From beautiful downtown Studio City, everybody…Happy New Year!
Another day, another open-face hot turkey sandwich on egg bread, and accompanied with homemade mashed potatoes, all of it drowned in sage gravy. That’ll clear out any fog from the previous night’s overcelebrating! Again, here’s to 2024!
Dinner at a hip spot last night, one of those overhyped places made popular from the regular citizens noticing that plenty of celebrities often eat there and then, after having eaten there, those same celebrities are hit-up by the TMZ cameras & other assorted paparazzi while waiting for their limos to get them the heck out of there. Indeed, on the way out, we noticed one Mistah Walker Buehler of your La-La Land Los Doyers, enjoying his meal, so of course we had to be a gadfly and play-up his Lexington, Ky., connection and his love for the Throughbreds and the Breeders’ Cup; he was nice about this invasion of his privacy, probably too nice, so we took leave of him by saying, ‘Say hi to Shohei!’ and at that, Mistah Walker Buehler had no option but to laugh.
No crazy midnight (and beyond) Champagne or sparkling wine this year. A vanilla-and-egg-nog ice-cream milkshake with a little bourbon (in honor of Mistah Walker Buehler, mabye!) and lots of episodes of The Twilight Zone dueling marathons on SYFY and H&I Network. Even though we enjoy these marathons every year, we still manage to encounter at least a couple of episodes we had not seen before. One of them involved a young Buddy Ebsen with a shade of hair color much darker than his usual white or gray. Also, the actors in those old shows, even those in the starring roles, did not have anything close to perfect teeth; this is something we have noticed with many shows from the 1960s, ’70s & ’80s: bad dental alignment or even visible staining from tobacco or coffee or wine was no disqualifying factor to being cast! Nowadays, every last nonspeaking actor and extra is guaranteed to have chemically-bonded white & perfectly aligned choppers…choppers!
Did not watch the locally sacred Rose Parade. Considering that our formative parade-watching experiences came from the multi-week free-for-alls known as Carnival Season in New Orleans, the Rose Parade could never appeal to us. As with many longstanding institutions established here in sunny Southern California — Disney, Hollyweird, the fast-hamburger industrial complex, Orange County — there remains too much over-produced & glib & anodyne & unreal about the Rose Parade. Carnival in New Orleans is frequently political, satiric & culturally & socially incisive; daresay we that it is even gritty. On the other hoof, the Rose Parade is all sunshine & flowers, bland & inoffensive; moreover, whereas Carnival has its ancient roots fixed in the religious, an acknowledgment of the sensual and temporal in the run-up to the discipline & self-denial of Lent, the Rose Parade seems to bounce between ‘It‘s a Small World’-type infantilization and crass Chamber of Commerce growth & worship of the almighty financial bounty bestowed upon the region mainly due to good weather & a booming population.
BestLine Racing Society Recap:
One post-press-time connection to report from yesterday’s (Sunday’s) late action: At Arcadia, Calif., the finale (for both the card and the year 2023) was won by #10 Baby Waylon (.472 Win Prob / 1.12-1 Fair Odds / 1.54-1 Premium Odds) at $19.80; completing your calendar-ending winning $96.80 exacta was #8 Kiss for Lulu (.353 / 1.83 / 2.40), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $10.47 — disclaimer: the race was lousy with first-timers.
Everything in play for today, Monday.
Starting at Ozone Park, N.Y., with Race 3; in it, #3 Steady Progress (.204 / 3.90 / 4.88) advanced to the winner’s circle at $12.40. In Race 5, #6 Starry Midnight (.330 / 2.03 / 2.64) rang-in the new year with a victory at $9.40.
From Albany, Calif., #6 Majestic Gig (.237 / 3.22 / 4.06) took the opener at $28.20. In Race 4, #2 J and M Express (.194 / 4.15 / 5.19) sped to the wire ahead at $13.40.
To Hallandale Beach, Fla., for Race 4 for #8 Streaking Grey (.201 / 3.98 / 4.97) finishing in-the-black at $17-even; completing your winning $73-even exacta was #6 Harlan’s Legacy (.268 / 2.73 / 3.48), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $44.53. Next race there, #2 King Curlin (.248 / 3.03 / 3.84) rei(g)ned supreme at $19.80; completing your winning $170.20 exacta was #1 Harry Hood (.233 / 3.29 / 4.15), with the premium price on that comboa (comboa!) being $39.55; as well, the winning daily double had a premium price of $49.85 while returning $220.80 in real life. In the finale, #3 Otello (.341 / 1.93 / 2.52) and #4 First World War (.432 / 1.31 / 1.78) combined on your winning $19-even exacta whose premium price was $14.01.
Race 7 in Hot Springs, Ark., went to #10 Maximus Magic (.186 / 4.38 / 5.45) at $14.20.
Finally, Race 4 on the Bensalem Twp., Penna., card saw #5 Tiz a Sharpie (.258 / 2.88 / 3.65) mark ’em up at $10.40. In Race 7, #8 Big Cheeks (.182 / 4.49 / 5.59) and #3 Distorted View (.176 / 4.68 / 5.82) combine on your winning $107.20 exacta whose premium price was $76.24. Next race there, #9 Blazing Red (.197 / 4.08 / 5.09) fired to the upset at $15.20.
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