Breakfast at Clocker's Corner

We had breakfast this weekend at Clocker's Corner at the Santa Anita racetrack.  It's like two activities for the price of one: (1) you get to have a relatively nice restaurant breakfast; and (2) it's a trip to the racetrack, minus the betting. 

The breakfast seating is right next to the racetrack.  It is quite a scene.  I don't know what is more interesting to watch: the horses or the people.  The horses race around the track, alone or in pairs.  They gallop, canter, trot, walk and move at every speed in between.  I could watch the horses for hours. 

As for the breakfast crowd, there are jockeys, trainers, owners, reporters and professional gamblers.  The jockeys are so small, and they wear their riding helmets even when they are mingling with the trainers and owners.  As for everyone else, there are a lot of interesting mustaches and hats.  Some people are dressed up, as if the Kentucky Derby is running that day; more people are grisled and look like they have led hard, hard lives.

This past Saturday morning, it was foggy.  Usually, the San Gabriel Mountains watch over the racetrack, but the fog concealed the mountains entirely.  Horses are beautiful to watch, and Nathan gave me a Flip video camera for Christmas - so I filmed some footage.  If you want to experience breakfast at Clocker's Corner, just pour yourself a cup of coffee, fry some bacon and watch the video on repeat.  (The video is just 25 seconds long, so you will probably have it memorized by your third sip of coffee).