Brian Lawrence Live

Friday, May 16
A yearly tradition, the Black-eyed Susan race, held the day before Preakness, is almost more fun. Tons of people come out to the track at Pimlico for the day, but you don’t have to put up with all the hassle of parking nightmares and overwhelming crowds. Though the day started off rainy, by early afternoon the rain let up and it turned out to be a great day. I started off at a private bourbon tasting luncheon, hosted by Brown Foreman in the Triple Crown Room. Bubbly Downtown Diane was at our table, to keep things interesting. After some great crabcakes and carved roast beef, it was on to some mighty fine bourbons— Woodland Reserve, Gentleman Jack and a few others. Then it was out into the Grandstand to join up with pals Jim Burger, Denis Nash, Dennis Porter and Celeste Corsaro. I ran into a ton of friends throughout the afternoon— Ted Imbach, Todd Yuhanick, Mark Caplan, Jerry Maizlish, Jon Levinson— just to name a few. Who knew so many people know about this party-before-the-party race day? Truly a great way to play hooky from the office on a Friday afternoon.

Then later that evening, it was off over to Chuck & Mary Kay Nabit‘s annual Preakness Eve bash, this year with a ‘70s theme. Many of the guests really got into the spirit of the evening with some fun retro costumes: Hannah Byron in a leopard-print jumpsuit, Steve Sobelman as a long-haired hippie and of course, the host and hostess. I spent the evening conversing with guests Barbie Hart, Stuart & Suzanne Amoss, Sam & Carter Polikoff and Christian Johansson.