A Day at the Races

Race Day

It was the most horrible day for a horse race. The sky was overcast and gray. It had been raining off and on all mornin’. It was a gloomy nine degrees Celsius and the off and on wind chill made it feel colder than it was. Welcome to springtime up north…However, none of this would kill the overall excitement, adrenaline and thrill of today. Being four hours farther north made the sweet, late spring warmth and blooming of the farm well missed. The track had been worked and reworked at least nine times already and the weather forecaster had predicted that the rain was over for at least another few hours.

 The tracks had opened at 1:30. Freddie, John, Roger and Brian had arrived that afternoon at the same time My father was running around the holding stables like a crazy person. It was as if an entire entourage were back there working on Maelstrom’s horseshoes and garb for this race. I knew my father would see to it that Maelstrom would have the best shoes for the condition of the track today

 “How does this look, Lydia?” she asked of me as she adjusted her dress in the mirror. We had brought all of our things to the private suite located behind the press box. There were seven suites and it would make for a nice retreat. It was basically a studio with a wet bar, a spacious bathroom and a large sofa. It was a perfect place to change in order to avoid wearing your race day best through the muck and cold that was today. Roger, true to form, had strung his stuff out everywhere. I could tell by the looks of things that it was one of those ‘I’m going to try seven different outfits and go back to the first one I put on’ kind of mornings….god he was worse than me! Or…maybe he picked that up from me, I don’t know. Naturally, he had left things strewn about and I, being the loving the girlfriend I was, hung it all back up in his garment bag and shoved it in the closet. I had no idea what he had chosen to wear today, but I could tell by the state of the bathroom that he had been into my hairspray…oh god…

 “Oh mum…it’s beautiful. It’s just…oh, I just love it.” I picked up the cropped jacket that matched my mother’s baby blue jumpsuit. She positively looked like she was getting ready to go to a disco, the way the rather baggy silky pants fluttered. She was indeed dressed for the races as she slid the matching jacket over her jumpsuit and topped the entire thing off with her beautiful white pumps. My mum looked amazing. “Here, here…you need these!” I insisted, handing her a gorgeous pair of Chanel sunglasses. Now she really looked like something else. I imagined my father would surely want to bring her right back to this suite and hit this hard…well, that is…unless I beat her to it….

 “Lydia! Don’t be absurd! It’s too overcast for sunglasses!” she said, tossing them back at me.

 “No! It’s not! Just wear them, they will look great.” In insisted. She huffed and gave in to me.

 “What are you wearin’? You need to get dressed, now Lydia.” She pointed a finger at me as she topped off her already fantastic look with a wide brimmed white hat.

 “The red dress…the one Roger got me in Italy.” I smiled at her, glowing all over.

 “Oh, sweetheart…that’s just perfect! You brought the scarf, right? Tell me you brought the scarf.” My mum asked, spraying her neck in her perfume. I laughed.

 “Yes…yes I brought the scarf…and….” I turned around to my luggage and pulled out an unopened show box. “…I bought these Louboutins…whaddaya think?” I smiled all over as I showed them to my mum. She gasped.