
"Sure do."
When we got to Mrs. Hanson's house, I parked beside a Chinese restaurant. The kind with Christmas lights in the front window and a generic sounding name that changes with every new owner. We made our way to a red ranch house with a bug zapper on the front porch. It's sickly blue glow flickered lazily as we rang the doorbell. We could hear footsteps of someone approaching.
"Chloe Vale, I've been expecting you." The woman I assumed was Mrs. Hanson swept her up in a hug. The woman was dressed in a oversized red knit sweater. It looked comfortable, like one you get for a favorite cousin on their birthday.
"Hi Mrs. Hanson, good to see you."
"Oh sweetie, you know you can call me Barb."
"I know, but old habits die hard. You will always be Mrs. Hanson to me."
"I know that feeling." She replied affectionately. She took a step back from Chloe as she began to she survey me. "
Vince O'Malley, nice to meet you." I stuck my hand out towards her. She gripped it with a surprising strength.
At first glance Mrs. Hansen looked like the teacher who scolded you for sharpening your pencil during class and chain-smoked in the teachers longue during lunch. She was a shorter woman, about 5'5, but had what you would call presence. Her piercing grey eyes and slender nose were neatly framed by neatly permed silver hair. But when she looked at me, I could see her eyes weren't harsh.
"Lovely to meet you. I've been expecting you both. Please come inside." As she turned to go back inside we followed her.
"Does it feel weird being inside your teacher's house?" I asked Chloe. "It does feel odd," she admitted. "Half the time your teachers are like your parents when you are younger. You can't see them as anything other than a detached authority figure. It's why seeing a teacher out in public when you are a kid is so weird. It's like peering behind the curtain and seeing the real person."
"That is so true."
Mrs. Hanson had let us to a comfortably looking den with inviting couches. The inside of her house looked exactly like I imagined an old teacher's house. Small and neat, but filled with trinkets. Random gifts from students sucking up for a good grade, and some from genuinely grateful students. I counted several porcelain apples and pencil shaped bookends on the mantelpiece alone. I could imagine Mrs. Hanson sitting up late at night, grading papers with a red sharpie, the TV blaring in the background.
"Please have a seat you two. Welcome to my home. It's good to see you Chloe, been a long time hasn't it?"
"Yes it has Mrs. Hansen. Good to see you too,"
"Who is the handsome young man, your boyfriend?" I saw Chloe flush slightly at this.
"He used to date Allison," I couldn't help but notice how she didn't answer the woman's question, but didn't flat out say no either. Mrs. Hanson shook her head and sighed when Allison's name was mentioned.
"Such a shame about her. But when I found out what happened I wasn't surprised. Her mother did the same thing once."
"Did what once?" Chloe asked
"Tried to kill herself. Although Mrs. Dunbar wasn't successful at it. Not that she ever really wanted to be. You know the old saying about people who say they want to hurt themselves?" I nodded that I did. "In her case, Clara Dunbar wanted attention from her husband. I assure you that had she truly wanted to end it all, she would known how to do that as a doctor's daughter." "Good point,"
"Was that what made him want a divorce?" I asked the older woman.
"It was part of it no doubt. It was kept very quiet around here. That was in about 2004. Allison was taken out of school for a little while. Frank Ballard, our principal told me the Dunbars was leaving town for a family emergency. Months later a nurse at the local hospital confirmed it. Clara tried to swallow a bunch of pills."
I felt goose bumps begin snaking their way up my arms. She must have known what her mother had done. Even if she didn't at the time, Allison must have figured it out later on. Chloe herself looked like she had just swallowed something incredibly unpleasant.
"Do you know what triggered it?"
"No I don't. Some people are just predisposed to hurting themselves you know. Might be through booze, drugs, food, or anything risky, but the idea is the same. Some people need death to be closing to feel alive. But I do know that in the months proceeding it, Allison's work in class had suffered. She was actually a pretty good student when she set her mind to it." Mrs. Hanson had the forlorn torn of one thinking what if. It was something I have done countless times about this subject.
"Chloe, did Allison ever mention her mother attempting such a thing before?" I asked in what was a surprisingly calm voice. She took a deep breath before answering.
"After I had known her a while, she mentioned in passing that her mother had a bad reaction to some medication and had to go to the hospital. That happened in a previous place they lived." Her voice was even, but her eyes said that on the inside, she felt the same as me.
I suddenly remembered those messages I got after we broke up, asking me if I missed Allison and whatever. Was her death in the hospital not her first attempt? I didn't know, but it seemed likely. I have to admit that at this point, it seems that Allison was far more dangerous to herself than she ever was to me. Mrs. Hanson sat upright in her chair. I could tell the old teacher was getting ready to deliver an important lesson.
"No matter how old a former student becomes, we can't help but always see them as the child in our class. For better or worse, we never forget our students as we knew them." She adjusted the antique locket around her neck before continuing. "Allison," she spoke the name delicately, "was a very interesting girl. I will never forget the day she stepped foot into my classroom. She was one of those girls who you just got your attention. She also had her own unique way of interacting with others."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You ever see documentaries of primitive tribes living in the jungle?" I looked at Chloe momentarily before answering.
