Rod and Patrick are visiting this week and treated Collin Murray and I to a trip to Belmont Park to watch the Belmont Stakes. It was Rod's birthday gift (happy birthday Daddy-O!) and the races were loads of fun. Naturally, there were fabulous hats involved but there were also tasty, boozy drinks, hot dogs, and terribly beautiful ponies. For those of you who are not familiar, the Belmont Stakes in the last of the races in what's known as the Triple Crown. It follows the Preakness in mid-May and the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. The same horse needs to win all three races and since this year (and for about thirty others) there hasn't been a horse to do it, the day was just filled with light-hearted fun and lemonade. We did place a few bets but even with Rod's extensive pony knowledge and my intense superstition (always bet on the grey horse my Papa always said), we only won $12.
This grey's name was Buckleupbuttercup! I would have bet on her even if she wasn't grey with a name like that!
As for the food, of course there were hot dogs and damn tasty ones at that. I partook in the conventional "all-beef" wiener but Collin Murray also look in the "Southern Dog", a pork sausage with red, yellow and hot pepper sauteed on the top. I must admit that it looked pretty darn tasty. The drink of the Kentucky Derby is the mint julep and so Rod was naturally very curious to check out the signature drink of the Belmont. Turns out the drink of the Belmont is not the Long Island iced tea (sorry Rod) but one called the "Belmont Breeze" and it contains bourbon, lemonade and cranberry juice. It was very delicious and refreshing on such a hot day. They also were serving freshly squeezed lemonade and I think that between the four of us we probably drank eight litres (two gallons to my faithful American followers...). It was crisp and refreshing and looked simple as pie. The man squeezed half of a lemon, threw in some ice, and topped it with sugared water. Clean, simple, tasty and totally thirst-quenching on a very hot day at the races.
Regular dogs
Southern Dog
Belmont Breeze
Happy Birtday Rod! Horse-racing sounds like it would be alot of fun. Have a great time!
ReplyDeleteit was a pretty special day
ReplyDeleteand the southern style hotdogs were pretty much the best sports venue hotdogs I've ever had
ReplyDeleteWell since I forgot my google account sign in information, I have waited until we returned from the Big Apple to comment on the individual blogs. However, I do remember the excitement of going to the races that day!
ReplyDeleteIt started in Penn Station where hundreds a people of all ages, dress and types gathered to catch the Long Island Railroad to Belmont Park. That train ride was almost as entertaining as the day at the park. Even though we caught the train around 1PM, it appeared that a fair % of the crowd had been partying already. It might have been due to the hot and humid weather or the fact that the alcoholic beverages served at the park were served at a premium price.
Regardless, we were quite amused by the crowd and the excitement. Many of the young ladies, including the Blogmistress were sporting a fancy dress and hat. Unfortunately Patrick and I wore sport coats and long pants as we had preferred clubhouse seats and they had mentioned a certain dress code requirement. As it turned out there were only a few gentlemen dressed in the attire that we were. Most of the locals were enjoying the day in shorts and T-shirts. Good information to know in case we return!
So after we sampled the Belmont Breeze and a couple G&T's we did stay hydrated drinking that great lemonade that Katie mentioned. I was quite convinced that the drink of the day would have been a Long Island iced tea but that was not the case. If anyone had ever drank one of them, they are loaded with booze so maybe the staff at the racetrack knows better than to get the crowd too out of control!
It was fun to watch the horses and the crowd and enjoy a beautiful race track setting. All in all, it was a great way to spend my birthday!