NO, NO, NO, NO...AND NO

If you head out towards Great Meadow on Saturday, October 16th looking for the International Gold Cup "steeplechase" races and you see anything that looks remotely like this, you are in the WRONG place.

Check with your GPS, your iPhone, your Blackberry, your girlfriend, or heaven forbid, stop and ASK for directions.

You are looking for HORSES jumping.  It's much more fun, more beautiful, more inspiring, etc.

The people steeplechase looks wet, sweaty, uncomfortable and generally not so much fun.

PICTURES OF THE DAY

Scenes from the the Great Northern Steeplechase race at Ellerslie Racecourse on September 4, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand.

DON'T LET THE WARM WEATHER FOOL YOU...

It's almost October and the International Gold Cup is looming.

The weather will cool off, and the leaves will start to turn.

The signs of autumn are everywhere.

The Nats are done, and when we say "done," we mean REALLY done. In fact, when they recently lost 8-0 to Philadelphia, the Phils popped champagne to celebrate clinching the division.  The Nats clinched last place in the NL East a few months ago...Mind you they refrained from losing 100 games -- the high standard of low excellence for major league baseball.

The goggles are a nice touch, don't you think?

College football is underway, but who's worth going to see?  Maryland is mediocre, Virginia is rebuilding and Virginia Tech can't decide whether or not they want to be good after stumbling through losses to Boise State and James Madison. Why burn a perfectly good Saturday afternoon on that?

The Capitals and Wizards are getting underway and setting the stage to disappoint us all sooner (Wizards) or later (Caps).

The Redskins just lost to the Rams -- a team that hadn't won a home game since the end of the Crimean War (something like losers of 603 out of their last 608 games) -- and, even if you do remain loyal, they don't play on Saturday.  You have to wait until Sunday to feel the Skins special brand of pain.

See anybody you know?

So, simply put, set aside Saturday, October 16th for the International Gold Cup.

You will be glad you did.

Bring your friends. You will be glad you did that too.

MEDIA: THE RECESSION IS OVER, CELEBRATE AT FALL GOLD CUP

So why are almost all of these people laughing?

Easy, they are thinking about how much fun they are going to have later that evening seeing the new Disney movie Secretariat at a special screening for horse industry muckety mucks on Wednesday night at Tysons Corner.

They are also thinking about how much fun they are going to have at this year's International Gold Cup.

One person in light blue in the center of the group is not laughing.

This would be Diane Jones and she is in charge of the International Gold Cup and she has to sweat ALL the details including how she is going to get you your tickets if you wait until the last minute.

So get your tickets today!

(In photo Tommy Lee Jones, Leslie Hazel, Diane Jones, Jocye and Bill Fendley)