Arlington Raceway, Arlington, Ill.
This pastoral scene, skewed a bit for an artsy perspective, filled my afternoon view at the race track.
The weather was wonderful, and big puffy clouds drifted through the blue sky on our annual visit to the horse races. It’s a fun place to visit if ever you’re looking for an activity to occupy your time on a summer afternoon in Chicagoland. The horses, as usual, were beautiful athletes; it’s almost startling to see how fast they go on those delicate little ankles.
My bets were less than wonderful (I lost every $2 bet plus one super-longshot $12 superfecta box bet mistakenly placed for me by my Beloved), but that didn’t dampen my fun. My seatmates had much better luck — good enough luck, in fact, to spring for Lou Malnati’s pizza for dinner, so my bets were simply what they were intended to be — entertaining.
A lazy Sunday afternoon punctuated every 20 minutes with a pulse-pounding race to the finish: The ideal prescription for the dog days of summer.
