Track insiders and general fans who have opined that the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club summer meeting would be better with a reduction from its six-day racing week could get their wish this summer.
DMTC’s top officials acknowledged yesterday that the organization, which leases the facility from the state to run the race meeting, is exploring the possibility of dropping Mondays from the Wednesday-to-Monday format that has stood for decades.
“It’s certainly something we’ve been looking at and the more we look at it the better it gets,” said Joe Harper, DMTC president, CEO and general manager. “I feel confident saying it will be our recommendation that we go to a five-day week.”
The current state of the economy, a declining California thoroughbred horse population and perceived downturn in both the number and financial commitment of owners are all contributing factors in the decision to explore the five-day option.
“We’ve always been a big proponent of when you make a change here you better make it for the benefit of the patron,” Harper said. “I think this is certainly to the benefit of the patron. If we’re right, we’re going to have better (racing) cards, basically.”
Six-day racing weeks have been standard at Del Mar since 1946. The track, founded by Bing Crosby and some Hollywood friends, opened in 1937. It presented races on a Tuesday-to-Saturday basis before being closed from 1942-44 during World War II and maintained that schedule for the re-opening season in 1945.
A Monday-to-Saturday format was maintained from 1946 until 1973 when – sports competition on Sundays having gained social acceptance – conducting racing and betting on Sunday was legalized.
In recent decades many horsemen – who generally live and work in the Los Angeles area with the exception of two months in the summer – have said five-day weeks at Del Mar would be easier on them and their horses.
See the tall, gregarious young man in the Eighteenth Street Lounge, moving easily toward a group of receptive women as the floor vibrates with reggae music? He’s dressed in a sharp Hugo Boss suit, and he knows that the minimum for a table is $240.
But he’s not offering to buy the drinks. And the suit? He bought it a year ago, when he had a six-figure salary.
Dating in the time of the pink slip means feeling the squeeze of the drastically reduced paycheck, the sudden sting of the layoff. From investment bankers to real estate developers to construction workers, no job means no buying rounds of $15 martinis for a pretty woman and her girlfriends. No hosting parties in the bachelor loft. And often, no idea how to present one’s new self on the dating market.
“It’s been incredibly stressful for me,” said Neil Welsh, 27, the guy in the suit, who until last year was marketing director for a booming real estate company. “I was so used to using my financial situation to leverage my dating.”
For many affected by the recession, dating is the least of their worries. But the market crash has had a particular impact on young adults who developed their dating skills in fat times, the twentysomethings who spent lavishly to show that they could afford the finer things. Now, with national unemployment rates at 8.8 percent for people 25 to 34, they are looking for more creative ways to attract partners — and reassessing what all that big spending really meant.
Come on “player”. Step up your Game to Brioni, or go Custom Savile Row, like your humble Author.
I have said it before and I will say it again: “Game first, Money second”.
Younger aspiring Playboys, who didn’t hone their Game in the 90’s are having a rough go of it. (All the better for battle hardened International Playboys like your humble Author).
Short them.
“looking for more creative ways to attract partners”?
Try Game.
Or Read The G Manifesto.
The Rest is Up to You…
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Clothing designer Christian Audigier is being sued by tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy for allegedly distributing Hardy’s trademarked clothing line without permission.
Hardy filed a lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeking $100 million in damages from Audigier’s company Nervous Tattoo and several other defendants.
Hardy claims he and Audigier signed a contract in September 2005 that allowed Audigier to promote and distribute Hardy’s work as part of a clothing line.
The lawsuit claims Hardy terminated the contract in August after discovering Audigier did not fully pay royalties to Hardy and underreported the sales and income from the clothing line. Hardy also claims Audigier launched a competing product—the Christian Audigier clothing line—using Hardy’s trademarks without permission.
This is the best thing I have seen all day (except maybe the Polish Model Girl that was in my Egyptian Cotton Sheets this morning), and I don’t wish lawsuit problems on anyone.
