Fire, Gunfire, & Horses

I was awakened by the beeping of a neighbor's smoke detector at 4:30 this morning; that was followed by the arrival of our local fire truck, with men in fire suits and axes running up and down the hall.  They couldn't tell me where the smoke was coming from - either unit 110, or unit 111 - just down the hall from me.  The alarm woke up Rodney, the man who raises birds next to me, and he called 911.  The fire department was certainly prompt; there were three units here within 5 minutes.  I heard Rodney turn on his exhaust fans and his Hepa filter unit next door, before the fire trucks arrived.  I turned on my two exhaust fans and cracked the rear window.  I heard the windows and patio doors of several neighbors open for fresh air.  Once I heard the men talking in the hall, I poked my head out, and asked where it was.  The fireman I asked said it was one of the two apartments, and that they thought the sprinkler system had put the fire out, as the smoke was subsiding and the smoke alarm had stopped sounding.  I laughed - which got a strange look - and told them that we don't have a sprinkler system or fire extinguishers; all we have are the smoke detectors...  They finally left about 5:30, and it was almost time to get up, so I just stayed up.  I'll need a nap to be sensible for the jury meeting tonight.
  Boulder made the headlines yesterday when one of our deputies shot a man who was holding another man hostage.  The hostage had a gun being held at the back of his head, and the deputy shot and killed the gun-holder at the beginning of the Doudy Draw trail head in Eldorado Springs Canyon. The car the men were sitting in had been reported as car-jacked, and the cell phone of the man being held at gun point was traced there.  I'm glad I didn't have to make that decision.
   The Ocala Breeders Sale, which I used to attend each year, had a record-breaking day yesterday, when a grey filly by Tapit was sold for $1.9 million.  She was a pin-hook; a promising younger horse purchased because the buyer could see potential.  The filly was purchased as a yearling for $335,000.  That meant a profit of over $1.5 million, subtracting the cost of feeding and handling.  Wow.
   The Kentucky Derby will probably be considered a wide-open race for all twenty entries, until someone crosses the finish line ahead of the others on May 2nd.  Besides the American top contenders there is a very interesting colt named Mubtaahij, a son of Dubawi.  The colt himself is Irish-bred, he is owned by an Arab sheikh, he is trained by a South African, and his jockey is from Belgium.  He is a handsome bay colt with three white socks.  He won the last two legs of the United Arab Emirates Triple Crown races in Dubai.  The American colts have never raced a full mile and a quarter; this colt has already won twice at that distance.  As a two-year-old, Mubtaahij defeated horses that were aged two, three and four years - he's already defeated his elders.  But, this is his first time racing in the United States and his regular feed is not approved for use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.  How will he perform without his normal food and in another country?  Will he prove himself to be a super star?  And, one other thing to consider: Mubtaahij will run without the use of Lasix, which every other entry will be using....   Hmmmmm.  Interesting.  Very interesting.