Shoe Issue

photo credit: Russ Melton / BloodHorse

The Big Brown Belmont loss controversy has heated up again in the last week,
after pictures surfaced showing his shoe partially off right at the break of the Belmont, and another taken right as Desormeaux was pulling him up near the finish line.


Basically what that means is that for some reason, Brown's shoe dislodged at or near the start (which some had thought anyway) but stayed dislodged throughout the race. As you can see below, the nail is protruding and the shoe is partially off.


photo credit: Bob Mayberger / BloodHorse

Obviously that could not have been comfortable- and, feeling something odd, Brown knew it and couldn't get himself into the race due to the awkwardness of the shoe problem.

There is also some feeling that another horse - Guadalcanal - stepped on Brown's right hind foot as they sprung forward from the gate.

Add to that the thought that the official starter at the gate was standing in an unusual place (right on the track basically in front of the field as they broke) when the race began, and you have got all the controversy and explanation that you would need for Big Brown's dismal performance.


It is obvious, to me, that the racing gods didn't like the way Big Brown's name looked right under Affirmed on the Triple Crown winners list, and this was their way of saying 'no can do'.

Big Brown is next scheduled (as of now) to run in the million dollar Haskell Invitational at the beginning of August at Monmouth Park in New Jersey - so I guess we'll see if he can bounce back and if he is truly the outstanding colt most people feel he is.

His trainer (busted this week and serving a suspension for illegal drugs found in one of his horses) is still a stellar jackass. But don't hold that against the horse.

Brown wants to show you that he is still on top. That his name is still worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Seattle Slew or Secretariat.

Well, he's got his work cut out for him.

And a big hurdle on his way to Horse of the Year honors is spelled C-U-R-L-I-N.
Brownie's got to beat the big guns to claim any fame. Don't know if that will happen, as Curlin isn't running in the Haskell that I know of, and I don't think they are even planning on running him in the Breeders' Cup Classic due to it being on artificial surface at Santa Anita. Guess we'll wait and see.

If Curlin wins if they travel to France for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I), and Brown wins the Haskell and the Classic - the Horse of the Year race will be a tough one indeed.

It's been a good year for racing, despite all the negative happenings, controversies, and bad luck.
The horses still rock.

all legal and everything...

A big huge shout out to my brother who turned 21 yesterday.
Now he can finally at least legally do all the things he's been doing for the last several years!
Best wishes, I love ya.

Things I ponder while riding on the back of a Harley...

Funny how my mind works...
When riding as a passenger on the back of the hubby's bike, my mind wanders to the most unusual and ridiculous subjects.
There's nothing to do but think, so that's what I do.
Here's what I think about.

*do horses and cows get along?
*long driveways = nice houses
*roadkill baked in the sun all day = horrific olfactory experience
*some trees look like Ents
*mock orange flowers smell divine
*chestnut trees smell... well... 'er.... strangely erotic
*some people have too many plastic kids toys in their yards
*wonder if we'll stop at the Dairy Queen?
*empty old schools are sad
*potholes in road make for sore rump
*are all Saint Bernards like Cujo?
*why did I think I wouldn't like this?

The Name Game

I was just thinking of all the ways people screw up their kids by giving them stupid or ridiculous names they have to live with and apologize for all their lives. Seeing as how I don't have any kids, maybe I'm not qualified for this discussion, but as usual, I don't care what people think.

So... this bugs me:

People who call their kid by its middle name.
Like if your name is Bertha Louise Jones and your parents call you Louise.
Why didn't you just name them Louise?
WTF?

Or how about when they call you something altogether different than your name.
Parents say something like "Oh, we named her Kathryn Elizabeth but we've always liked Mandy, so we'll be calling her Mandy.
Or your name is Robert Jones and they call you Jack.
Huh?

The "Y" that is added to the end of names just kills me.
I know everyone does it and sometimes it even works, like with Billy, Tommy, Bobby, and Johnny (I mean can you imagine calling Johnny Depp just John? Let me see.... Mrs. John Depp. Nope, doesn't work for me.)
But when you start adding it to names it wasn't meant to be added to, like Scott, Pam, Greg, Nick, George, and (sorry honey) Todd - it just sounds silly. I hate my own name so bad with a "Y" on the end so much that only two people have ever called me that and they are both dead.
Not by my doing, but that's beside the point.

