A year ago on this day, I was getting ready to head to the Meadowlands; my sister-in-law was planning a surprise 40th birthday for my brother, and I was meeting some of his friends there in the afternoon for some simulcasting before the big event. Evening Attire was in action that day, in his second start after the aborted attempt to retire him.

It was a great betting day: a friend told me to bet the #2 in a race at some small track—without looking at the program, I did, and it won. And in a turf race at Gulfstream, I bet a 35-1 shot who came in by a nose. So I had some money to play with, and one of the places I put it was on Evening Attire at 9–1 in the Stymie.

I confess that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the guy; he hadn’t done a lot before his retirement, and the wager was purely sentimental. In fact, I didn’t even watch the race that closely, so little faith did I have that he’d win. I looked up at the monitor to see a grey horse cross the wire first, and I said—seriously—“There must have been another grey in the race.” But my friend Pete corrected me…he’d been watching more closely than I, and knew that it was the old guy who’d taken off down the stretch to win by two and a quarter. Woo-hoo, Evening Attire! And I cashed another ticket.

That was Evening Attire’s only win of 2007 until he re-captured the public’s racing heart and attention with his win in the Queen’s County in December. He was a closing and respectable second last out in January, but it’s hard to be optimistic today, with Daaher coming up from Florida to run. I have to hope that Explosive Heat or Temporary Saint will challenge Daaher on the lead to set up for Evening Attire, but both literally and figuratively, I think Evening Attire will be a longshot today. Update: Explosive Heat is scratched.

Once again, on the first Saturday in March, I’m getting ready to go to the Meadowlands; my brother’s birthday was Thursday, and my father’s earlier this month, and each of them wanted a night at the Big M to celebrate. Other commitments are preventing me from making the trip to Aqueduct this afternoon, but whether I’m home in Brooklyn or in front of a TV at the Meadowlands, a little before 5:00 I’ll be doing what I was doing last year: betting on Evening Attire and hoping he’ll win, but this time, I’ll be paying closer attention.