Weather, Reading, and Horses

After a somewhat wild evening, with tornadoes to the north of us, and a long lasting thunder and lightning storm, it's very pretty outside. I thoroughly enjoyed NCIS last night, although I would have liked to have seen more of Gibbs and Ducky - Ducky working, and Gibbs getting his horse and riding into Baja... I'm about a third of the way through Deceiver, C J Cherryh's latest atevi novel, and, as usual, I want more, now! After this, I'll go back to Ann Ripley's gardening mystery series, and then I think I'll have to visit Pern for a while. (Did you know that in Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, today is the day that Arwen Evenstar leaves Rivendell, on her way to marry King Elessar?) The Aussies are great companions, and we'll soon leave for a morning jaunt. I'm currently awaiting the arrival of the yard crew, having swept the backyard (again) for toys and poop, and unlocking two of the four gates. I'll need to unlock the other two for the tree service this afternoon.
Twenty-four years ago, Ferdinand was the surprise winner of the Kentucky Derby. Ferdinand was a bright chestnut colt, trained by Charlie Whittingham, and ridden by Bill Shoemaker. He upset the favorite in the Derby betting, a colt named Snow Chief; both colts were from California. Ferdinand's trainer told Snow Chief's trainer, Mel Stute, that he felt that Snow Chief just couldn't handle the track at Churchill Downs, and encouraged him to run in the Preakness. Snow Chief won the Preakness handily, under jockey Alex Solis. Having won the Florida Derby and several other stakes races that year, Snow Chief was named 3-year-old Colt of the Year. He raced for another year, winning several more stakes races before retiring to stud. Saturday, while the 2010 Preakness was being contested, Snow Chief had a heart attack and died at the age of 27. - Here's to his memory!!
The field for the June 5th Belmont Stakes is taking shape; a couple of horses from both the Derby and the Preakness look as though they'll try the mile and a half course. Possibilities include: Ice Box, Fly Down, First Dude, Make Music for Me, Dublin, Stately Victor, Drosselmeyer, Game On Dude, Setsuko, Spangled Star, Stay Put, and Uptowncharlybrown. As usual, with no Triple Crown contender, the Belmont looks wide open....