Nicknames.
Too bad for you if you were overweight as a child. You are probably living with Chunky, Heavy, Fatso, Chubs, Tank, Blimpie or the likes.
Eat too many sweets as a kid? Candy, Cookie, Cupcake.... whatever.
Good or poor intellect? Smarty Pants or Dumb Ass. Take your pick.
Liked toys? Dolly, Tonka, or maybe even GI Joe (if you were blessed with the name Joseph at birth)
What's your personality? They probably stuck something with your name like Chatty Cathy, Dopey Doreen, Picky Pauline, Lucky Lenny, Bashful Brian...
Poor kids.

Or there's the ever popular naming your child after yourself - because apparently, even though there are millions of names to choose from, you've run out already and had to choose your own.
So what do you have then?
Robert Jones, Jr. - a.k.a. Bobby or Robby...
Or maybe you'll just get Junior. Love that. It sounds like a big fat dude sitting on the front steps of the redwood deck of his decades old trailer - chewing on a piece of wheat and strummin his banjo.

Speaking of the 'country' life: Could we completely phase out the good ole' hick names like the Waltons' style Jim-Bob, John-Boy, Mary-Ellen, Joe-Bob, Cindy-Sue, Betty-Lou, Bobby-Jo... Ugh.

And all those good Catholic names like Mary-Margaret, Mary-Katherine, Mary-Theresa, Mary-Elizabeth, Mary-Frances, Mary-Agnes...
What is up with all the Marys? Not necessary. Doesn't make them any holier in my book.

And I hate to rag on all the African names, but I don't want to discriminate, so I feel I should pick on everyone equally. If I'm going to offend, I want to make sure to offend everyone.
LaKisha, Levon, Deion, Lebron, Beyonce, Aisha, Tanisha, Jamal, LaToya, Tyrel, Lamont.... we don't live in Africa, correct?

How about no hooker names - No Vanessa, Heather, Destiny, Misty, Sherry, Tiffany, Lacey, Desirie, or even Whitney. At the very least they sound like pole dancing names.

Flat-out bad names for boys: Homer, Ulysses, Phinneaus, Cletus, Clifford, Sherwood, Cecil, Oscar, Ralph, Dwight, Ernest, Ira, and Winston.

Crappy girl names: Bertha, Doris, Marge, Lois, Eunice, Orabell, Willhimina, Betty, Lucille, Loretta, Dorothy, Freda, Henrietta, or Mona. They all sound like old lady names. And a special thanks to the tv show "Mad About You" who were kind enough to bring back Mabel.
OY.

Can you not spell your kid's name different than the norm? You will never find anything personalized for them! Brittani, Crystie, Tifani, Bryan, Tracee, Alivia, Jewelee, and please, no
Tod, Jon, Mat, or Jef! Can't you actually S-P-E-L-L??

Parents: Please think about what your child's first name will sound like with your last name.
That means you, parents of Brandy Wine, Bud Wiser, Holly Wood, Michael Myers, Crystal Ball, Harry Peters, Rod Johnson, Crystal Waters, Harry Ball, Allison Nelson, Dick Peters, or Julia Gulia (wedding singer!)

But I believe all of the above names are still not as devastating to children as some of the names that the stars have named their offspring. Moon Unit, Dweezil, Apple, Moses, Phinneaus, Hazel, Kal-El, Pilot, Moxie CrimeFighter (seriously!), Suri, Peaches, Tiger-Lily, Ziggy, Ky-Mani, Satchel (leave it to Woody Allen!), Scout LaRue, Rumer, Tallulah Belle, Maddox Chivan, Zahara, Pax Thien, Shiloh Nouvel, Rainbow Joan of Arc (!), Leaf, Zowie, Coco, Audio Science, and Sage Moon Blood. Honestly!

Did you know George Foreman named each of his children after himself, adding a Jr, III, IV, V, VI on all the boys, and named the girls Freeda George and Georgetta. No vanity there, eh?

Lastly, try not to be pretentious enough to name your child the same name as someone Uber-Famous. Like Oprah, Madonna, Cher, Celine, Sting, Bono, Shaq, and by all means, don't name your child Jesus. Even if you are Mexican or Spanish. Oh my.

So there it is. My rant for the day. Sorry if I offended anyone that may have used or may actually be named any of the above.
Somehow I think there may only be one Moon Unit, though.
Later.

In the good old summertime...

Best things about SUMMER:

*) hot dogs over the fire
*) flower gardens
*) honeybees (unless they are stinging the hubby)
*) rides on the Harley
*) bats (do you realize how many moisquitoes they vanquish?)
*) the smell of suntan lotion
*) amusement parks
*) drive in theaters
*) 3 legal holidays (not including flag day!)
*) porch swings
*) thunderstorms
*) corn on the cob
*) small town fairs and festivals
*) fireworks
*) the smell of rain on the hot pavement

Summer Breeze...makes me feel whine

The most annoying things about SUMMER.
*) mosquitoes
*) humidity
*) wasps and yellow jackets
*) allergies
*) the smell of roadkill
*) ants at picnics
*) leather car seats
*) road construction
*) brush fires
*) school's out
*) tornadoes
*) hurricanes
*) temps above 85 degrees F
*) air conditioning (most of the time too cold!)
*) TV re-runs

Farewell to a legend...

