Sunday Reads

 The emphasis on being "beautiful" in terms of looking like a Barbie doll, remains highly destructive to women of all ages.

Men are never pressured like this.  That is because it is men who demand women look like something out of a porn movie.

Instead of telling men to go to hell, too many women comply.

_______________________________

Thbe third party No Labels cannot be trusted as far as it can be picked up and thrown.

____________________________________

Obituary:  Funny Cide, 23, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, has died of complications from colic.  He died at his home at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Snip:

“He was one of those rare horses who captured the public’s imagination while he was on the track and continues to have a significant following of loyal fans,” said John Nicholson, then the horse park executive director, upon Funny Cide’s arrival. “We are honored that Funny Cide’s connections recognized the Kentucky Horse Park as a good fit for their horse and his fans.” In 2003, Funny Cide became the first gelding to win the Kentucky Derby in 74 years. The son of Distorted Humor is still the only New York-bred to win the Derby, and he retired at age 7 with a record of 11 victories in 38 career races. Funny Cide went on to win the Preakness Stakes before fading late and finishing third in the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, on a sloppy track in New York.

The 2003 Kentucky Derby:

I will also note that Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby, passed in May at the age of 26.  He was also noted as the most expensive of Kentucky Derby 

Snip from May:

He was euthanized Tuesday at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, due to the infirmities of old age, the farm said Wednesday.

Nicknamed "Fu Peg," he was purchased as a yearling for $4 million by Fusao Sekiguchi at the 1998 Keeneland July sale. He was trained by Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale.

Fusaichi Pegasus won the San Felipe Stakes and Wood Memorial before winning the 2000 Kentucky Derby as the 2-1 favorite, the first time a favorite had won since 1979.

2000 Kentucky Derby:

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:

Saturday is the Kentucky Derby

It is time to look at some of the past races:

2008: Big Brown:



2007: Street Sense:



2006: Barbaro:



2005: Giacomo



2004: Smarty Jones:



2003: Funny Cide:



2002: War Emblem:



2001: Monarchos:



2000: Fusaichi Pegasus:



Official Kentucky Derby YouTube channel is here.

Triple Crown.

There have been six near-misses of the Triple Crown in the past 11 years, to say nothing of the near-misses in 1979 (absolutely no excuse for Spectacular Bid's loss), 1981 (Pleasant Colony), 1987 (Alysheba), and 1989 (Sunday Silence).

The most heartbreaking, as I have mentioned, was Real Quiet's extremely narrow loss in 1998 to Touch Gold. It still makes trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Kent Desormeaux sick after all these years because it was so damned close. A bob of the head would have clinched the Triple Crown for Real Quiet.

I don't know why War Emblem wasn't mentioned in the article. He was one of the six near-misses.

2003 Belmont Stakes.

Empire Maker denied Funny Cide the Triple Crown on a sloppy track:




Funny Cide raced four more years, and he was retired last year.

Funny Cide's Connections

have decided to retire the 7-year-old classic winner while he was still sound:

Tagg said that Funny Cide was out on the track Friday morning with Smullen aboard and looked great. “He was dappled from head to toe and looks like a million dollars,” he said. “If anyone came to see him they would be elated with the way he looks. But you have to stop on them sometime, and we’ve received a lot of critical mail for not retiring him. We just felt this was a good time; he doesn’t need to run anymore. If you try to get another stakes or two out of him and he couldn’t do it, then you’d wish you retired him now.

“He just won a stakes at 7, and everyone had so much fun and excitement out there; the people were wild, according to Robin. We all talked about it at dinner last night, and we felt this was the best time to retire him. I don’t want to wait until he gets hurt or something like that.”

Tagg said Funny Cide is so happy being at the track, they’re just going to keep riding him like a stable pony and let him go out with the sets each morning.

As the World Turns.

Every woman knows men are just as bad with yapping as women.
_____

The latest fad is brides trashing their wedding dresses instead of, or in addition to, their new husbands.
_____

Bill Pinkney, the last of the original Drifters, has died at the age of 81 from undisclosed problems.

The Drifters went through several changes in personnel over the decades of the 1950s and 1960s. R&B great Clyde McPhatter was in that group after he left the Dominoes.
_____

This cat certainly had several lives to spare.
_____

Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide returned to the winner's circle at a more modest racetrack than Churchill Downs or Pimlico.
_____