Surfer Dude Is Dead

Tomorrow the Black-Eyed Susan, the fillies race equivalent to the Preakness, will be run.  There are nine entries, only two of which ran in the Kentucky Oaks - Include Betty and Luminance.  In Preakness news, American Pharoah, who won the Kentucky Derby drew the number one starting gate position for the second race in the Triple Crown.  I'll expound on the starters, and their pedigrees, in tomorrow's and Saturday's blog entries.
   Yesterday, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company announced that the 23-year-old stallion, Surfer Dude, had died.  Surfer Dude was born in the spring of 1992.  He was last seen, with his mares, on Assateague in mid-February of this year.  During the winter and early Spring, he was known to be secretive, and extremely protective of his mares and foals.  But people who are hard-core pony watchers, and the CVFC Pony Committee, were disturbed when he wasn't rounded up in April, with the rest of the ponies and multiple herds.  It was noticed that his usual herd mares were split up into other herds.  Sometimes, as a stallion gets older, and can't compete with the younger stallions for the attentions of the ladies, he will withdraw after losing several fights, and occasionally turns into a hermit.  None of his fans believed that the Dude would take that "easy way" out.
  Yesterday morning, members of the Pony Committee were searching an extremely thick patch of brush, on foot.  Blond hair was seen, snagged on a branch, very close to the ground.  The remains of Surfer Dude were found.  His microchip and a DNA sample were recovered, and it was then announced that the Big Man - the Show Man - was no longer with us.   It is assumed that he died in early to mid-March, possibly from a heart attack, or from a lightning strike.  Due to the location of the body, it's thought that the heart attack scenario is more likely to have happened.
  We have Surfer Dude's son, Surfer's Riptide, as a stallion with his own herd at this time.  Last year, one of the buy-back foals was another son of Surfer Dude - a bright chestnut colt with a huge blaze and blue eyes.  This spring, one of Surfer Dude's mares, Got Milk?, produced a beautiful filly, with a large blaze.  Currently the filly has a gun-metal grey coat, but it's thought that she will shed out and be a black.   Finally, I remember Surfer Dude as a baby.  I remember him as a stallion.  I'd love to actually own one of his babies, but that isn't to be.  I hope he thunders across the sky, tossing his lovely head and eyes, with blond mane and tail streaming in the wind,since he has crossed the rainbow bridge.