Photo: AP


A moment of silence as we bid a fond farewell to a comedic genius.

George Carlin, 71, died sunday in LA of heart failure.


I can't say how much I enjoyed George's quick wit and insatiable hunger for human stupidity.
I can't put it into words, which is just what he would have done.

He was brilliant, cynical, perceptive, pessimistic, sarcastic, intuitive, masterful, and a slew of other superlatives I could keep adding...

His "Class Clown" album was my first experience with his all-knowing, well-versed examination of the human psyche. Just as quick-witted about politics and religion as with the mundane aspects of daily life, he stood alone as a pioneer of comedy.
With his countless HBO specials, albums, books, acting gigs, and TV appearances, we'll have alot to remember him by.
As if we'd ever forget.

For my favorite "Georgeisms", go here: www.compulsivelistaddiction.blogspot.com

He'll be missed.

See ya George. Wherever you are, I'm sure they're laughing...

George Carlin : Top ten quotes

My first compulsive list is, on the sad occassion of George Carlin's passing yesterday, my top ten favorite Carlin quotes.

10) A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.

9) You can prick your finger — just don’t finger your prick.

8) Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do “practice”?

7) Here’s a bumper sticker I’d like to see: “We are the proud parents of a child who’s self-esteem is sufficient that he doesn’t need us promoting his minor scholastic achievements on the back of our car.”

6) What was the best thing before sliced bread?

5) Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.
4) If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?

3)Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money.

2) There are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven you can’t say on television. What a ratio that is! 399,993 to 7. They must really be baaaad. They must be OUTRAGEOUS to be separated from a group that large. “All of you words over here, you seven….baaaad words.” That’s what they told us, right? …You know the seven, don’t ya? That you can’t say on TV? _____,_____,______,_____, ____-____, _____-_____, and ____.(if you don't know 'em, look 'em up)

And my favorite:
1) A maniac will beat nine people to death with a steel dildo. A crazy person will beat nine people to death with a steel dildo, but he'll be wearing a bunny suit at the time.

Tagged..

I've been tagged by a fellow blogger (who unfortunately keeps her blog private) to answer the following:


Ten Years Ago:
*It was 1998. I was nearly 30.
*My Jeep Grand Cherokee was born, but didn't know me yet.
*My best friend wasn't married yet.
*Real Quiet won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and lost the Belmont (and the Triple Crown) by a nostril. I'm still reeling over that one, forget Big Brown.
*My dog Bear was still alive and I couldn't imagine owning another cat.
*I didn't like celery. News flash - still don't.
*We'd never been to the Outer Banks (yet)

Five things on tommorrow's 'to-do' list:
*Ride along with the hubby to get a new tire on the front of the Harley
*Check the camp to make sure all is status quo.
*Eat lunch somewhere of note. Perhaps some Chinese?
*Attend my brother's college musical performance at the Saw Mill Theater in Cook Forest.
*Stop at Wal-Mart on the way home to get some yogurt - I'm out and that's not good.

Snacks I enjoy:
*nachos and cheese w/jalepenos
*dried fruit - esp. cranberries and pineapple
*Lay's plain chips, sometimes with dip ~sometimes not.
* ice cream
*Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
*build a large brick house in the country right in the middle of at least 100 acres with a turrett somewhere - I want a round room. And a library. And a stable...
*make sure family & friends are taken care of
*own a oceanfront beach house on Hatteras Island (OBX). If a hurricane blows it over, I'll just build another. Because I can.
*run a Thoroughbred Retirement farm. Guess I could put that on my 100 acres, eh?
*build a nice deck with a picnic table on the back of my (former if I'm a millionaire) workplace - we've been wanting that for years!

Places I have lived:
*Greenville, PA
*Markle, PA
*Rural Valley, PA (5 separate locations in that town though)

that's pretty much it, sadly.

So, I tag Jackie - she's my only fellow blogger who's not "private"!

Time flies, so do hats.

Holy Mackerel!
I just realized it has been 22 years today since I graduated high school.
I feel really really old.

Three 'fer

photo: Reed Palmer photography/drf.com

Here's 2007 Horse of the Year - CURLIN - winning the grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs this past saturday.
Under jockey Robby Albarado, he really drew away from the field and won like the champion he is. His connections are now thinking of running him in France's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I), which is considered to be one of Europe's greatest races. We already know he travels well, after his convincing win at the Dubai World Cup in March of this year.

