Coat Check Tickets

EXAMINER DISCOVERY SERIES: Kawartha Downs

I'm off to the races this lovely Thursday evening, tasked with exploring everything Kawartha Downs has to offer.

But I must confess something first. Not only have I never been to Kawartha Downs before, but I've never been to any casino before, ever.

Not Las Vegas. Not Casino Rama.

And I have never, ever seen a live horse race.

My impressions of these institutions have been formed by inspiring movies, gangster films and pictures of the British aristocracy wearing ridiculous hats while gambling fabulous sums of money.

Not surprisingly, the reality is far tamer.

Upon arriving at 6:30 p.m., the parking lot looks crowded — maybe because the races start at 4 p. m. — but I find a row of spots near the back.

The building is basically split up into two parts.

The first part is where the slots are — we'll get to that later.

To the immediate right of the entrance is the track, complete with a bar, snack bar and plenty of seats inside.

But this night is warm, sunny and bears little trace of the humidity that has plagued us these past few weeks. Few people are inside. Almost everyone is seated outside.

I was surprised, at first, to see how many families were there, people of all ages sitting on the wooden benches and picnic tables that fill the space.

Live music played at one end of the area between races and the whole place smelled like a barbecue.

Some people sat facing each other, chatting away while the horses were paraded in front of the crowd before the start of each race.

Others mingled near the wooden fence, waiting for signal marking the beginning of each race.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m., the horn sounded.

People pushed closer to the fence.

"Come on, No. 4, come on, No. 4," one man to the left of me said, puffing on a cigarette.

At the first pass, the horses are single file; as they round the bend, the drivers begin to fan out.

The second pass marks the end of the race.

The "No. 4" enthusiast at my left groans. Wild cheering breaks out on my right, courtesy of three young kids with handfuls of change clenched in their fists.

Sitting back down, I find myself beside Scott Gray, an Oshawa resident who said he's been watching horse races for 40 years.

He's a wealth of information and doesn't mind explaining the basics to me as he pulls out the evening's program.

My Adventures with Coat Check | All about sports

I am sure we are all familiar with coat check, what is it for and how it works but for the intoxicant of my review I will explain anyway. Basically, for the convenience of not having to lug your belongings around you pay a small fee to a coat check attendant. That stated fee is the cost to have your coat stored in the area the establishment has set up for the purpose of storing all paying patrons belongings. They give you a ticket similar to a ticket you would get when entering a gift in which you must hold onto this ticket to retrieve your belongings. There are a variety of tickets acquirable for use with warnings on them such as, “Not responsible for contents of garments” or “Not responsible for any lost items”, sounds assuring doesn’t it? Either way, it is convenient to have the option to rid yourself of your belongings and enjoy what you set out to do or just leave your coat in you automobile and freeze your butt off while travel to the place.

I admit, I used to do this all the time along with a few other girlfriends – we would all leave our coats and important belongings in the trunk taking with us our ID and money, achievement and freeze. Why would we do this? A few reasons, refrain lines, the line to check in your coat and the line to retrieve it – saved a few bucks, hey, more for drinks and you avoided the risk of your crown being lost or stolen if of course no one messes with the automobile which was pretty unlikely.

However on those really cold nights, I would bring it with me (which turned into nearly always) – in my city, cold is cold and well, I needed my coat! One night out, I went off to a venue, a Nightclub, that I had been to once before. It now had a new study and new management. This was in the winter of 2007. Being winter, I had my coat on while inactivity in line, it was a study brand crown with a study brand price attach and was new – purchased that winter. Checked the coat in, paid the fee, safely tucked away my ticket. After doing what it is you do at Nightclubs – drink, diversion and socialize, I proceeded to check out my coat. It was last call – time to go. With my ticket in hand, I waited in line and waited and waited – geez, where is my coat! I was getting anxious and annoyed. Well whaydda know, the lovely coat check girl lost it! In her own words, she stated “I had someone else helping me” and it got so crazy “that we just started handing out jackets”. Really, well I have something to hand you! Needless to state I was peeved which did not help my situation. I was getting a bit loud and my friends calmed me down, explained that getting upset would not bring my crown back. So I obtained the managers number and exited the venue. I called that manager for two weeks, no jacket, no resolution, not even a hey come by and get in free or have VIP for a night. I never went back there again – heck, I did not even enjoy it. Three levels of lameness, I have seen better. As I wrote this, I went and checked out their rating on a website, was not surprised to find that they are currently rated a low 2.5/5.

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