Kentucky Oaks, Kentucky Derby, Ducklings (& Vikings)

NBC Sports Network will broadcast, live, the running of the Kentucky Oaks  this afternoon.  There are still thirteen fillies entered, and it looks like a very athletic and competitive race.  I'm looking forward to it, and (of course) I hope that one of my choices wins the race.
  With Hoppertunity scratched from tomorrow's Derby, the horses in Post Positions 12 through 20, will all shift over one slot.  If Pablo Del Monte runs tomorrow, he will race from the 20th post gate.  I'll post my thought and choices on the Derby colts later this afternoon, after I post the results of the Oaks.
  The season finale of Vikings last night proved that Floki is a trickster, like Loki.  Helga, his wife, was appalled that Floki named their daughter Angrbroda , the giantess who was Loki's wife.  I wonder how she will figure in later episodes.  Seeing the twists and threads of the story now, I can see how everything came to pass.  Writer Michael Hirst has a very intriguing mind - and, it was very strange that Ragnar's only words in last night's episode were the request to learn a Christian prayer, and his, almost, word for word repetition of Athelstan's lead.  Ragnar appears throughout the episode, but he only speaks the Lord's Prayer...  And I was very happy to see Rollo get to his feet and use his axe again.  One heck of a way to end the season!
  Other than that, I am appalled by the callousness of two boys here in Boulder.  While walking down a path near a stream, a man saw two boys (he thinks they were about 12 or 13 years old), throwing rocks at baby ducklings.  He yelled and ran toward the boys, who ran away.  The man saw a mother mallard duck with nine ducklings launch into the water, and he felt all was well. Then he realized there were two ducklings still on the bank.  He scooped them up into a shoe box and took them to our local wildlife rehabilitation center.  One duckling has a nasty head injury, and is not expected to live.  The second duckling has a wing injury.  Both ducklings still have a prominent egg tooth, meaning they hatched only one or two days ago.  If the first duckling dies, the second one probably will die as well, as they are very hard to raise as singletons.  How can anyone consider harming a cute baby duckling?  They're all fuzzy feathers, big bills, and wobbly orange feet.  I hope that Greenbriar Wildlife Rehabilitation Center can perform miracles and return both of the baby ducks to the wild.  (And, may I have permission to throw 75 pound rocks at those two boys?)