The Cup (Day) Runneth Over

Today was Melbourne Cup Day in my new home.  It's kind of a cross between Kentucky Derby Day and Mardi Gras, in that it's a holiday for a horse race, and on a Tuesday.  I had the day off from work -- the first paid holiday since I started my new job nearly two months ago.  Do you ever have that feeling when you have a weekday off that you really should be at work and that you have the days mixed up and everyone else will be laughing at you...?  It was that kind of morning for me.

Having gotten over the panic of mixed-up days, I settled into a day off.  I did some organizational housework I had been putting off -- balancing my checkbook, working out the budget for the current month, planning the menu for Thanksgiving dinner, and cataloguing my new book purchases (since arriving here in January, I have bought a shelf's worth of books, but more on that later).  Those tasks kept me busy until dearest woke up and we changed the sheets and remade the bed.  After that, dearest made breakfast for us and we worked out a plan for the rest of our day.

We headed out to my in-laws house to get their picks for the race, before heading over to the OTB to place the bets.  Funny story of the day:  I carefully studied the field report in the Sunday paper and picked my choices.  I was going to put a win and a place bet on three horses:  (1) Americain, (8) Fox Hunt, and (21) The Verminator.  I wrote my picks down on a piece of paper and took them with me to the OTB, where I filled in the bet card based on the numbers I had written down.

We made a stop on the way home from the OTB to get some groceries I needed for dinner, when I got together and in my crock pot as soon as we got back.  Dearest wanted to make some beer bread to go with the Spicy Cheese Chili I had planned, and he did that while watching Parliament Question Time, before switching over to the race.  I finished organizing my newly catalogued book purchases, looking up and paying attention only when the call of "riders up" was heard on the coverage.  I saw them putting the horses into the starting gates and then watched the race, with rapt attention.

It was an average race, with all the horses in a big clump until about 400m from the finish.  The racetrack is not the oval with which I am familiar, it's actually more of an avocado shape, with one fat rounded end and a narrow one.  I am used to watching Triple Crown coverage and expected that kind of event.  I was a bit disappointed in that regard.  The end was especially exciting -- a photo finish for the first and second horses and another photo finish for the third and fourth horses.  Of those four horses, I was really only concerned with (1) Americain as that was the only horse I had money on.  When it appeared that my pick as out of the money, I was gathering up the ticket slips when I noticed mine had a (3) on it, not the (8) I intended to place the bet on.  I found the paper I had written my picks on and sure enough, I had written (3) Fox Hunt, rather than (8) Fox Hunt.  As the bets are placed using the horses' numbers not names, I went with the (3) I had written and had not questioned it.  I looked over the tickets and made sure I was not crazy and told Dearest what had happened.  He called "Foul" on my winning bet, but laughed about it with me.  When we told my in-laws about my bet, my mother-in-law congratulated me on my ineptitude.

Racing Form for (1) Americain

Racing Form for (8) Fox Hunt

 Racing Form for (21) The Verminator

Racing Form for (3) Dunaden

Handwritten list of picks to take to OTB

Winning Ticket

After the race, I checked on dinner and began to prepare the shortcakes for dessert.  Those baked, I futzed around on the internet until it was time for Jeopardy! (which only recently started to be broadcast here) and then it was dinner.

After doing the dishes, it was time for a shower and relaxing and tonight, that meant a few episodes of Hogan's Heroes.  Dearest has his silly and I have mine, and there is almost nothing better for a quick dose of silly than Hogan's Heroes.

Two days later, we made it back to the OTB to collect my winnings.  I spent $6.00 on all of my bets -- $1 on a win bet and $1 on a place bet for each of three horses.  I won $11.30.  That works out to be 188.33% return on my investment.  I didn't complain a bit.