Antwerp, Belgium
Happy Easter!
This morning we woke up docked in Belgium and were off the ship by 8:45 for our two hour walking tour of the Old Town of Antwerp. In December my niece Khloe and I had finished our pre-cruise extension with a tour of Antwerp and I was anxious to show Kim (and our pals Gary & Claudia) the highlights of this cool historic city. The weather was much like yesterday only a little warmer and we enjoyed walking around listening to the stories our guide Martin was sharing about his hometown. Several of the places we saw reminded me of when I'd been here in December with my niece Khloe on a Christmas Markets cruise pre-extension. I almost said something to Kim, Claudia & Gary about what I considered the highlight of the city walk, but thought better of it. Why? Because just last night at Happy Hour I'd been explaining to another new set of friends (Theresa & Bob) that we'd found when we re-visit a city and redo a tour, it's never the same because of a different guide. And in talking about that I mentioned that upon a return trip to Budapest I'd remarked to our friends that day that the "best part" of the excursion was coming up and our guide didn't mention a word of it! We had a short ride into the Old City by bus and shortly after arriving and beginning our walk we came to what residents call "The Stone," or the big castle that sits near the harbor.
At the base of the castle is a statute of a giant who has quite the legend. This particular evil giant had purportedly been seen many times by residents. BUT, the legend goes that he loved to prey on people who'd had too much to drink. So it's pretty safe to assume that those who claimed to have seen him maybe, JUST MAYBE had had a little too much alcohol upon "seeing" this mythical giant. I always enjoy walking through the narrow, winding streets of the old towns of Europe and this one was no different. And at the end of one of them we could see the majestic cathedral towering above the buildings in front of us.
We headed around the corner and came to the Butcher's Guild building, which if you look at it, you just might think it looks like bacon - just a coincidence! And around the corner was the main town square. This I definitely remembered - as I had "The Stone" from our December stop. And it was near here that I thought was the "highlight" of the tour. The buildings were all very ornate and cool to look at as was the city hall which is still in use as the city hall (where the mayor & parliament still meet & have offices). Also in the middle of the square is the second statute of a giant. This giant has an even more interesting legend.......
As the tale goes, back in Roman times there was a giant who lived along the river. And when ships would sail by he'd demand a tax to pass in the amount of 50% of their cargo worth. If you did not pay he'd cut off the hands of everyone on board. So, the story goes, one day a brave Roman sought out the giant and beat him in a fight. In victory the Roman gave the giant a taste of his own medicine and cut off HIS hand and tossed it into the river. This is a "significant" story because in Dutch to toss an hand is "hantwerp" with a "silent h" - so the city, as the story goes, provides the city's name: Antwerp!
One last stop our guide said, at the Cathedral. It was massive, even drawing from me as we rounded the corner an "Oh My" out loud, to which Martin (our guide) replied, "I've lived here for years and I'm STILL impressed!" Because it was Easter Sunday and masses were going on we could not go inside, and I was disappointed for everyone on the tour because I'd seen how beautiful it was inside in December with my niece (photos from THAT visit follow).
As we headed back to the bus and to the ship I remarked to Kim that I was 99.9% sure that we'd missed out on what I thought was the coolest part of the walking tour. And once we returned to the ship I pulled up the files from our Christmas Market trip and yes, I was right. In Antwerp they have a series of hidden passages that connect buildings and courtyards much like the "tribuels" in Lyon. I thought, in December it was so interesting to wind our way around through these passages. But no mention of them at all today, sigh..... never know what the day's guides will and will not think are significant.
Tomorrow we have an ultra-full day ..... more than ten hours as we visit Flanders Field in the first part of the day, stop for lunch, and then visit medieval Bruges, Belgium which was one of my favorite stops on the Christmas Markets trip in December - anxious to show it to Kim!
