We're all done, so now we can get started

Whew boy. Two days, maybe closer to three, of work, and we're ready to get started training and racing.

People in Saratoga, this spa town, say that there's something about the waters here that's beneficial for people and animals. They may well be right.

I swear, all of our horses just settled right in; there wasn't a wacky moment among any of them. Just like with the first eight who arrived, two or three of this set were lying down in their stalls within minutes. Not Street but, you know, all of the horses love the atmosphere here - there's a track right outside where they can watch other horses run around, there's grass to be grazed on, there are hounds around, it's quiet and there's this canopy of trees sort of creating a bit of a hush over everything.

Street got a little anxious once his semi had to stop to be inspected by Department of Transportation guys. The horse just likes to be moving, I think it's that whole Jane Smiley motion/genius thing.

But, he was great when he got here, had a bath and got to graze. And, you know, I said "Hey, Big Horse" to him when he was at the back of the stall and he came up to see me. I sorta felt like he was glad to reconnect. A pretty cool feeling.

Busy day, though, the eight who got in Friday went to the track for the very first time to gallop. There were no incidents there, the horses just got down to business and felt out the track. Those 8 had to be bathed and done up when they got back and, in the middle of that, the truck with the other 6 arrived. Chop, chop!

At Churchill, a lot of our responsibilities are pretty regimented - each person knows and does his or her job. Here, and on the road in general, everybody just sort of pitches in - a hotwalker will roll bandages, help do up horses, rake the shed, whatever needs to be doing, the idea being that it's all work and it all has to be done, so just work all the time and everybody will get done more quickly.

It's backbreaking stuff but overriding it all, or at least riding along with it, is the deep feeling of how extraordinary this all this. I've gone on about Street plenty, and he's definitely the reason I'm able to be here and the reason this year has been so constantly joyful, but I need to say too that Saratoga is this sport's very best meet, every year.

The track has been here forever (I think the Travers may be the oldest race in the country), and each corner of this place exudes history, as well as class. As someone in town told me, at Saratoga, everyone shows up - it's the event most horsepeople try to get to. It's not only important to run here, but running well here is noticed by the important people in the business, partly because having a winner or a good showing is very difficult - the competition is extraordinary. I think Saratoga is also called "The Graveyard of Champions", so called because of the track's and competition's tendency to cause defeats of previously spectacular performers.

There are champion's everywhere here. We can expect to see all the healthy big name horses who've run well this year. Street, Curlin, Rags to Riches (though maybe she got hurt the other day, not sure, I'm not to well informed about much of anything right now - Hey, I come from the home of the Know Nothing Party, gimme a break), The Tin Man (I hope, a very cool old guy, you gotta love the old ones, especially old great ones who are still running well), think of a big name runner, and they'll be here.

Why else would a guy be sitting once again outside of Donkey's stall and taking the time to write this, to memorialize, when he has to get up at 3:30 and jump right into the machine again. After a day of hard work, with things going well, it's good to take a few moments and look back on the day. I learn something every day I didn't know before but, in back of it all, in my head, is great joy at being privileged just to be able to take part.