"Of course."
"You don't understand what exactly they're saying, but you can tell the pecking order. Who sits where and with who. They have their own rituals. That's what teaching can be like." I knew exactly what she meant. Just as in real estate, one rule of power is that location is everything.
"So what did you observe?" I asked.
"Times may change, but human nature doesn't. Allison grew up watching her mother being put on a pedestal and doing whatever she pleased. Deference is the best word I think. Allison's family was used to a certain level of deference from their peers. Or it started out as deference." "What did it turn into?"
"Something else I've learned from teaching. Power is like mountain climbing; the higher you go, the more perilous the ascent becomes. In an animal kingdom, there is always a rival waiting to take your place."
"So who wanted to take Mrs. Dunbar's place?" Mrs. Hanson gave an amused chuckle to my question.
"More like who didn't want to take her place. The ones who openly despised her never had a shot. They had nothing to gain or lose by hating her, so they never bothered to be sly. But the ones close to her who smiled at her the widest and praised her the loudest, that's another story. She managed to stay on her golden perch for long enough. Too long in most people's opinion."
"So how did she lose it?"
"People try to get any type of power in any way they can. Kids will pick on another kid for a pathetic reason. Here's what that's really about. It's never about what they pretend it's about. It's just a means of putting that other kid in their place. That's it. Kids are vicious that way and adults can be uncannily similar. Clara could be a pain in the ass perfectionist about the annual gala, or a thousand other trivial matters. Know why?"
"To let people that they had flaws and that she saw them." The phrase made me think of all the times Allison could be a real bitch at the drop of a hat. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"Good man," she turned to Chloe approvingly.
"You did well seeking him out," she commented, seeming rather pleased with herself. She leaned back in her chair before addressing us both again.
"She would let people know in her way that she knew their baggage. That she felt so bad your husband was fucking the waitress at the café on Elm and what a scumbag he was and your secret was safe with her."
"But she never kept it quiet did she?"
"Most times she did in fact. Unless she had wanted to let it slip for a reason. Clara Dunbar knew how to make use of people's private humiliation. So she didn't lose any face around here per say, she just decided to pick up stakes and leave while she was ahead. You see, it turns out the she had a bit of a situation on her hands. Her brother."
"What happened to him?"
"No one around her really knows for certain. Whispers were exchanged in the ladies room and everywhere else in town; they ran the gauntlet from amusing to downright outrageous."
"I didn't know Allison had an uncle," Chloe replied. "Course not sweetheart. He was the kind of uncle you don't talk about in polite company. No, not that kind." Mrs. Hanson added when she saw our reaction. "
It's sad to say, but had he only been a friendly uncle, Allison's mother probably wouldn't have cared." I felt a sick lurch in my chest as she said this.
"What did he do?"
"He got mixed up in some nasty business. My late husband was a cop and he knew from some contacts that Allison's uncle had a history of ties with unsavory people. Was in some sort of business deal and the wrong people didn't get their money. Well, as often happens in these matters, someone ended up dead and Uncle........whatever his name was, needed a lawyer. A damn good one. The kind with a Mercedes and Esq. printed on his business cards."
"That's crazy"
"Oh wait, there's more. We knew what Clara hated wasn't that her brother had gotten into that sort of thing. It was that he botched it and now the family was at risk of being implicated in a scandal. From what I know, he could have been Jack the Ripper and Clara wouldn't have cared. So long as he didn't publicly embarrass her."
"Of course," Chloe practically spat the last word out with a searing contempt.
"Many people pretend to be something they're not. Hell, a lot of times people openly encourage it. The problems come is when a façade crumbles, which is always does in the end." "And when you can't pretend anymore, people turn on you."
"That's right. So what do you do when that illusion is at risk falling apart?"
"Depends on what exactly is being threatened I guess." I shrugged my arms.
"What exactly was at stake?"
"Not just the family image, which was paramount, but it's financial standing as well. In a place like Maple Bluffs, you can have status without money and keep your influence. Or you can have money without prestige and be respected, but losing both money and respectability is fatal. It's why so many 'old money types' are really broke but no one cares." "The name is their asset. You need at least the front of wealth." Chloe finished. It was an idea I suspected she knew intimately well. Mrs. Hanson waged her finger in a 'nailed it' gesture.
"But she wasn't wrong, was she Mrs. Hanson?" I added.
"Nope. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Clara knew better than anyone that people willingly tolerate almost anything. The one misstep people are merciless over is failure. It comes in many forms, but look at history, your own relationships, and human behavior. Generally, humanity is intolerable towards what it perceives as failure."
That was one of the most intelligent things anyone has ever said to me. Human history is merciless towards what it brands as failure. Most people only know Napoleon for his defeat at Waterloo. One of the most brilliant men in modern military with countless victories and other achievements; yet the one he is most identified with was his defeat.
"So when the old image fails you create a new façade, or move to a place where people will buy the old one."
"Well done my boy. In a city with a million people, no one would have cared about Clara's brother. But here, gossip is it's own little black market. It fuels everything; it lurks behind every corner like some boogieman, waiting to devour the next victim." I had never heard it put quite that way before.
