I Have

been looking at some DVDs today, including the 80th anniversary edition of Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. What a great job Warner's did with that film and the extras.

And in the mail I received a couple of DVDs which I ordered from a site called "Second Running" of the original CBS broadcasts of the 1973 Triple Crown. These are either public domain kinescopes or they are bootlegs, but whatever the original source, those races are good to see again within the context of the broadcasts.

I am hoping CBS and perhaps Secretariat.com can get together and come up with a 35th commemorative of the original broadcasts next year. I would like to see the video cleaned up with the original videotaped broadcasts and with some extras.

What was miraculous in the Kentucky Derby was that Twice a Prince, who was second to the legendary Secretariat in the Belmont, didn't fall over backwards in the starting gate. That was terrifying to watch. I had forgotten how badly he acted up (after all, I hadn't seen the complete television broadcast since 1973 until today), but fortunately he didn't get hurt. He was trained by the late Johnny Campo, as was Torsion, who was in the Preakness that year.

Anyway, I am hoping there will be an official release of these great broadcasts. The broadcast crew including Jack Whitaker, Heywood Hale Broun (a real wordsmith), Frank Wright, and of course announcer Chic Anderson were great.

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I also want to note Secretariat's half-brother, Straight Flush, mentioned on the Secretariat.com site, passed away in September. He was 32 years old and died in his sleep.