Saturday, February 16 was the last full day of my California trip. I had been to Vegas, been to Palm Springs, met up with Lisa, met a monkey, met tons of celebrities, ate sushi, scouted Laurel and Hardy locations, been to the Hoover Dam, seen “The Tonight Show” live, visited Jack Hanlon, been to the Nixon Library, scouted some famous graves, toured the Disney Studios, been to the Magic Castle, seen Penn & Teller, seen (some of) “Love,” saw “Phantom,” been to Disneyland, visited Randy Skretvedt, spent money, shopped ’til I dropped, and ate like an out-of-control lumberjack…and now it had come down to this, the last day.
Me at the Santa Anita entrance
Bob and I got up early on Saturday morning and drove from our hotel where we had stayed following the Hollywood Collectors Show and headed over to pick up our friend Dave. We had an early-morning reservation at the Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia to go on a tram tour of the facilities. This location had a minor Laurel and Hardy connection in that producer Hal Roach was one of the original owners of the track, and Oliver Hardy often frequented it. I had never been there…or at any horse race, so I had no expectations good or bad.
At Clockers’ Corner on a beautiful morning
We waited at Clocker’s Corner for our tour to commence. Here early-rising spectators and jockeys enjoyed breakfast. 
Some of the other parties who were to be on our tour were late in arriving so it was questionable as to whether we would get to even go on the tour, as they had a five-passenger minimum before they would conduct a tour. Bob noted the ‘kiss of death’ and also that he wasn’t feeling too well and beginning the early stages of a cold and flu virus (see picture at right of Bob blowing his nose). Finally the other group did show up, so we embarked on the tour.
The tram took us behind-the-scenes so to speak, as we were able to see where the jockeys and horses lived on a hidden huge plot of land full of housing and stables. As our tram rode by, we could see the horse owners cleaning and curry-combing the horses and jockeys working with them. It was a very interesting look at what goes on before the day’s races.
Watering the horses
After we departed the tram, we went on a walking tour of some of the facilities and had a former-jockey explain the ins and outs of horse racing. We then walked through one of the stables, where I was able to pet a horse without it biting my hand off. Finally at the end of the tour, we not only saw the memorial statue to the original Seabiscuit but we got to see the actual horse that portrayed the namesake in the film Seabiscuit. I would have asked for his hoof print but he was a bit of a prima donna – as horses go. We were even cautioned not to touch him when we posed for photos with him (mine is seen at top). Pretty amazing – two animal stars in one trip!
Hesitantly touching a horse
Dave and the movie star Fighting Furrari – aka Seabiscuit
Info on the filming of “Seabiscuit”
Memorial statue of Seabiscuit jockey George Woolf
Me and the Seabiscuit statue
After our tour was over, we dropped Dave off at home and headed back to our hotel. Bob cancelled his plans to have dinner with us that night to celebrate his upcoming birthday and instead went home to rest and try to recover. I must have worn him out. We said our good-byes and I told him what an explosively good time I had had as he headed out the door. I waited around for a couple of hours for Jimmy to pick me up for the very last leg of my trip.
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