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The fat lady has sung
By Kathie L. King Hopped in the car this morning and zipped the 70 miles to Yakima Meadows to watch two of our horses work. The track is temporarily open for training until the end of the month apparently. I had heard the rail and tote board were being sold but I wasn't prepared for the sense of finality I would get as I drove in the gate. The first thing was the deserted guard shack. Missing was Betty with her clipboard and smiling "hi there" asking to see the owner's license I sometimes forgot in my haste to make the appointed time for a workout. About 150 feet inside sat the hot pink and teal starting gate off to one side. That was when it really sunk in that I was witnessing the end of an era. There was a horse galloping alone on the track, a dozen or so on hot walkers. Barn One and its companions on one side had the doors shut, giving them a forlorn look. The "Hilton" was locked with boards over all the windows. No longer offering comfort and warmth from the inclement weather, a place to chat with those whose life is the Thoroughbred racehorse on the east side of the Cascades. The "Port-o-let" was nowhere to be seen and upon further investigation, the warmest place on the back side, the women's restroom, was locked up tight. The horses were unloaded and led to stalls to be saddled. When they were ridden out on the track, you could see that A Sharper Buzz, who had been there and done that for the past three years, knew something was "different." Where were all the horses? The tractor that always was there waiting to take a turn around the track? The medical aid vehicle in case a rider or someone else was injured? I used to watch the big Quarter Horse races they had at Yakima. To me, having a Thoroughbred racehorse was a dream. Yakima Meadows no longer being a racing facility was unthinkable. Well, my dream of racing a Thoroughbred has come true and the unthinkable has happened. All that is left are the memories. Those will never fade away. |