What's In Your Wallet?

I have few complaints regarding my gender. As a woman, I have a wonderful career. I enjoy nuturing my delightful children. I am no longer required by proper etiquette to wear a girdle. I can vote. I can drive a car. I can drive a car really fast, get pulled over by a nice police officer, act like a dumb blonde that couldn't recognize her speedometer from a refrigerator magnet, and get off with just a warning.

But I hate lugging around my purse.

My first few ventures to the track, I opted to carry only my Daily Racing Form and a small yet amply-supplied wallet. Then one discovers that a couple of pens would be handy. How about some scratch paper to jot down the wagers? Well, if you have to bring scratch paper, why not the shopping list, too, and then you can just stop by the supermarket on your way home from the track. Oh, better pack your cell phone, just in case somebody thinks of something to add to that shopping list, or requires some sort of information of how to get Sharpie stains out of the carpet. Well, in that case, you might was well just use a handy-dandy tote bag and just stick your Form in there as well. OK. But where do I place my wallet?

Last Saturday, I won the final Pick 3 at Gulfstream. I like to bet the exotic wagers on the "cheap" side, so once in a while I'll wager $4 on the P3 wheel. After reading Eddie Mac's Saturday Picks, I was swayed into this direction. I wheeled La Dolce Vita in the 9th and Smokey Glacken in the Hurricane Bertie. The 11th race, a Md 62500 turf route, could go in any direction. And in a crunch for time to place my wager, I singled Reigning Emerald, a Mott-trained filly that I remembered from a race last month, where she ran a very respectable second vs. MSW.

And that P3 ticket went into my wallet.

And that P3 ticket, which is now worth $81.50, is still in my wallet.

A good day at the track? Yes. But it will be a better day at the track next time, when I dig into my handy-dandy tote bag, reach around the shopping list, pens, and chapstick, fish out my wallet, and retrieve my winning P3 ticket.