Sunday 29th April coincided with the Mug’s visit to Pimlico racetrack, a bastion of US racing. It also coincided with the Mug making a charitable donation to the coffers of US punters via the Pimlico tote. Without too much whining about the Mug’s betting strategy, to say that he should get a regular kick in the arse for betting exactas and trifectas would be stating the obvious. I tipped in 4 winners to my friends for the day (more about them later) purely on the look in the mounting yard but decided (?) that I was only backing exotics for the day. Great f#$%ng decision!!

Regardless, it was just a fantastic day.

The track is located in an extremely dodgy area outside Baltimore - think ghetto meets, well, ghetto. For the last 15 minutes of the drive I studiously avoided eye contact with anyone on the street, followed the google map directions and hoped that I’d not been sold a dummy. It was free to park in a huge car park that was about 10% full, although like everywhere in the US, it was possible to pay someone to valet park your car in the free car park for a fee - presumably for the 97% of the population there allergic to walking.

It was $3 to get in and $1.50 for the Pimlico race program, or $3.50 for a War and Peace epic-size program that had form for every televised race meeting in the country. From the car park, through the entryway, the indoor betting areas, the equivalent of the mounting yard to trackside was a sea of concrete - a testament to a time, no doubt, when concrete was king (1870 as my new baseball cap shows). Still, something for our racing to think about - it kills me to pay $30 to get into the track, it’s good punting money going for nothing

The mounting yard was weird - a little room with 14 stalls in the middle and a concrete circle round them where the horses were walked for your perusal. Fine for this day, but I’m not sure what you’ll get to see on Preakness day. The grandstands reminded me of something I’d seen in an add for a fire hazard.

The track(s) itself was like the opposite of Mooney Valley - a dirt track around the outside of a turf track. The turf track and the infield represented the only form of plant life there. A very strange course configuration as well - massively long straights and massively tight turns, particularly on the turf track.

The place just had the vibe, though.  It was there for racing and gambling - that was it.  A  fascinator crossing the doorstep on a normal Pimlico day - never.