Monmouth Dawn Patrol

[MaTH716]

Yesterday morning I took little Matt to the Monmouth Dawn Patrol. It's a program/tour that starts at 8am at Monmouth Park. It was extremely cool and I recommened everyone to check it out (especially if you have kids).
We showed up at about 7:30 (my kids are always up too early) and couldn't believe all the action that was taking place on the track. I have never been to a track that early, so I thought I had an idea what went on. But I was absolutely amazed with the amount of action and number of horses on the track. Also all the people/riders were so friendly greeting everyone standing on the rail watching.
The tour started in the paddock and then led into the Jocks room. The tour guide then explained all the equipment (saddles, goggles, boots, whips, etc.......) and details that the jocks have to go through on a daily racing day. It was common knowledge stuff, but it was still cool being inside and checking out the jocks room. I found out that they have and saw the little greasy spoon cafeteria in the back of the room. Also all the silks hangs from the ceiling, unlike say Saratoga which has it's own big room for silks.
Then everyone boards a set of tram cars and the tour heads to the backstretch. It was a flurry of activity back there. Horses being hot walked, bathed, shoed and so on. People busy milling around, but they all stopped to wave and say hello.
From there we were brought to the far side of the track and saw this little mini horse that was rescued from a farm. It was a good segway in to a brief explination about ReRun. Also when we got back to the clubhouse that the would being selling things (shirts, Hats , Pins) with the proceeds going towards ReRun. Thankfully the weather held out for us, but it did prevent us from seeing horses work from the gate. Usually the tour gets to see this, but unfortuantely they closed the track early so they could start working on it for the afternoon. From there it was back to the clubhouse for coffee, juice and doughnuts. They also had a give away (a Monmouth Park mug) and free passes for the races. All this for the grand cost of zero. The program is absolutely free. The tour lasts about 2 hours and runs only on Staurday and Sundays July through the end of August. Here's the link if you are interested, I would definitely recommend it:
http://monmouthpark.com/comment.aspx...frm&itemid=123

Also for the record, the Hall of Fame across the street from Saratoga was pretty cool too. That had some neat things for the kids to do too.

Here's some pics: