Eclipse Diaries: Palm Meadows Morning

The Eclipse Awards are coming up on Saturday, bringing horse racing’s year-end honors to South Florida with media and fans in their wake. Because I got down here a little early this year, I decided to head out to Palm Meadows this morning to take in the action at one of America’s most beautiful training facilities.

Palm Meadows, located in Boynton Beach, FL, has capacity for over 1,400 horses who live, learn and play over the facility’s 304 acres. Even though the training center is located less than an hour north of Miami, it feels delightfully remote and rural. When I arrived this morning, I took some time to just hang out by the rail of the track and watch the Thoroughbreds go through their daily training.

Palm Meadows is a special place because so many top trainers choose to spend the winter months here. That means that you never know when you’re going to see a superstar from 2015 on the track or a potential Triple Crown contender grazing on the lush grass outside the barns. It’s an amazing place, and you can learn more about it right here. 
After watching some workouts, I decided to head into the barn area, since I had two twitter critters to visit. On my way there, I just enjoyed the sight of so many horses enjoying themselves, relaxing outdoors under the ministrations of the people taking care of them in the washing areas.

My first stop was to trainer Jimmy Jerkens’s barn, where I stopped in to see the one and only Juba. This handsome horse, now five years old, has a devoted Twitter following and he has just as much personality in real life as he shows online! When I arrived at Juba’s stall, he was posed and waiting for his adoring public.

But when he saw my cameras, he came right over to inspect them. That’s when I couldn’t resist getting a shot or two, because horse noses are adorable in general and Juba’s is very cute in particular.

After letting me take pictures and fawn over him for a few minutes, Juba inspected his owner Peter Horvitz of Centennial Farms for some mints, and then returned to snacking on his hay. 

Juba’s not only a Twitter sensation, but he’s also an accomplished and active racehorse. In fact, he’s running this Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the second race (approximately 12:35 p.m. ET) and you can watch the livestream for free right here. 
When I was done playing with Juba, I wandered over to go visit another one of my favorite horses, House Rules. She’s also trained by Jimmy Jerkens, and she’s one of the sweetest horses I’ve ever met (in addition to being a pretty fast racehorse! Sigh … she’s perfect.) She seemed very happy to see me, which could be because I was wearing a hat with her name on it!

In fact, she seemed to like it so much that I let her try it on. I think green is her color!

Look, when I get around these Thoroughbreds I revert back to my seven-year-old horse-crazy kid state. I can’t help it and I’m completely OK with it.
My final stop of the morning was to go see Gator Kitten, the sassiest cat on Twitter. When I found my way to his barn, I caught sight of this fantastic sign: 

But unfortunately Gator himself wasn’t present. I looked around for him, but sadly I must have just missed that cat. Believe me, I got in much trouble for my bad timing:

Momma says @PenelopePMiller comes by. You didnts see me Penelopes so why is you gone!? Gets my whips ready! pic.twitter.com/PJYCS6oUAR
— Gator Kitten (@Gatorkitten) January 14, 2016

Ouch!
While I was sad not to visit with the coolest cat on Twitter, I did get the chance to hang out with Manchurian High. This glamorous gelding has the most luxurious forelock (that’s the shock of hair that falls down a horse’s forehead) and I was instantly in love.

He also was very curious about my clicking cameras, which led to my favorite photo of 2016! 

Manchurian High is running on Saturday at Gulfstream: he’ll be in the tenth race, the Sunshine Millions Turf. I know who I’ll be cheering for! 
Thank you for joining me on my first trip of the New Year, and I’ll be back over the next few days to share my Eclipse Awards adventures with you. Let me know in the comments who you’re rooting for in the year-end honors and don’t forget, if you want to watch the Eclipse Awards this year, you can do so on Xpressbet's live stream for free starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 16!