Page 24 - December 2006 The Game

24 The Game, December 2006 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Wish List
A few years back, Pearl Jam had a hit with a song called “Wish List”. With a good tune, the singer described several things that he wished he could be to someone he loved: “I wish I was a messenger, and all the news is good,” As we approach the Christmas season, I’ve decided to come up with a wish list of my own. But first, here’s a list of items to consider just in case you’re loaded and have no idea what to spend it on. All of these are available online and being able to afford any of them is God’s way of telling you that you make too much money!
• When Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wanted a jet, he logged on for a Gulfstream GV, delivered to his hangar. (Perfect for jetting to the races). The price: US$41 million.
• A set of three islands, covering 1,100
acres, is available for sale at www.vladi-private-islands.de. According to F. Vladi, the site's owner, l'Isle du Nord is a steal at 6.5 million euros (US$8.2 million) and is "only ten minutes by helicopter from downtown Bordeaux." The islands come complete with a small village, three manors and a vineyard that can bottle 228,000 bottles of your own personal wine every year. (What, no racetracks?)
• ExtravaGift.com offers "extravagant gifts for everyone", including submarine rides to the Titanic. Fork over US$36,650 and you'll descend 12,465 feet beneath the sea aboard one of only three commercial submarines that can reach 20,000 feet without crumpling under the pressure. (What if you accidentally went to 20,001 feet?)
• Those with longings of a lunar nature have options online, too. For US$32, the New York-based Lunar Registry will sell
you an acre in the Sea of Tranquility - "the moon's most prestigious location." All 850,000 customers who have bought real estate on the moon received a personalized deed on parchment, a satellite photograph of the plot and enough information to help locate the property by telescope. (You should double-check before you go to build, though).
• Bond. James Bond. TheBlueFish.com offers the "ultimate 007 experience." Seventy-five thousand dollars buys you a stay at the actual Monaco suite used in several James Bond movies, private driving lessons with a Formula 1 driver, a speed boat chase, a mock kidnapping to the "Octopussy" yacht, dinners in Moscow, a private tour of the Kremlin and a top-secret trip to Zhukovsky Air Base for flight training exercises in a military jet. Beats the heck out of watching the new Bond flick in a
theater this month. (Is it OK if you’re Blond, James Blond?)
To be sure, final negotiations of some of the larger purchases such as boats and planes tend to be handled offline. But just in case you were wondering, you can use a credit card to buy your chance to meet Tony Bennett in London for US$44,000 through one of Sam's Club's "once-in-a- lifetime" packages. (Tony shilling for Sam’s Club - say it ain’t so!)
My list isn’t quite so extravagant, but some wishes may be just as hard to obtain. To wit:
• I wish I could perform more weddings and baptisms than funerals and memorials.
• I wish more people could experience the joy and tranquility of grazing a horse. • I wish fewer people would let horses be named after them. (For every Dr. Fager there’s at least 10
Bannons.)
• I wish people would approach
God in the good times as well as the bad.
• I wish more people, (including myself), would count their blessings, rather than dwell on the negative.
• I wish churches didn’t view the racetrack as a “den of iniquity”.
• I wish more people, (like me), would think before they speak and not expound on things they know nothing about.
• I wish rumours would never get started, but if they do, not spread.
• I wish I wasn’t a 20/20 hindsight handicapper.
• I wish more people could experience galloping a horse when the air is cool, the sun is on the horizon like a blood-red ball and the track surface perfect.
• I wish people and horses never got hurt.
• I wish all riders, (again, me too), would toss their old-school helmets in the garbage and switched to the new safety-approved ones.
• I wish everyone could remember the reason for the Christmas season and have a safe and prosperous new year.
See you in 2007.
Get Tied On
with Chaplain Shawn
Season’s Greetings
From your Board of Directors & Administration Staff
of the HBPA of Ontario
President, Sue Leslie
Vice President, William Diamant & Vice President, Nick Gonzalez Directors: Michael Barkowski, Conrad Cohen, Scott Fairlie, Stanley Fishman, Lynne Hindmarsh, Sam Lima,
Larry Regan, & Danny Vella
Administration Staff: Nick Coukos, Catherine Duclos,
Bill Eastwood, Colleen Murphy, Corinne Phillips,
Julia Samulak, Lorrie Scott & Martha Scott
NORTH AMERICAN STAKES SERVICES
Stakes Schedules
& Closing Reports
Includes information from all racetracks in North America
1-866-886-5827 stacie@nastakes.com www.nastakes.com