down doing forty miles an hour. Jock can get trampled to death.”
“You mean like today,” I said.
“Not too bad out there now,” Callahan said. “Sun?ll cook off most of the standing water. When it?s
real muddy, shit I?ll tell you, racing in the mud is one piss-poor way to make fifty bucks. But it?s a
ride, what they do. Thibideau probably said, „I?m sorry, kid, here?s an extra fifty,? old Magic Hands is
up. Kid knows the horse, Thibideau wants a winner. He made peace.”
After the paddock we went to the top tier and he walked me through the private club section, a posh
series of tiered rooms protected from wind, rain, and sun by tinted glass, with royal-blue velveteen
sofas, low-cut mahogany tables for drinks and snacks, and TV monitors to provide close-ups of the
race for the privileged. Red-jacketed waiters, all of whom seemed to be elderly black men, solemnly
served refreshments. The place seemed to brag of its elegance, a fact I mentioned to Callahan.
“The sport of kings,” he said. “These are the aristocrats. Owners, breeders, money people. All part of
it, all part of the show.”
From the elite of the club we went down among the commoners at the rail. The crowd was already
four deep. Callahan, I learned, had a box in the club section, courtesy of the track, but he preferred to
be as close to the horses as he could get.
“Like to feel „em go by,” he said, adjusting his field glasses, checking out the infield, then the gate.
“When betting starts, we can get next to the wood.”
He handed me a program and I checked out the charts. There was a list of the stewards, headed by
Harry Raines, and some track information that surprised me. According to the program, taxes took
fourteen percent of the pari-mutnel?s first ten million, eight percent of the next ten mill, six percent on
the next fifty, and five percent on everything over that. Obviously the state was getting fat, a fact
which certainly vindicated Raines.
The infield was as impressive as the stadium. A large pond with a fountain in the centre had attracted
herons and other water birds to it. Gardens surrounded the pond and there was a granite obelisk at one
end.
“What?s that?” I asked, pointing to the large marker.
“Remember me telling you about Just about at chow the other morning?”
“You mean the ugly horse?”
Callahan nodded. “First big winner to come off this track. Ran his first heat here, ran here most of the
next season. First two years he won forty-two races. Ugly as he was, he was so good he once got a
standing ovation for coming in second. The crowd figured he?d been racing so much he was tired. Just
before the season ended last year, he got trapped against the rail going into the far turn, tried to break
