Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Horses on TV on Saturday

I overslept this morning. Lovey usually wakes me up between 5:30 and 6:00 each morning, but she didn't do so today. I awoke and realized, with a start, that it was almost 8:30 - Lovey and I had slept very soundly. It is now noon, and I've walked the red kids and let Lovey run outside after returning home. It's very dark, very humid, quite cool, and - gasp! - it looks and feels like snow outside. Lovey ran out, pottied in the grass, and immediately came back inside and dove under the bed covers; she's not impressed with the weather. We're expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow by noon tomorrow.
In thoroughbred racing, the Triple Crown (for the male 3-year-olds) receives a tremendous amount of news coverage. The same cannot be said about the3-year-old fillies' equivalent. Only one filly who ran in the Kentucky Oaks (equivalent to the Kentucky Derby), will be running in the Black-Eyed Susan (the Preakness sister-race). Her name is Tidal Pool, she is trained by D. Wayne Lukas; she ran third in the Oaks. I'll root for her in the 'Susan on Friday - just because she has the grit to run back in the second part.
It looks as though there might be a full slate of 14 starters for the Preakness on Saturday. Super Saver, Paddy O'Prado (3rd), Lookin at Lucky, and Dublin are running back in the Preakness. Mission Impazible's connections have just declared he won't run. That leaves nine qualifying new-comers: Aikenite, Caracortado, First Dude, Hurricane Ike, Jackson Bend, Northern Giant, Pleasant Prince, Schoolyard Dreams, and Yawanna Twist. NBC will carry live coverage of the Preakness from 4:30 to 6:30 (EDT). ESPN will not be broadcasting earlier races, as they did for the Derby. However, NBC will lead into the Preakness with 90 minutes of coverage of the Rolex Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park, filmed April 22nd through the 25th. It will be shown from 3:00 until 4:30 (EDT), covering the dressage, cross country and show jumping aspects of this challenging annual event.

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