a horse of a different color

Oh, you know me. Another weekend, another fabulous benefit.  

This one was at the racetrack!

I love Del Mar. Have we discussed this? It's the epitome of summer out there, such a gorgeous venue and festive atmosphere. I love the horseys and the wee baby jockeys and crusty old gamblers and the fabulous hats. Not necessarily in that order. 

The benefit was held in a fancy room on the 6th floor of the grandstand. The views were spectacular.  

 

Here's Shannon, have you ever seen a girl so happy to be working a charity event? 

There was a raffle pull in between each race, wherein women in large lids enlisted small children to choose tickets. It was awesome due to the "snooze you loose" factor. It was almost as cutthroat as mail call at Casa Ravioli Simmons.

Oh, and look at the blimp!

In honor of nerdicon, occuring concurrently in San Diego on this particular weekend.

Imagine the view from that blimp?

Anyhoo. There was a lovely luncheon and a lovely bar, and lots of lovely people to meet and greet.

and there were baskets and bid sheets, natch

There was also a handicapper!

His name was Bert. Or Bud? Buddy?

He was awesome, he had lots and lots and lots of helpful information about all of the horseys.

The winning formula was to listen carefully to all of Bert/Buddy's tips, then write them down so you'd remember not to bet a clucking penny you ever wanted to see again on any of his top picks.

But he was so shweet. (bastard)

Our fancy grandstand room also boasted its own betting window, which was awesome. The guy on the left was 900 years old and deaf, but didn't miss a trick. 

And there were hats! So many hats. So many poorly photographed hats.

This one won the hat contest.

Only the VIPs were invited to visit the paddock with Bert/Buddy

livin the dream

There's an inappropriate joke in here about being escorted by the handicapper to the handicapped section of the paddock....

Here are all the tickets I did not win

But winning isn't everything! It was a beautiful day at the races.

Next benefit is for me, to recover the losses.