Monday, October 21, 2013

Breeders Cup and More

Archaeologists surveying for a new railroad line at Gamla Uppsala, Sweden have discovered a large monument that dates to about 500 AD.  They found a mile-long avenue or path, that was lined with 144 precisely placed pillars, each estimated to be about 23 feet tall.  If you'd like more information, please visit:  http://www.examiner.com/article/archaeologists-discover-massive-1-500-year-old-monument-sweden
   Yesterday Boulder wildlife officials kept an eye on an un-tagged black bear who spent most of the day in trees near Iris and 34th Street.  Near dusk, when the bear seemed to be settling down, instead of moving on, it was shot with a tranquilizer dart in order to remove it.  The first dart only made the bear run.  A second dart sedated the young male, estimated at being 2 to 5 years old.  He was transported into Rocky Mountain National Park and released.
  In eleven days, the Breeders Cup World Championship thoroughbred racing series will begin it's 30th running.  The Breeders Cup will take place at Santa Anita Park in California on November 1 and 2.  This year, there will be 14 races run - five on Friday and nine on Saturday.  It seems that my (and a lot of other folks') complaint about running all of the female races on Friday has been recognized as a type of segregation - this year,  the Friday races are:  the Marathon, with a purse of $500,000; the Juvenile (2-year-old) Fillies Turf, the Dirt Mile, and the Juvenile Males Turf, each with a prize of $1 million; and the Distaff, with a purse of $2 million.  On Saturday, the purses range from $1 million to $5 million; the races, in the order they are scheduled to run are: Juvenile Fillies, Fillies & Mares Turf, Fillies & Mares Sprint, the Turf Sprint, the Juvenile, the Turf, the Sprint, the Mile, and ending with the Classic.
  There is some sad news in the racing world: Dullahan, a bright chestnut son of Even the Score, and grandson of Unbridled's Song, was retired from racing a week ago, after it was found he had injured a foreleg in his defense of the Pacific Coast Classic.  Early yesterday morning, during a barn check, he was found to be sweating heavily in his stall, and was taken to an equine hospital.  It was determined, during surgery, that his intestine had ruptured - and that it had done so in an explosive way.  Vets decided that with the amount of contamination in Dullahan's abdominal cavity, it was best to euthanize him on the spot.  We've lost another nice prospective sire to colic.
 

No comments: