Preakness 2000-2008

Next Saturday is the Preakness Stakes, and we will find out if Mine That Bird is the real thing or just a flash in the pan. Meanwhile, it is time to review previous Preakness races courtesy of YouTube.


Red Bullet 2000:





Point Given 2001:





War Emblem 2002 (call in Spanish):





Funny Cide 2003:





Smarty Jones 2004:





Afleet Alex 2005:





Bernardini 2006. Barbaro broke down in this race and was vanned off the track. He died several months later from complications. Race:








Curlin 2007:






Big Brown 2008:

Horse Racing News

Horse of the Year Curlin is expected to be retired to stud duty next year.

There is little else for him to prove on the track. He won 11 of 16 races, including the Dubai Cup and last year's Breeders' Cup Classic and earned over $10 million.

Breeders' Cup

The big question right now is whether champion racehorse Curlin will show up at Santa Anita.

Yes, I have some memorabilia for this year. I just received some items today.

Miscellaneous News

If you are a celebrity vegan or vegetarian who rails against the evil fast food industry, you can get away with a bit of hypocrisy.
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MacKenzie Phillips has fallen off the wagon again.
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Speaking of food fascists, it appears an anti-hot dog ad from the PETA front group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is full of baloney.

They'll do everything to push their vegan lifestyle on people.
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Curlin's Corner has been launched.

2008 Man O'War Stakes

Curlin made his debut on the grass this weekend in the Man O' War Stakes, but he came up short against Red Rocks. He finished second, while Better Talk Now finished third:

Anyone

who has been following horse racing knows Curlin is the best horse in the world, but where does he rank among horses of the past 30 years?

It would be pretty tough to rank him over Spectacular Bid and John Henry.

Horse Racing Notes.

Curlin's connections are now considering running him in France's Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the most famous race in Europe.

He's pretty much won everything else, including the Dubai World Cup.

Curlin

rolled to yet another victory, this time winning the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.

This victory is Curlin's ninth in twelve starts.

This is the Race,

but it isn't in English:

Curlin became Horse of the World today as he rolled to a 7 3/4-length victory in the $6 million Dubai World Cup.

He's pretty much done it all. It's probably about time for him to retire. ( AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Miscellaneous.

Horse of the Year Curlin prepares himself for the Dubai Cup.
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Jill Derby resigned as Nevada Democratic Party chair to try and run again against incumbent representative Dean Heller.

She barely lost last time and actually carried Washoe County. It was the rurals that did her in.

I think it'll be harder for her to win this time now that she is up against an incumbent rather than running for an open seat. I might work on her campaign; it would be a welcome relief from the drubbing we are going to get this fall if Obama is the nominee.

And no, I didn't attend the Washoe County Democratic convention. They fucked me over by making me an alternate, which I did NOT sign for, and I was not about to come in at 7 in the morning so they could turn me down.

Fuck them. Fuck them all.

Edit: After I found out where the hell it was, hypocrite I am I did go down to the convention. These things, however, never end on time. They were still in session when I left after I put my name in to be a state delegate when the state convention is held in May. I will either be a delegate or an alternate. I was eventually seated as a delegate anyway at the convention, but what a long, drawn out ordeal it was.

I ended up getting a parking ticket for my efforts when I left to trudge in the snow.

Unfortunately, because I refused to get up early enough to go down to the Reno Convention Center to attend, I didn't get the opportunity to put my name in for the national convention as a delegate or an alternate. I wanted to do that.

Final stats on delegates' preference and how many state delegates:

1666 delegates attended, 1655 voted on the final balloting:

Obama: 972 delegates, 329 delegates to the state convention
Clinton: 683 delegates, 232 delegates to the state convention

The Blood Horse's

Steve Haskin believes the Eclipse Awards are a "done deal," with Curlin likely to win Horse of the Year honors.

Preakness Winner Curlin

has won the Breeders' Cup Classic today at Monmouth Park, the last race on the eight-race card.

Unfortunately, as is far too common in these races, there was a breakdown in the race and the horse, George Washington, had to be euthanized.

As I mentioned yesterday, I couldn't get access to the races because of the satellite dish.

English Channel won the Turf.

Ginger Punch won the Distaff.

Kip Deville won the Mile.

Midnight Lute won the Sprint.

Lahudood won the Filly & Mare Turf.

And War Pass won the Juvenile.

Something needs to be done to stem the occurance of breakdowns in these races, especially these types of races. A generation ago, these were extremely rare.

There Was No Triple Crown Winner

this year, but there were several jewels in the series.

Curlin

preps for the Belmont Stakes, to be held on June 8.

By that time I will be in Las Vegas. I might be able to catch the race there, but I won't be able to blog about it.

The Baltimore Sun's Jerry Jackson caught Curlin and Street Sense right at the wire in yesterday's Preakness.

Andrew Beyer

was quite impressed with Curlin's Preakness victory yesterday.

The colt began to gain ground, stride by stride, and Street Sense -- who had finished so powerfully to win the Derby -- couldn't offer resistance. Racing fans may debate whether this was all Curlin's doing, or whether Street Sense lacks a killer instinct in such situations, but the two combatants hit the wire almost simultaneously. The finish was so close that television viewers couldn't tell who won, but Borel knew. He turned to his friend Albarado and said, "You got me!" and Albarado raised his whip in triumph.

This would have been an amazing performance for a veteran racehorse -- let alone one whose racing career began only 3 1/2 months ago. Curlin's maiden win was so smashing that a partnership, harboring Kentucky Derby dreams, paid $3.5 million to acquire him. Curlin ran away with his next two starts and went into the Derby with much acclaim. But everybody knew the history he was trying to overcome. No horse with fewer than five career starts had won the Derby since 1918. No horse without 2-year-old experience had won it since 1882. Despite these competitive disadvantages, and despite being blocked in the run to the first turn, Curlin managed to rally and finish third.

Carl Nafzger

was disappointed his Street Sense didn't win the Preakness yesterday, losing to Curlin by literally a whisker, but he is now looking forward to a rivalry.

Perhaps therein lies Street Sense's lone flaw: the failure to realize that a race isn't over until the winner crosses the finish line. After the colt passed the field and saw nothing but empty space ahead, he apparently let up.

"When my horse gets to the lead, he's just sort of happy. He won't quit running, but he's not intense," Nafzger said. "And Curlin ran an unbelievable perfect race today."

Especially over the final 100 yards.

"It was almost a match race at the end. One champion and another potential champion," one of Curlin's owners, Jess Jackson, said. "Street Sense deserves a lot of credit."

Maybe so, but that won't get him a Triple Crown.

It sounds like Street Sense "loafed" on the lead and never saw Curlin coming.

Curlin caught Street Sense right at the wire to win the Preakness by a nose. Another step and Street Sense would have won. (Photo by Z/Vincent Dusovic)

It

was one hell of a race today, as it appears Curlin has won by a whisker against favorite Street Sense in this year's running of the Preakness.

Curlin won by a head in 1:53 2/5. Hard Spun was third in the race.

Street Sense seemed to have the race won, but Curlin caught him in the last steps in a photo finish.

This was the best Preakness since the Easy Goer-Sunday Silence matchup in 1989.