Getting Ready

Today was the Post Position Draw Press Conference for the Breeders' Cup World Championship at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ. Here are a few of the trainers following the press conference, talking with the media about their draws.

Todd Pletcher

Greg Gilchrist

Following the press conference, our reporters scurried about the track to find local-angle, feature-type stories to bring the whole national thing home to our Monmouth and Ocean county readers. One of our four reporters found this man, Monmouth Park's "Color Man," who's in charge of all of the jockeys' silks for all races at Monmouth. He is, indeed, a colorful character, as his nickname, "Louie the Color Man," implies.




The next few days for me will be very long, very exciting, and hopefully very rewarding. Tomorrow, Monmouth Park opens for non-Breeders' Cup races, to make sure everything is running smoothly for Friday's and Saturday's festivities. I've got a press conference in the morning, then a few hours to just roam around making pretty feature-type images of horse racing at the "new" Monmouth Park.

Thursday night I'm shooting Bon Jovi as he opens the new arena in Newark. Three songs and out, standard fare.

Then Friday and Saturday I'll be back to all Breeders' Cup coverage. Should be fun. Should wear me out. Good thing I'll be on vacation with my family in two weeks. I'm gonna need it.