"Her brother was found dead in a trailer about a while later. Died in a fire. That was about the same time Allison's father was last heard from."
"Mrs. Arlington says that not only did he want custody of Allison specifically, he disappeared after saying he would check back in with her after Mrs. Dunbar's trip to see her mother." "Mrs. Arlington?" she asked puzzled.
"My neighbor. Turns out she knew Allison's father. Did you know a legal secretary named Sharon who used to work for a lawyer in town?"
"Vaguely. She was a nice lady. Why do you ask?"
"That's her, Sharon Arlington. According to her, Allison's father was worried about his wife and he disappeared after Mrs. Dunbar went to visit her mother. She said that Mrs. Dunbar hated her mother."
"Oh yeah, no love ever contaminated the relationship Clara Dunbar and Silvia." "
Allison would never talk about her grandmother," Chloe confirmed.
"Every time it came up, Allison would change the subject. That was the same grandmother that Clara Dunbar took out a big life insurance policy right before Mr. Dunbar disappeared."
"Oh shit," was all Mrs. Hanson could say.
"That's not good."
"Do you know anything about her grandmother?" "No," Mrs. Hanson replied. "Wish I did."
"From what I know, the two were a lot alike." Chloe said.
"That wouldn't surprise me. I've seen it countless times; people who are a lot alike are either mortal enemies or the best of friends. Very little in between." "Allison did once mention to me that her grandma and her bridge club knew more dirt going in in their old town than the police blotter," I remembered suddenly.
"He was a doctor right?" Mrs. Hanson asked, a statement Chloe nodded a yes to. "That explains it. Everyone wants access to the latest medical gossip."
"What do you know about Allison's father?"
"Not a bad guy. A straight shooter and I always liked him, unlike his wife. But he was in over his head, as would any of us in his situation."
"How?"
"For starters, he was the kind of guy who always tried to see the best in others. In other words, a sitting duck for someone like his wife."
"So what changed?"
"I don't know if anything truly changed. I think Mr. Dunbar just realized something had been amiss for a while. It just became obvious."
"Something wasn't right with Mrs. Dunbar."
"Correct. From what my husband told me and what I can piece together, Clara's brother disappeared about the same time Mr. Dunbar was getting suspicious. I remember seeing him around town and his entire demeanor had changed. It was like he was looking at everything differently. The two disappearances were almost certainly linked."
There was another feeling I knew well; an event that forces you to re-evaluate everything you think you know about people around you. Mrs. Hanson tugged on a clip on earring and sipped at her glass of iced tea.
"I sure would've been worried if I was him. While I can't say why he seemed to disappear, I can tell you what I heard. Everyone had a theory which they were so happy to share, especially after the Dunbar's left town. The favorite was that he ran off for another woman and they moved to escape the shame. A close second was that he did business with the wrong people and he disappeared in order to pay the piper."
"What do you think?" I could see her brow furrow as soon as I asked. She took a deep breath before answering.
"I think someone did business with the wrong people, but it wasn't him. I think it was something ugly and big enough to rattle him. I also think Clara knew about what was on his mind and perhaps did something about it."
"That makes sense, since someone knew Mrs. Arlington and he were going through her stuff when she was out of the house." I felt my throat tighten up as I recalled this.
"Whether she did it herself or not, Allison's mother is responsible for her father's disappearance. She never wanted to actually die from taking too many pills you see. That was all a bid for power, she wanted attention and leverage. Happens all the time you see. Especially when a someone is desperate to keep a significant other close. Just like in that movie with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas."
I knew exactly what movie she meant. It was Fatal Attraction, a movie I could probably do without seeing again for a long time. As I remembered it, I felt a cold wave wash over me. I wonder if that was why Allison did what she did in the hospital. Was it angst over Millstone, a man who didn't want her anymore?
"It's like when a kid runs away to make their parents all worried about them," Chloe added as I wrestling with my thoughts.
"That's exactly right. Now if you two will excuse me, I have to use the bathroom. It's these new damn pills they have me on."
She left us in what seemed like deafening silence. I looked at Chloe and she looked just as stunned as I did. I had no idea what to say to her, so I stared intently at the lush red carpet on the floor. Before we knew it, Mrs. Hanson was walking back to us.
"So where was I?" she asked rhetorically as she resumed her seat.
"Long after the fact, my husband did some research on Allison's grandfather. It turns out that he got into a bit of trouble himself. Seemed he was a bit, oh what's the word, generous with prescriptions. Morphine in particular."
"Oh shit."
"Oh shit is right. Fortunately for him, things were a lot different back then. It was kept quiet and he got off with a slap on the wrist. Who knows if he stopped, or just didn't get caught again."
"I'm bet he just didn't get caught again," I offered.
"I would suspect the same."
"So Allison's father disappeared about the same time her uncle who also vanished was risking the family's reputation and status, a status built upon a false image."
"Correct. Chloe has told you a bit about their wealth?"
"Yes,"
"They lived in one of the nicest houses in town. Over on Belmont Avenue. It's still there in fact." "Speaking of their house, Sharon says that after Mr. Dunbar disappeared, she got some phone calls. Mostly heavy breathing but one told her in no uncertain terms to leave the Dunbar matter alone. They even knew she had been at their house with Jerry Dunbar."