I think his win saturday really helped horseracing fans feel better after the debacle that was the Belmont Stakes Big Brown meltdown. Curlin is 4 years old and obviously not slowing down a bit - really coming into his own.

Also making my weekend complete was this:

photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/bloodhorse.com

PYRO winning the Northern Dancer Stakes (also at Churchill on saturday). He whooped the field convincingly and is obviously returning to his top form from early this spring. Guided by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he beat a quality field of three year olds including fellow Derby-runners Visionaire and Recapturetheglory.
Pyro was my favorite horse coming into the Triple Crown series but flopped in bad traffic at the Derby then took a Preakness/Belmont pass, instead getting a nice break, which truly helped, it seems.

Both Curlin and Pyro are trained by Steve Assmussen.

These two wins, combined with 5 year old Ginger Punch (seen below) winning the presitgious Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont the same day made for me hitting 3 out of 4 races in my fantasy horseracing game, so I was pretty stoked.

photo by Coglianese Photos/bloodhorse.com

Ginger Punch was Champion Older Filly/Mare last year, and to still have her racing is truly a gift in these days of early retirement for most horses. She is trained by Bobby Frankel and ridden here by Rafael Bejarano.

Go Baby Go!

R.I.P.

Rest in Peace, Stan Winston (1946-2008)
Special Effects Academy Award winner and all-around the I-Ching of making the fantastic come to life.
A crushing loss, to be sure.
You'll be missed.
See more at http://www.fascinationwithfear.blogspot.com/

Are you freakin' kidding me?

I read somewhere (maybe cnn.com) today that the Saudi's are going to increase oil production and that they believe current oil prices are "abnormally high"....

do ya' think?!!

Stop the madness!

Who's your daddy??

Happy Father's Day to the guy who has put up with so much from me over my lifetime and still lived to tell about it.
You're the best!

Many Happy Returns!

Happy Birthday, Dri!
Have a great day!

Old Glory

Happy Flag Day!

Couldn't resist!

Some of MY favorite things:

My cousin Jackie just posted a few of her favorite things and so I thought I would do the same.
She asked what makes me smile. Here are some of the things that make my life worthwhile.
Besides the obvious like Todd and my family - those are a given.


--Thoroughbred horseracing--Seattle Slew--Autumn--flannel sheets--horror movies--the smell of a brand new book--my iPod--thunderstorms--"Sideways"--chocolate covered strawberries--Johnny Depp--ghost stories--going to camp--ice cream--Mickey Mouse--snowmen--sharks--Uncle Ben's wild rice--cactus--Hatteras Island--my cats--lighthouses--playing the theme from Psycho while in the shower--Eddie Bauer--red wine--sand between my toes--apple cider--Halloween--pajamas--going for rides on the Harley--horroretc.com--Borders--campfires--old fashioned soft peppermint sticks--major snowstorms--chapstick--Stephen King--the lump I get in my throat when they play 'My Old Kentucky Home' before the Derby--salmon--The Pittsburgh Steelers--pasta--Howard's Pub on Ocracoke Island--flowers along the highway--seashells--candles--life is good--pine trees after a snowstorm--"LOST"--cranberries--Netflix--long winter nights--Bob Marley--slim jims--The Pillsbury Dough Boy--quilts--sugared pecans--traveling--the crescent moon--reruns of MASH--Jeeps--The Geico gecko--Smarty Jones--Cherry 7UP--movie scores--homemade rice pudding--www.bloodhorse.com--starfish--thick fuzzy socks--Chopin--scary old houses in the middle of nowhere--baby robins--Old Navy--dark chocolate--dragonflies--reading magazines--extreme weather--George Carlin--a random day off work--old people still holding hands--"Shaun of the Dead"--nowhere to go and a good book in my hand--blogging--

Major upset in NY !

Da' Tara wins the 140th Belmont Stakes wire to wire.

Well, no Triple Crown again! Why am I not surprised? Why am I not devastated?

Something just didn't click - Big Brown absolutely didn't fire today at all.
I am disappointed, but hey, that's racing. After Smarty Jones's loss in 2004, I promised myself I would not get my hopes up too much again. Good thing.

That said, I still felt fairly confident that Brownie was primed to make history, but there was still this little nagging thought that it might not happen. Rick Dutrow Jr., his extremely boastful trainer, on the walk over to the track, actually guaranteed - on national television no less - a win. Oh my.

