Charm City

Word has come down from on high that this outfit is moving to Bawlmer, MD in a few months, off for Kate's internship at Johns (don't call me "John") Hopkins University. The whole deal was worked out through one of those match programs, which can be pretty scary, and we were lucky to land our first choice. (Ughhh, I just realized that now I'm like one of those guys that drive me crazy by saying things like, "We're pregnant!" We? Yeah, you're in the corner sucking down Miller Lights and chain smoking Marlboros while your girl is dealing with a kicking bowling ball on her insides and it's "We're pregnant???" Whaaat?)

Anyway, Kate was lucky, straight up, because I would not have moved to some of the other cities in the mix. I mean, I told her that I'd move to Denver, of course, but I was lying and just taking my chances that it wouldn't come to pass. So, I dodged that bullet, which is good because that conversation would have been awkward: "Umm, no, really, I'm just going to stay here and play video games for two years. I have the XBox 360 on order, I swear."

Provided that we can forget every episode of The Wire that we've seen, Bawlmer looks to be a pretty cool spot. We've got family down there (probably already considering relocation now) and it's still fairly close to my folks in NJ and just a plane ticket from Kate's up in Maine. I'm psyched about the food, too. Seafood is top-notch, plus you've got your old school Irish, so you can always get a good corned beef sandwich (and a beer, now that I think of it. No dry town! Yes!). Tracks nearby should do the trick (Pimlico and Laurel) and we're close to Fair Hill. Charles Town, otherwise known as heaven on earth, is much closer.

Job well done by Kate landing the gig. Sure, it bothers me a little bit that she took the time to confirm that questions as to her marital status during the interview process were illegal, but no hard feelings. I'd keep me under wraps, too. We'll see how long she can keep up the facade she's created. If she starts up that she needs to be dating to maintain appearances I might have to say something. Unless the guy takes her to nice restaurants and I get the leftovers. That would be okay.

Back on the racing front to close, man was it cool to see that they bumped the purse of the WV Filly & Mare Classic to $500,000. Holy moly! It had been at $350k, so the $150k bump is really sweet. I told my Dad that my initial thinking is to run Veiled Reference three times a year for the next three years. Go for the $125k this October and then point for the half a mil in 2009 and 2010. At the rate I'm going she'll only get, like, 12 lifetime starts as it is (thank you, thank you very much. We're racing professionals here, don't you forget), so why the hell not just point to those biggies. Half a mil? For West Virginia-breds? I'm seeing my Grandmother tomorrow and the first item on my agenda is squeezing our filly into her prayer rotations. We'll need every edge we can muster up.