"Then it's true. They really did had some shady ties. I don't know if you know this, but for years Missouri was the meth capital of the Country."
"No I didn't."
"Well, Allison's uncle didn't just die in a fire; he died in a fire caused by an explosion. He and another guy were trying to make meth. Not well I might add. None of this got out, but my husband managed to find it as well."
"Why didn't it get out?"
"Another meth explosion in a trailer and couple of nameless gangbangers dead? Not exactly breaking news. The fact that he didn't have the name Dunbar also helped a lot. You asked how Clara confronted the issue of her brother, well that's it, they just didn't react. Every family has their black sheep and no one can be blamed for that. In fact, had people found out she would have made them feel sorry for her. That's how clever she was. I do have to give her that; she was a clever one. Way smarter than most people around here. Her husband was no fool, but she was far ahead of him."
"On that note, when I met Allison she was the manager of a bar. After she died and they started looking into the place, they found that according to the official paperwork, the registered owner is her mother."
"Interesting, but that doesn't surprise me at all. I could easily see her putting her daughter up as the pretty girl drawing people in while she was the one running the show from behind the scenes. That's pretty much how she was around here."
"After we broke up, she sort of fell apart."
"I see. Why did you guys break up?"
"She cheated on me and had developed a drug problem."
"My deepest sympathies."
"Thank you."
"As u you can see, drug problems aren't exactly uncommon in her family and infidelity usually isn't far behind there. Personally I think Clara could have cared less about her husband, but couldn't abide someone leaving her, or the implications that might have." I knew what Mrs. Hanson meant all too well. Allison didn't give two shits about me until I was the one who ended things.
"The rotten apple," I felt myself blurt out. Mrs. Hanson smiled as if I had just given her some small treat.
"I like you."
"Thank you,"
"You wanted my opinion, well here it is. While the stuff about Allison's father or uncle is troubling, that's not what scares me." She removed her cat eye glasses and looked genuinely worried for the first time since we arrived. "What scares me is all the stuff we don't know. Because I won't lie to you, I think there is a lot more where that came from."
As we were leaving shortly after that, she wrapped me in a tight hug. Whispering close to my ear, she said "Take good care of her and be careful."
"I will."
By now the humid morning had given way to a balmy afternoon. But as Chloe and I walked to the car, deep down I still felt cold.
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"You've Been Flirting Again" - Andrew Durbin (Zine)

Someone requested this story earlier today. It's transcribed from the magazine. Apologies in advance for any typos/formatting errors
Images: http://imgur.com/a/Nwqxm
I parked my car in a mostly empty downtown lot, initiating the main screen on the dashboard. A scrim of light covered the windshield and enlarged a web browser with my most visited sites and applications, including Parlor, the only dating app that properly interfaces with driverless cars. I scrolled to its home page - a menu of photos and videos of possible dates - and opened my inbox to see who had messaged me since I’d last logged on that morning: seven users, almost all of them bots. One wrote to me in a garbled English: $$$ now. Red light that is yours for keeping sir Another: make or act fast as soon as you READ this. I am convincing you my friend. Another: Yours now free Euros Swiss Francs British Pound Sterling yes And Now. All if you, sir, administer your account. I deleted the messages and scrolled through the rest before stopping at one from a profile named @_Monica23: Hi. How are you? I replied: Hi. She lived in Oak Park, the other side of town, and checked no car as a conditional stat. I messaged her again: What are you up to tonight?
I never liked to drive. With the sophistication of self-driving technology and its cheap implementation in the past few years, things changed. I prefer the ease of driverless protocol with its open sense of spatiality, lying down in the backseat to watch TV while outside everything continues to slip past, eliding destination and surface into a liquid state of travel, distance flattened to a frictionless, horizontal plane, the slide toward point B. Riding in cars is easy. Romance, social-networked for idle moments mid-commute, is easier. The proliferation of dating apps - with their universal binaries of choice - followed the popularity of reality dating shows in the 2000s, where prayerful hope of a partner was regimented in network-produced pageantry, imaging interpersonal complexity as a series of recycled gestures and “challenges.” While reality TV is more or less dead, we can all play The Bachelor online. With Parlor, we can play it in our cars. Hey. Hey. Hi. How are you?
In The Bachelor, which broadcasts though almost no one watches it anymore, courtship follows the accelerated logic of the elimination game, rendering “true love” an antiquated if not totally imaginary idea, one referent in a system that has otherwise reduced all feelings to a series of staged make-outs in the hot tub and dinners on the deck overlooking the 9th hole. Like, although dating remains gently gorgeous and fragile in the presence of all those cameras, hovering over the women vying for the Bachelor’s attention, it’s easy to get lost in the mess. “Honey, you look lost,” one woman says to another, who, in becoming her target, looses face, her otherwise calm expression breaking into a nervous grimace in recognition of the accumulating losses presented by each bad date with the Bachelor, a man whose good looks and generic dress leaves him nearly faceless. A masculine composite that never coheres beyond he’s so hot, open shirt with a bit of chest hair, “razor-sharp jawline,” and yet who remains by virtue of the game an elusive object of desire. She sits up, regaining her composure, and winks at her competitor across the dinner table. I’m not lost, she things, looking into the camera.
