Desert Horses

Welcome to my horse blog, Desert Horses. We live in the desert southwest, near Palm Springs, CA, but board our horses up in our local mountains where it is cooler in the summer. I have 4 horses, all rescues. Here is the ranch up the mountains where the horses stay.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Clocker's Corner and exercise riders




























































Clocker's Corner at Santa Anita is a little outdoor coffee shop/cafe where the public can sit and watch the morning exercise riders and the horses. It opens at 5:00 a.m., but we used to get there about 8:00. Owners and trainers stop by for coffee and the latest news. It's also where you meet for the Seabiscuit tour. We often went to Clocker's Corner, grabbed breakfast, took 10,000 photos, and then attended the races for the day. Of course, I spent most of my time taking pics of the horses! But I did place a bet every now and then! I loved to take pics of the riders who were out exercising the thoroughbreds. Sometimes they would thunder past me, other times they would leisurely walk by.






3 comments:

M. C. Valada said...

I've done tours of the back areas of Santa Anita courtesy of one of the trainers who went to college with the retired head of the horse program at Pierce College. They road bulls together back in the 1960s. Every year, Ron takes his classes to Santa Anita at about 6:30 a.m. to watch breezing from Clockers' Corner, and then his friend or his friend's assistant comes out to answer questions about the horses, racing, and so on. Bob Bafford talked to us one year and we watched the grey he had hopes for running--it didn't make it to the Kentucky Derby, though. We usually go in early April and the horses photograph nicely in the early morning fog

Anonymous said...

I would love to sit there and have a cup of coffee! Do you race your own horses?

Cheryl Ann said...

Oh, gosh no! Our thoroughbred was on a feedlot in WA state, ready to go to slaughter! She doesn't have a lip tattoo, so she never raced! I just loved GOING to the races and seeing all the beautiful horses!