Belmont Stakes, Epsom Derby

It's a wet, soggy three-day weekend and I'm at home.  This is the first time in 5 years that I haven't been house-sitting on this weekend; seems strange.  But that's OK - I have plenty to do to get ready to move.  This is also the weekend of the Boulder Creek Festival, and Monday will see the running of the Bolder Boulder 10 K race, right in front of my apartment building.  Brother-in-law Jim is supposed to be running this year, but between the weather and Kathy's illness, I don't know if he'll actually participate or not.
   It's now two weeks to the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown horse races.  This race is run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, over a dirt track with all of the three-year-old entrants carrying 126 pounds for a mile and a half.  For the majority of these horses, this will be the longest race they will ever run in their entire life.  Originally, horse racing consisted of races that were between four and six miles long.  There were so many entrants (as horses didn't begin to race until they were 4 or 5 years old) that the races were run in heats, and the horse that was declared the winner of the race ended up running that distance two or three times in one day.  It was a matter of stamina over the long haul.  Today's horses are bred for their quickness at much shorter distances.  Ah, for the "good old days" of 350 years ago....
  American Pharoah is back at Churchill Downs, and is training there for the Belmont Stakes.   It looks like Frosted will be joining him in the starting gate, as well as previous contestants Carpe Diem, Tale of Verve, Frammento, Keen Ice, Madefromlucky, Materiality, and Mubtaahij. Two new runners look to be Conquest Curlinate and War Story.  I will be very happy if we can celebrate a twelfth Triple Crown Champion this year.  And - if you're interested in the breeding of American Pharoah, check out this article in The Blood Horse, "Hail Hooper, Hyperion":   http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/91940/hail-hooper-hyperion
   At Belmont, it seems that Ziconic, Zenyatta's second foal, has a liking for the flashy Spanish Walk that was his mother's trademark:

And in England, the Epsom Derby will be run on 6 June at Epsom Downs.  There are currently 16 horses entered,, and the early betting favorite, Golden Horn, will have to be a supplemental entry at a cost of 75,000 pounds, if he is to participate.  Another possible supplemental entry could be the filly Found.  These 16 colts, in no particular order, are currently pre-entered: (1) Moheet, (2) Carbon Dating, (3) Best of Times, (4) Storm the Stars, (5) Pour Moi, (6) Epicuris, (7) Prince Gagarin, (8) Great Glen, (9) Elm Park, (10) Giovanni Canaletto, (11) Rogue Runner, (12) Zawraq, (13) Gleneagles, (14) Hans Holbein, (15) Kilimanjaro, and (16) Jack Hobbs.  The Epsom Derby covers 12 furlongs plus 10 yards, or 1.5 miles and 10 yards, The colts are all assigned 9 stone, or 126 pounds.