Frankly Speaking - Del Mar July 28th, 2023

By: Frank Scatoni

There’s a First for Everything

Today was a series of firsts. The first “first” was extremely heartfelt: today, Thursday, 7/27/2023, marked the first time I’ve done the Newcomers’ Seminar since Covid hit—three full years around the captivating Del Mar sun: where the turf meets the surf! It’s been a really long time, and I can’t thank Del Mar enough for recognizing how important this seminar is, and bringing it back on the best day possible: “Free and Easy Thursdays.” It was such a joy to see so many people show up to try and gain entrée into the sport. We old-timers all know that the barrier to entry for handicapping and horseplaying is steep—so for people to come out and want to dip their toe in the water meant so much to me. We’ll keep it going every Thursday for the summer season, and I’m so happy about that. Admittedly, I was a little rusty, but the audience was rapt, and now the momentum is there to keep it going for the rest of the meeting.