The interior of the Bachelor’s house is always open, a spacious domestic array of luxury couches to fall on and talk, open windows, a pool, and a large kitchen. Spotlights managed by hired specialists isolate both happiness and discomfort whenever it’s felt. Everyone is seen. Regardless of the show’s disorienting arrangement, she doesn’t feel lost, rather force-marched to the denouement of ter brief, televised romance with a moderately wealthy man, vaguely sensing the path that will lead her to the finale, if he permits her. In the mean time she will never be alone with the Bachelor until he proposes to her and they depart together in the luxury driverless car that will await them at the entrance of the mansion, drone cameras poised overheard to capture the moment. She often dreams of the finale,of turning to wave to the mansion that housed them and her defeated competitors. They will offer the public a kiss in tribute to the losers when they leave. Sensing this, the car’s windows will slowly roll up and self-tint.
Hi. How are you?
I’m going out. What are you doing tonight? @_Monica23 wrote to me. The dashboard beeped when the message was received, flashing Parlor’s logo - a cursive P circled in a shimmering loop extending from its base - on the windshield.
Nothing, I responded. U?
Oh yah? No plans on a Thursday?? Lol.
:(
Want to meet up? Come to this party. It’s called Shush. It’s this girl Abhor’s party. It’s on the north side. Belmont Avenue area. At Shore Club if u look it up.
k.
I leaned my head against the driver’s window and fiddled with the car’s web interface as it located a parking spot outside the Shore Club. I swiped to Parlor and found @_Monica23. Her profile pic featured her sitting next to friends in the grass in a park, everyone’s faces blurred except hers. A dot beside her name indicated that she was online. Hey, I wrote. I’m here. I waited a few minutes for her to respond. No response. Finally, the dot went red: she was offline.
The car found a parking lot a block away from the Shore Club and directed itself to a narrow spot at the far end, between a motorcycle and an Audi. It eased itself in between them, adjusting itself with surgical precision as it crept forward. When it stopped, the car shut itself off. I exited into the chill October air and the door locked behind me. I headed for the entrance of the lot, where a few people stood nearby, talking and smoking: “It’s OK, yah,” one said. “You should check it out. I mean, it’s definitely fun.”
A huge crowd had gathered at the entrance of the Shore Club, which was guarded by a bulky man who’d folded his arms in seemingly total indifference to the urgent flurry before him. He didn’t speak except to occasionally shout that everyone needed to stay in line and not linger outside the bounds of the rope. People pushed to get to him and the doorwoman to insist that they were on the list, but he ignored them, resolutely focused on a wall of graffiti across the street. When anyone pushed the limit of the rope he’d break his concentration to yell that they could step back or leave, his frustration so rehearsed it seemed deprived of any real anger, just canned words that had been paired down to a basic, agitated command that would be universally understood: “Get the fuck back.” I thought maybe he was ready for the night to be over. A tattoo of a drone swaddled in snakes and roses threaded up his right arm, beginning at his wrist and stopping just at his deltoid. The drone had been anthropomorphized with a screaming face, its eyes squeezed shut as though it were hurling forward at full speed toward its target. His left arm was unmarked. A small woman with a purple visor and gold sunglasses stood beside him, checking the list. She was turning almost everyone away, impatiently repeating herself, “No, no, please leave the line,” to everyone who told her there was a mistake.
I put you on the list, @_Monica23 had written to me. If you can’t get in, just call. I’ll be inside.
I told the woman my name. She paused to check her tablet, scrolling through the names before she looked up. “Sure, go in,” she said, waving me through.
Inside, the air heaved under the sweaty density of bodies jostling toward the coat check, the bar, the dance floor, and the edges of the room, where plastic cushioned seating shielded people against the larger crowd. I headed for the dance floor, back to a DJ booth where Abhor - whom I’d seen at other parties in Chicago - stood encased in a clutch of tranquilized club kids. Monica would be with her, I thought. In the shadows, Abhor seemed like half a machine, her figure cut by an angular red dress with a tremendous, poppy red hood slung back over her shoulders. Her right arm had been tattooed all black. Nothing about her look seemed improvisational, an accident of simply trying things out. Rather, she appeared to have militantly executed every detail, from the way the hood fell onto her back to the loose hairs that stuck out of the black bob that sat on her otherwise shaved head. She centered the room, the axis for a wavering orbit of dancers. She was talking to a boy with his shirt, off, his chest covered with blue paint. I decided against going up to her.
I searched for Monica, but didn’t recognize any faces except Abhor’s. The Shore Club’s few overhead lights crisscrossed the room, briefly catching people as they moved and conjoined together. Except for those few seconds, everyone remained in the dark. The music vibrated the floor and walls the closer I neared the back. No one I passed talked - or screamed - to one another except in the corners, where little groups hovered over bottle service, kissing and leaning in to gossip or flirt or share drugs. The lit tips of electronic cigarettes cut the smoke fog machines had pumped in to the room. It was 3:30am: everything had entered an endless flux that seemed to have exempted me from it, isolating me as though I were present and surrounded, but trapped alone behind glass, a camera scanning a crowd. I looked around, embarrassed that I didn’t really know anyone here. I got in line for a drink at the bar near the back. It was installed under a large metal cross with the wod Shush sculpted in neon red into it.
