Master's Miata Club

Again Tom Varallo offered the Club the use of his rail side spot at the spring steeplechase. Brian & Donna Bogardus, Jennie & Thomas Hodges and Hal & Trudy Scott enjoyed a fabulous time at the races on our Club President. We were also joined by Tom’s “nephew” and his wife for the day and MMC member Noel Brock ducked in to say hi somewhere around the 5th race.

We had grilled chicken and hot dogs to eat along with veggies, fruit and chips to dip. There were cookies for dessert and a retirement cake to top it all off for the club’s latest non-productive member of society. You would think that with the Club logo on the sign right in front of Brian & Donna’s Miata that it would have brought a question or two about Miatas and/or the club, but you’d be wrong. The Club vehicle that attracted the most attention was Hall & Trudy’s 1987 GMC Caballero (that they’ve had since new), including at least one offer to buy it on the spot.

If you missed a chance to join in the fun this spring, don’t fret because Tom has already agreed to let us use his spot for the fall event too, so mark your calendars for Saturday, October 27, 2018.

Members Attending: Karol & Dennis Mason, Donna & Brian Bogardus and Emilie & Kirill Skliar
Member Guest Appearance: Chip Cunningham
Guest Attending: Lee Nolastname (friend of Masons)
Special Guest Appearances: Courtney (Lee’s daughter), Little Courtney, somebody possibly named Bridget and a couple others

After gifting the Club the use of his spot and tickets for the past two Aiken Spring Steeplechases, this time President Tom gave us the opportunity to attend the Fall Steeplechase. He donated to us the spot for one vehicle, a couple extra parking passes and a dozen tickets to get in the gate. Six club members claimed the tickets right off, us, Karol & Dennis Mason and Emilie & Kirill Skliar, and maybe because it was sort of last minute, no one else piped up. The six of us that were going started looking for guests to bring because we didn’t want Mr. Varallo’s largess to go unused. By Friday we thought we had all but one spoken for, but by Saturday we only had guest use a ticket to get in. Sigh.

As before with previous steeplechases the Bogarduses and Masons arrived practically as the event gates opened to set up. When we got to spot #262, we were excited to see that it was right at the jump. Soon the other spots started to fill up too. As our direct neighbors arrived, we traded introductions and offered up food and drink. They reciprocated to be friendly and because everyone always brings way more than they need to these events.

We had two portable grills (one charcoal, one gas) setup for cooking the hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken & vegetable shish kabobs. There were Fritos and a couple bags of chips with about four different kinds of dip to nibble on. There were crackers, cheese, sliced ham and venison sausage for grazing, with brownies and an Italian raisin bread for your sweet tooth. To drink we had iced tea, soft drinks/mixers, beer, Jack Daniels, Vanilla Crown Royal and a bit of bubbly.

Spot #262 was not only right at the exit of a jump, but as it turned out, in 4 of the 5 races, the horses lined up to start right in front of us. Unlike flat races where the horses are slotted into a starting gate, in steeplechase they parade from the paddock and then line up in reverse start order behind a judge who then walks them in a line towards the rail. There they do a left face maneuver, so when another judge (on foot) waves the red flag, they take off sort of like they just came out of a gate. Because these are naturally skittish thoroughbred race horses it never goes smoothly, yet somehow they always end up with a reasonably straight start.

In between the first and second race our special guests arrived to liven up our tent with youth and conversation. We fed them some of our food and we helped ourselves to some of their liquor. They watched the carriage parade with us and the second race, when just as quickly as they came, they disappeared. Left behind the booze though, so we knew they’d be back.

In between the third and fourth race Chip was on his way to somewhere when he noticed the Club sign in front of Dennis’s truck, so he stayed long enough to say hello, before he too disappeared. In between the fourth and final race Emilie & Kirill headed over into the infield to walk through the shops and take in some of the pageantry that is steeplechase, which Donna and I and the Mason’s had already done earlier.

Emilie & Kirill came back after the fifth and final race finished. Not long after, Little Courtney and Bridget popped back in to join us as we whiled away some time waiting for the crowd of hurry-homes to disperse some before we would attempt our own exit. Bridget got Dennis to pop the cork on her bottle of sparkling wine and the nine of us toasted another fantastic day at the races in Aiken. We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better spot to watch the races. Thanks Tom!