Venue for August 1 . . .

[JolyB]

Since it will be August and you selected the Spa, I had to post this trip down memory lane.

I was rummaging through some old papers a few days ago and came across some NYRA programs [I'm afraid that we are pack rats]. One on them had on the cover the slogan, "The August Place To Be". It was for August 11, 1990. The feature race that day was the 110th running of the Alabama. The race only drew three entrants, but what a trio: Charon, who had most recently won the CCA Oaks; Pampered Star, trained by Bobby Frankel, who had won the Monmouth Oaks; and the star-crossed Go For Wand, trained by Bill Badgett and ridden by Randy Romero, who had won the 7 furlong Test on August 2 and was now trying 1 1/4 miles only 9 days later. Go For Wand's race was nothing short of jaw dropping. My ecstatic feeling about her after witnessing that race only added to the agony of witnessing the on track tragedy in her BC Distaff only a few months later.

Incidentally, the next season the schedule was expanded to begin in July and the slogan changed to "The Summer Place To Be". That Alabama was won by Versailles Treaty after Meadow Star scratched due to the very sloppy track.