A girl split the line open and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward her. She wore a black tank top with jeans. “Hey,” she said, her head tilting to the side, “I think you’re looking for me. I’m Monica. Are you waiting for a drink?”
I nodded. “Oh, hi. Yes…”
She glanced at the line and shook her head, playfully annoyed that I’d even thought to come here, to the most crowded bar in the club. “Oh, no, don’t.” She shook her head and held up a drink. “Here - have mine. I just got it. Let’s go in the back. We can sit behind my friend Abhor - there’s a booth.” She stopped. “You look so funny,” she said.
“How so?” I put my hand in my hair and pushed it back. I’d slicked my hair back and worse all black sportswear, like almost everyone else. Did I look weird?
“You look so serious, like you’re not having any fun.”
I made a smile, but I knew it had come off as a grimace. She waved it away. “Don’t worry, you look fine.”
She led me to the back, sliding through the sweaty crowd while I struggled to keep up. When we got to Abhor’s booth she cleared away a few people to make room for us. We sat for thirty minutes, talking mostly about the party in the absence of anything else to say, only touching once on her life when she mentioned she’d just moved into a new building with a pool on the roof, which felt like conversation enough anyways, until even our secluded part of the room swelled with people and we were pushed up against the wall, onto the to pof the couch, where we were wedged in together with some of Monica’s friends. She asked me what I did for a living and I told her I programmed websites but that I’d just left grad school without completing a degree. She asked if I enjoyed programming, and I told her I didn’t, that I wanted to do something else, maybe even leave Chicago for New York. “Ah,” she said, and turned away to say hello to a friend who’d tapped her shoulder.
I watched Abhor from across the room as she smiled and greeted everyone who passed her. She hugged them, kissing each cheek once, but remained otherwise stationary, fixed in place near the DJ. I’d never seen a promoter stand so still as her. “It’s never usually this crowded,” Monica said. “But it’s Thursday, I guess. Maybe let’s leave?”
“Already?”
Parlor - or any of my apps - doesn’t enact a familiarity so quickly as it does a connection between user profiles, an immediate link between clicks of like and dislike, comment and silence, mainlined to a messaging system that condenses language to its minimum: What r u doin rn? U want to hang out? I’m actually never doing anything. It seldom changes. Parlor possesses of itself a sense of displacement that we think we must turn away form, back to real life, but don’t. After thirty minutes I didn’t know if I wanted to go. Outside probably wouldn’t differ so much from the inside. “I’m not sure. Where would we go?”
“Let’s just drive,” Monica said to me. “Can you drive? Or did you cab?” She set down her drink on a ledge. “I can’t.”
“No, I can’t either, but I have a driverless.”
“Oh, amazing! I’ve never been in one, actually. I hear they are so insane.”
“You haven’t? How is that even possible? It’s great,” I said. “Sure, let’s go.”
She jumped up. “Bye,” she said to Abhor. “Have a good night.” Abhor gave her a hug and nodded at me. I gave her a small, awkward wave.
“I’m not lost,” she says to herself, getting up from the table. She refuses to accept the situation of her desires as they play out at dinner, which has been set somewhat clumsily for them by a catering company that the show regularly hires. This is not really life, she thinks, though she also thinks she can’t define “life,” the totality of experiences that constitutes that feeling that things are living, going on, being, herself included, televised, untelevised, the whole telepathic sense of her image as it is distributed throughout the world, whatever “the world” itself might be. Every thought feels stupid. This feels stupid. She reaches over a plate of cauliflower for the wine, but stops, pausing a moment before retracting her hand. She feels like she’s had enough. She decides she should decline the rose (the award the Bachelor bestows on those who are not eliminated, thereby permitting them to move on the the next level) that is hers should he decide to give it to her. She will say goodbye to the other contestants, then ascend the stairs as the camera bobbing above her floats away, its eye refocusing elsewhere on the room, allowing her to pass off screen.
“I’m just trying to keep it real,” The Bachelor says after the show cuts to an interview with him in his bedroom. “I just want to forget everything, the cameras, the show. Keep it real, you know, with the girls. I just want to be sure I’ve selected the right woman. That’s the only thing that matters to me.”
There is no future determined by these coordinates, extrapolated from those bodies flung into it, but this felt most true within the car as it sped toward the dim horizon, wherever that may have been situated in time.
After leaving the Shore Club, we raced through town, or what seemed like town, what could have been Chicago or its suburban outskirts, I couldn’t tell, but once we hit 100 mph I was sure we had left the city’s limits, following the network of highways that intertwined until all become country, the flat geometry of fields and the machines that till them. The shapes of the buildings, houses, and the skyline disintegrated into indefinite shards of light and darkness that collaged into a glowing patchwork until eventually even that broke up and we slipped into a permanent fog broken only by the occasional streaks of other cars that passed us. “I’m not telling you to speed,” Monica shouted, “I’m just telling you I think we could be going faster.” We had been driving for twenty minutes, speeding up at her insistence. She explained she wanted to see what driverless could do under real pressure.
“Come on, faster,” she repeated, looking out the window. I wasn’t sure if she was talking to the car or to me. I wasn’t sure if the difference between the three of us even mattered. I reached out to touch her shoulder, but she pulled back. I felt dizzy, a little sick as the car vibrated under the engine’s stress. It shuddered as though it were beginning to break apart, shedding itself of its plastic shell as we sped forward. She turned up the music.
I directed the car to increase its speed. “Maximum limit reached,” it replied. The dashboard buzzed as the speedometer strobe-lit to indicate that we were going as fast as legally permitted in the state of Illinois. “Any further acceleration would be a violation of Illinois state law, specifically that limit which was set forth by the Illinois state legislature on January 25…” I silenced the car.
“Faster,” Monica shot back.
The fog melted into stark black. We couldn’t see anything but a faint glow out the rear window that I thought must be Chicago. I didn’t want to go back and wondered if it was even there. Forward, everything reversed into beginning: Monica seemed unreal, hallucinated into the car by the car, a reality abridged by fantasy accelerated to the transcendence of the difference between the two. I shouldn’t have let the shore Club. Feelings fade so quickly. We overlapped, sliding onto the pleather seats of the car, slowly becoming gauzy, bodiless subjects bobbing against the ceiling like helium balloons. I tried not to throw up.
Monica turned to me and clapped her hands. “This is what I’m talking about.” I asked her what she was talking about. “The faces at the party,” she said, “circulating in the network, all of them linked together in off-site data storage centers somewhere outside of town, each profile centered in the delay between hi and hi back. Like, hello, this is yours. Just respond.”
“I don’t get it,” I said.
She went to roll down the passenger window. I grabbed her hand. “Don’t. You’ll ruin it.”
She bit her lower lip. In the car, she seemed to have separated herself from herself, and had begun to drift throughout the cabin of the car.
Say nothing of you, us, me, him, her.” She counted off the pronouns on her fingers. “The days are long, evening longer. Without interval. Can we say that? It doesn’t seem a total collapse, does it, even if I have been removed to a car and refuse to declare any place elsewhere it home. I’m not interested in goodbye. To post an update, to update oneself, to post-, as in the crisis of, is to accept these conditions as ours: glycerol in the sand, contradictory iMessages, mesmerized by the approaching headlights. I will not miss any moment in the past or hope to reestablish it in some moment in the past or hope to reestablish it in some future, yours or mine. We know it won’t come but it is sometimes necessary (sometimes a necessary feeling) to assert a moment maybe even a parenthesis of being between things, that will depart from earlier notions of time - and continuity.”
We made eye contact. The imperative remained: “Drive,” she said, “even if you don’t understand me.”
Light streaked the window again. I grew dizzier, split from Monica and the vehicle, lost in various dreams of common space; metropolitan haze at 5am, which might be described as “liquid” or “hydrous,” two words that more or less say the same thing according to my car’s dictionary. Driverless, sunless: urgency well after midnight never changes. We move, even if the precious, but persistent nostalgias of manual over automatic don’t shield us against the machinic impulse to do nothing, and repeat nothing again and again. It only serves to make its hierarchy more obscure. I am in it. She is in it. I turned to Monica to tell her all this but she was looking out the window again, pressing her face to the glass.
I wanted to direct my car to her apartment, which I imagined was in one of the new skyscrapers downtown. The pool she mentioned would be on the roof, in view of the skyline and the few stars that shone through the city light. We would strip off our clothes and jump into the water, despite the cold, swimming about for hours. We wouldn’t do anything, just float, paddling a little with our hands and feet, careful not to break the stillness of the water. The moon would be nearly full.
We made out in the back seat. She put her hand to my face and pinched my cheeks, pushing my face away from hers. “Will it crash?” she asked.
I turned to look out the window. “Of course not,” I said. The entire frame of the car began to shake violently.
The car beeped as the dashboard flashed an alert: “Warning.” “Warning,” it repeated, bringing up the main interface to indicate that the car’s battery had been nearly depleted. The windows of the car suddenly filled with the flashing alarm icon. The car’s battery was less than 5% and falling: “Program will terminate in five seconds,” it said, at which point a second countdown started. At 2%, the car initiated its shutdown. The images of the speeding highway melted into a glitchy collage before the car went dark and the windows returned to the normal view rather than the video feed, opening to the parking lot near the club. The simulation had ended. The air conditioner and speakers stopped.
I moved up to the front of the car and pressed the on button a few times. Nothing. I turned to Monica. “It’s dead for sure.”
“What?” she said. “What happened?” She stared at me, almost in anger.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t understand. Did the car die? Where are we?”
“We’re...The program died. We’re still at the Shore Club.” I had already explained to her that a driverless can’t go very fast, but it can simulate speed.
She sighed. We’d sobered up. “I see, I see. So it’s almost like a ride.” She ran her hand through her tousled hair. “I see,” she said, again. “I bet watching TV like that is fun.”