It’s no secret that I have complete disdain for Christian Audigier Clothing and Ed Hardy Clothing. I guess I just come from a world where guys aren’t supposed to wear Glitter on their shirts. (And a world where Girls are the ones who wear “designer Jeans”, but that’s neither Triple Beam nor Ecstasy Dream).
But even more than the clothing, I really hate the “Christian Audigier Type Guy” and the “Ed Hardy Type Guy” and I have waged a personal war on their destruction (which I am winning), like “Shinny Shirt Guy”, “Surf-Cowboy Shirt Guy” and “Striped Shirt Guy” before him.
After a little research, I found out that Christian Audigier is French.
Which makes no sense.
I thought that stupid Americans were supposed to hate everything French?
Well, I love everything French: Beautiful Topless Girls on La Côte Basque and the Med in Summer, Complex Bordeaux’s, Parisian Nightlife, Foie Gras three ways, and Hossegor Pipes in my early 20’s.
But I hate Christian Audigier. (And Ed Hardy.)
The Rest is Up to You…
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Great call on Bourdain. He is a perfect representation of everything twisted & jaded with folks in the food world today. Also the perfect American dream story, drank too much and did a ton of dope in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s. Now has one of the top culinary entertainment career’s in the world and a multimedia superstar. Not to mention he is one of the only true lyrical assassin. Tony has thrown stones at everyone from Alan Richman, Rocco, The Food Network, and most recently her majesty Alice Waters. Dude just isn’t afraid to go toe to toe with anyone.
Now on to something I picked up while hunting in Madrid when I was a young cook. First thing you want to focus on is landing the Jamon Iberico Aka “pata negra”. Iberico pigs from Spain that feed only on black acorns. The marbling on this stuff is out of control. At $150 per lb. in the down economy I know is tight, but it will be well worth it. Just at all cost stay away from the “Boars Head” shit.
Cubed fresh braised Pork Belly should be your next move. I take my pork very serious, Duck is the only other protein that I have the same passion for. well talk about that another time. A nice organic fried egg is a great touch. On to the cheese, Keep it in Spain and lay on the aged manchego. When trying to land fly model chicks, stay away from the stinky cheese. This might be the most important touch of all. I’ve seen some closed deals drown because of the cheese. Drizzle with a nice Extra Virgin olive oil and a crunchy baguette.
Open up a Unico, Vega Sicilia – 1998, Ribera del Duero
Tempranillo, which comprises between 65% and 80% of “Unico” has a structure that seems to defy oxidation. Blended with a small portion of Cabernet, this Tempranillo gives intense black fruit and leather aromas. The texture is legendarily supple due to extensive oak aging. (10-25 years!)
White Wine with pork isn’t an advisable move, especially with the cheese. If you don’t get down with the reds. Grab something barrel fermented from the WC of the US.
TV is crap these days. Actually, it has always been crap, but that’s neither bricks of Hashish or slabs of Blowfish.
I really can only stomach that show American Greed, Marijuana Inc: Inside America’s Pot Industry (although I have only seen it once) and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
If you haven’t seen his show, its pretty dope: Travel, Drinking, Smoking and Eating Dope Spots. Hell, if I had a show (which I never would, I am way too low-pro) I would do it the same. Only adding swooping mad fly girls and rolling in Custom Suits (and it would be the best show on TV, no doubt).
Anyways, recently, Bourdain went to Chicago:
In the latest episode of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain went to Chicago and visited the Silver Palm restaurant. He had the Three Little Pigs Sandwich: smoked ham, a breaded pork cutlet, two strips of bacon, and two fried eggs, blanketed in a thick coat of gruyere, all on a brioche bun.
Bourdain is blown away, and drops tons of praise: “This is a work of genius, in an evil way…. A two-fisted symphony of pork, cheese, fat, and starch… that sandwich is the greatest sandwich in America. This is the apex of the sandwich-making art… the sandwich that dreams are made of.”
The Three Little Pigs Sandwich looked so dope, I had to make my own version:
Jamon Serrano
Freshly butchered Pork Chop (farm to table)
Four strips of Freshly butchered bacon (sustainable)
Free-range fried eggs
Imported Gruyere
On an Artisan Brioche Bun