Too much confidence is never a good thing in my book, and we were shown yet again that even the best horses have the worst days.
I believe it could have been a number of things that may have happened. Perhaps the quarter crack was more of an issue than we thought, perhaps he should have had that controversial steroid shot after all, perhaps he had some internal congestion and/or bleeding in the throat which can make a horse balk at running, perhaps it was the oppressive 93 degree sweltering heat that affected him, perhaps the racing gods just weren't smiling on him....
You know what they say... 2 outta 3 ain't bad...

Anyway, when it was evident, during the race, that Brownie just wasn't gonna get it done, jockey Kent Desormeaux kindly eased him and he ended up crossing the finish line last. The first horse in history to be posed to win a triple crown that ended up finishing last. Oy!

Trainer Dutrow, obviously distraught after the race, avoided reporters for some time but eventually told ESPN reporters that he had no idea what happened, that the horse does not appear to be hurt or injured in any way, and that they will scope him to see if it is that type of issue. Brown was walking the shedrow at the barn without any problem and did not seem to be in any kind of distress.

In any case, it just wasn't Brownie's day, and I have a major inkling that that was the last time we'll see him on the racetrack. I feel they will use this loss to go ahead and retire him to Three Chimneys (where he's headed to hang out with former stars Smarty Jones & Point Given) before he loses any more races and his stud fee plummets.

MEANWHILE, the strikingly beautiful longshot (38-1) Da' Tara broke alertly from the gate, went directly to the front of the pack, and went wire to wire to win the 140th Belmont Stakes. He looked really great! I love a good win, and this one was one for the books.
Da' Tara is trained by Nick Zito, who coincidentally trained the upsetter of Smarty Jones's bid for the crown, Empire Maker - in 2004. Jockey was up and coming Alan Garcia. Place (second) went to Denis of Cork, show (third) was a dead heat between Anak Nakal and Ready's Echo.

I do have a bit of a happy ending since Da' Tara's papa is Tiznow, who was a favorite of mine when he was racing, and - to no one's surprise I'm sure - is a grandson of Seattle Slew, making Da' Tara his great grandson. Cool!
Da' Tara does, in fact, resemble Slew - not only in the dark color, but in that wire to wire running style.

Seattle Slew remains the ONLY undefeated Triple Crown winner. Yee-ha.

And with Big Brown's loss, Affirmed remains the last Triple Crown winner (1978)-and we'll have to wait another year for a new crop of three year olds to see if the elusive Crown is in their grasp.

I'll wait...

History in the making....

Whoop-ee! Today is the day that (hopefully) history will be made.
However, if not... I will live to race another day, or at least watch it on tv.

Big Brown is going to do his best to be the first winner of the Triple Crown in 30 years (Affirmed, 1978) and will have 8 others competing to dash his dream.
His main competition, the Japanese supposed phenom, Casino Drive, has been scratched from the race as of early this morning, so he will have one less (and his biggest challenger in my opinion) to contend with.

It is no secret that I am not a fan of Brownie's trainer (Rick Dutrow) but am willing to overlook his complete and utter arrogance and just think of the horse and the jockey (one of my favorites, Kent Desormeaux, who really deserves this) and cheer on the Big Brown team.

Win one for the gipper! (whoever he is...)

*Safe trips to all horses - come back safe and sound!

Hopefully his will be the scene, when Brown leaves the field in his dust...

Will the inevitable happen? STAY TUNED.....

Brown = Crown !!!

photo: Rick Samuels/Blood-Horse

Three days and counting...
Keep your fingers crossed, people!!!

who the hell?

OK!
I'm DAMN sick of seeing these two nobodies on all the magazines in the Wal-Mart checkout line. Who the hell are they and what do they do?

I was able to find out their names: Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. But what do they do and why are they on the cover of US Weekly? I don't even know them but already I don't like them. Why?

I decided to investigate and have discovered they are on "The Hills", which is some kind of MTV reality show (figures!) -sorta like 90210 for the younger (and more gullible) generation. I remember when MTV showed MUSIC videos! Am I showing my age or what?

After using wikipedia to search about this dumb-ass piece of entertainment, I also find that there are all sorts of rumors and speculation that 'The Hills' is all just a bunch of fake hooey. That it is a scripted show and they are all "acting". It's not "real-life"!

I, for one, could really care less. They just don't seem important enough to garner attention away from Angelina's pregnancy or even Britney Spears's various woes.
Don't get me wrong, I don't care about those people either, but at lease they have actually done something to become famous (or infamous, in Britney's case).
These two buttheads above are kind of along the lines of Paris Hilton, but maybe even less interesting than her if that is possible.

Anyway, so now I know. And unfortunately, so do you.