“Really fun,” I said. “Especially the new shows, the ones they shoot with multiple cameras. It’s almost like you’re there.”
“It felt really real.”
“Yeah, That happens to a lot of people when try it for the first time. The simulation goes long enough that it just feels like real life, and you kind of slip into it.”
She nodded, a bit unconvinced. The first time I’d tried it I felt the same way. I’d used the program to imagine driving through the desert at night at 135mph. When the car’s feed ended to reveal my driveway in Chicago I felt like a dream had just begun, the real a dull simulation of my other life.
“Will you get home?” she asked.
“I can call a cab,” I said, “and just...I don’t know, have it charged in the morning. You?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” She opened the passenger door to exist and got out, shakily at first, sticking her head back in to grin at me. “Ok, sure. Have a good night,” she said. “Text me tomorrow?”
The Bachelor enters the pool alone. He sticks his index finger in the water to test the temperature. Though it’s chillier than he’d hoped, he decided it’s warm enough and leaps in to find that it isn’t so cold after all, actually, but rather warm, as warm as any body, and so he stays down and holds his breath, taking the moment to break from the competition and the cameras. He can go for thirty seconds before he has to come up. He tries again, this time reaching thirty-three seconds. He surfaces again, takes in a mouthful of air, and dives down, swimming to the bottom of the deep end where he paddles to keep himself close to the pool’s floor. He counts forty seconds, then pushes himself to forty-five before coming up once more. He throws his head back and looks around him, wiping the water from his eyes: the contestants have left the house and are gathered around to watch him, clapping and calling for him to join them for drinks on the veranda. “Come out of the pool,” one of the women yells. A few laugh and coo at him. He lowers his head and sucks in a mouthful of water. “Come out!” another possible wife says. He says nothing and the women fall silent for a moment. They wait for him to answer them. Finally, he spits out a jet of water at her. Everyone begins to scream with laughter. He laps the pool, splashing the women as some of them leap in and others step back to get out of the way. A few of the possible wives fall back onto the wet grass, laughing as their glasses of wine spill out to the ground. The camera crew rushes out of the house to capture them.
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Horse Betting 101: Inside Tips from a Pro Handicapper ... Belmont Park Horse Racing Picks, Odds and Tips Race #4 - Pick 4 Sunday, June 14, 2020 BELMONT PARK FREE HORSE RACING PICKS - (6-27-20) BELMONT PARK FREE HORSE RACING PICKS (7-13-20) Belmont Park Free Horse Racing Picks 10-4-20 - Free Horse ...

Belmont Park racecard & betting odds from William Hill. Free Racing Post spotlight & verdict on all horse racing. Sports Vegas Live Casino Casino Games Scratchcards Bingo Poker Macau Promotions. ... 2.1 William Hill RacingTV show live racing from UK, Irish and South African race tracks. New to Horse Racing? Check out the Basics of Betting on Horses. Free Belmont Park Horse Racing Picks for Monday, October 12th, 2020: Post Time: 12:50 ET. Race 1: 5 Frost Me Race 2: 2 Gringotts Race 3: 3 Skippingandajumpin. The following 6 races are part of today’s Belmont Park Empire 6 Race 4: 2 Quasar Race 5: 6 Creative Style Race 6: 9 Courted The Belmont Park racecourse, considered as one of the 'Elite' when it comes to racing in North America.. Highlighted by the over 120k spectators that watched Smarty Jones defeat Triple Crown prospect Birdstone back in 2004.. Known as 'The Championship Track', Belmont Park has hosted almost all majoring champions in racing.This includes all of the Triple Crown winners. Get free Belmont tips, race previews and betting selections for all key race meetings from Belmont Park in Perth. Our Belmont best bets are provided by expert form analysts and tipsters, with free betting tips available right here. Watch live horse racing at Belmont Race Course with instant analysis of today's Belmont racing. ... October 11, 5:52pm at Belmont Park. Official Start Time: 5:52pm: Track: Turf: ... Across the Board Podcast Belmont Showdown Bet Now Betting 101 Betting FAQ Cash Card Cross Country Wagers Entries Hablan Los Caballos Handicapping Challenges Meet ...

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Horse Betting 101: Inside Tips from a Pro Handicapper ...

Sports Handicapper Ron Raymond of the Raymond Report has released his free horse racing picks for Saturday, June 27, 2020 and today’s free pick is from Race #1 at Belmont Park. Ron gives you his ... Belmont Park Horse Racing Betting Picks, Odds, and Preview: On the episode of The Pony Pundits, our crew of horse racing experts handicap this weekend's cards at Belmont Park, including the Race ... Horse racing predictions including Keeneland, Del Mar, Belmont, Gulfstream Park and Woodbine races plus all the top North American tracks LIVE with host Jimm... Belmont Park Horse Racing daily horse racing picks and odds for Sunday, June 14, 2020, from Howard Barish (Managing Editor/GM of @gamingtodaynews), courtesy of our friends over at GamingToday. Get the Raymond Report at https://www.atsstats.com On today's show, Professional Sports Handicapper Ron Raymond gives out a free horse racing pick on today’s card at Belmont Park for Saturday ...

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