Racing Recap
Yesterday, Saturday April 8 was a big day of racing with key prep races for the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby. My initial thought was to handicap Keeneland - with their Grade 1 Bluegrass as the feature, Aqueduct - with their Grade 2 Wood Memorial featured, and Santa Anita - with the featured Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. But once we were in Europe I was not nearly as interested in devoting that much time to racing while "on holiday." So, I then decided I'd bet just a couple of the big races based on horses I was familiar with. Finally, on Friday we had all afternoon off basically so I decided to handicap both the Keeneland and Aqueduct cards, and play a single race from Santa Anita. You probably are wondering......if this all took place on Saturday April 8th, why is this part of the journal for Sunday April 9. How many of you are clever enough to know the answer....raise your hand! Well, it's because when racing began at around noon on Saturday it was dinner time here and by the time the big races were running it was after midnight (on April 9th for me) here in Europe. So I didn't know how the races turned out until today! I'd selected fourteen races that I was interested enough to place bets on through my TwinSpires account (using this platform for the spring-summer-fall after using Xpressbet for the winter meet where my rewards card is good AT Gulfstream). In three of the first five races I'd made a selection I was my pick run 2nd. 11th and 5th in the other two, the latter the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct as a prep for the Kentucky Oaks where the winner was $55 payoff for a $2 bet - shades of the Gulfstream winter meet! Is this how the spring & summer are going to go I wondered. I was fifth in the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland after setting the pace through the opening half mile. The sixth at Aqueduct was the Grade 3 Bayshore and my choice pressed the pace, got briefly to the front but was outfinished and ran fifth. Back at Keeneland I ran a non-threatening fifth in the Grade 3 Appalachian on the turf for 3yo. My first score of the day came with my BET of the DAY in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland which marked the return to racing of Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint champion Goodnight Olive. It seemed clear to me that trainer Chad Brown had circled this date right after winning the World Championship prize that cinched the Eclipse Award for Best Female Sprinter. Broke sharply but settled back off the dueling leaders to the turn. Shifted three-wide into the clear on the turn and inhaled the front runners to open a clear lead turning for home. Drove home while holding the closing runner-up safe with my big bet on board and I had my first winner of the spring season!
By the time my next selection was heading to the gate I was fast asleep after 11 pm Europe time. So I went to bed with nine races in the books and a single win (at least it was the BEST of the Day), three seconds and a third. A less than auspicious start to the spring season. We were up around 7 am Europe time (which would be 1 am EST) and the first thing I did was check the Florida Panthers score - won for the SIXTH straight time and with two games remaining are in control of our own destiny to make the Stanley Cup playoffs. It just may come down to the final game on Thursday which will be home, on the day we arrive. We have plans to go directly from the airport to the game! At any rate the second thing I did was check the racing results. Next on the sheet was the 9th from Aqueduct, an entry level turf event. Veronica Green from the Chad Brown barn was my pick. These kind of allowance races are difficult to win, but the prototype of the most common winners is one that won their maiden early and then have a good effort against winners. 'Veronica had been a just miss 2nd in her turf debut (after two "ok" dirt sprints), then won decisively. Her first try against winners had been a sharp try 3rd in the Winter Memories Stakes behind a filly that exited to run well in a Grade 1 out west. Made her on the turn some four wide....five wide into the lane and drew off through the final 16th for my 2nd win.
Next up was the big one at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Bluegrass, a key Kentucky Derby prep. Todd Pletcher's Taprit Twice has looked very sharp in an allowance win and then in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. But (a) his speed figures didn't give him a decisive edge and he's got a habit of starting slowly and rallying from far back. I felt he was clearly the one to beat but didn't have enough of an edge to make him more than a minimum bet. Moved early to reach fourth heading into the far turn. Collared the leader turning for home and the two dueled the length of the stretch before edging clear late to score for my third victory in a row!
The tenth at Keeneland was another entry level allowance, this one a six furlong sprint for 3yo. Nearly always when a thoroughbred wins at first asking, going wire-to-wire and draws off impressively they are over bet in their first try against winners. Facing pace pressure and a faster early pace almost always does them in unless they are very talented. Such appeared, at first glance to be the case with Brad Cox's Squire Creek who'd drawn off impressively at the Fair Grounds with a stakes-like speed figure of 89. I was debating about the bet when I read the DRF analysis and the handicapper noted that trainer Cox was 13/9-1-0 with second time starters in a dirt sprint....and he'd won five straight like that of late. And over the last two years he was 5/3-1-0 with that kind of runner here in Lexington. Right to the front to a daylight lead and held the field safe by a little more than a length under the wire....make it four in a row!
Finally missed when Dreamlike ran 3rd in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial for 3yo on the Derby trail. Closed out the day with the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. Interestingly, this race - because it was out west went off at nearly 8:30 EST which was 2:30 am here in Europe. Bob Baffert's Fazia was unbeaten in four straight starts, but her Beyer figures were not anything special. Still, she apparently just loves to win. Tracked the leaders to the far turn, swept to the front and turning for home opened up to win by nearly a pole while under wraps. She's on her way to the Kentucky Oaks for sure!
So for the first day of the Spring season I was 5-for-14, an excellent 35% but I had fallen short of breaking even by $1.50. BUT WAIT......now that I'm using TwinSpires for my online betting, they often offer promotions with a money-back if you run 2nd or 3rd. Such was the case with most of the stakes races around the country today. In both the Grade 3 Bayshore at Aqueduct and the Grade 2 Wood at Aqueduct my horses qualified (3rd in both) - so I got my money back! So the final stats for the day saw me CASH tickets in 7-of-14 selections, a superb, 50% and showed a flat bet profit of a little under $10 on the day! WHOOO HOOO.
There are some good races at Keeneland next Saturday so I'll have some bets as we now look forward to the first Saturday in May!
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