Odds and Ends

In looking back at the numbers involved in American Pharoah's win in the Belmont Stakes, someone noted, with surprise, that Pharoah ran the last quarter-mile (or 2 furlongs) faster than Secretariat did back in 1973.  That is impressive!  Also, American Pharoah will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Vogue in the near future.
   I had a fantastic time on Tuesday, 9 June.  It was my 59th birthday, and after spending several hours with Lovey and Nedi, and then an hour with Rosie, I spent 10 hours with my sister Kathy.  We had a light lunch, sat and talked, laughed, cried, looked at photos, and made plans for our trip to Chincoteague in July.  Then we picked up Jim (her husband), and had supper at the China Gourmet.  It was an excellent day!
   I'm currently house-sitting two cats, Cyrano and Pounce.  Pounce sings to me all morning and afternoon, wanting to go out.  Cyrano has started letting me sleep one night, and then waking me up every 90 minutes the next.  How does he wake me up?  He kneads my face, with his claws extended.  I have to admit I wake up quickly - and all he wants is to have his head and chin scratched for about a minute.  I might have to start closing the bedroom door.
   I have a storage unit, so I can start moving my belongings there and begin the scrubbing of my apartment.  I've been here for 9 years, plus, and still have the window curtains and shower curtain that "came" with the rental.  The only problem is the buckling ceiling and wall in the bathroom - I've commented on it, and complained about it, and asked for repairs for the past 14 months.  Now there is what I assume is mud (and hope is not sewage) oozing up through the edges of the tiles on the closet floor and the joiners cracks in the bathroom floor linoleum.  Maintenance keeps telling me that it's overflow from the bath tub above me, and they can't fix it...  I don't think anyone else will rent this place with the holes dripping water, sagging plaster, and mold growing above the shower head - on both the ceiling and the wall....
   I've been very worried about Lucy Lou Rox, one of the dogs I care for.  She's fourteen, a Portuguese Water dog, and she stopped putting any weight on one hind leg a couple of months ago.  The owner's regular vet just shrugged and said sciatica was the problem.  I recommended she have Dr Pete Rogers stop by.  He found a growth in her foot, which turned out to be a squamous type of cancer.  Lucy had surgery at Pet Menders (my cats' vet in Boulder) last Friday and is almost completely recovered.  She's bearing weight on that leg and foot, eating well, and is now interested in chasing squirrels again.  One toe and a small part of her foot pad was removed.  Voila!  A new dog!  So happy Doctor Pete found that.
 

Five Latest Triple Crown Winners

1978 - Affirmed

1977 - Seattle Slew

1973 - Secretariat

1948 - Citation

1946 - Assault

I have no photo of Assault as a stallion - he raced until the age of 7, and was found to be sterile.  He lived the rest of his life in a pasture full of quarter horse mares at King's Ranch in Texas.

Belmont Stakes Post Positions and Odds

The last winner of the American Triple Crown was  Florida-bred chestnut colt named Affirmed in 1978 - and he had the youngest Triple Crown winning jockey in the stirrups - Steve Cauthen. In the past 36 years, 12 horses besides California Chrome have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but no other has also won the Belmont Stakes.  I remember being amazed when Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973; I thought Seattle Slew was awesome in his win; and then (living in Florida, at the time) I was ecstatic about Affirmed.
   Saturday will be a huge test for California Chrome - he will try to become the 12th horse in history to win the American Triple Crown.  He and ten other colts will carry 126 pounds only once around the huge one-and-a-half mile track at Belmont Park.  It will be a test for Victor Espinoza, Chrome's jockey, as well.  I don't believe that Victor has ridden at Belmont before; and at most tracks, as one enters the final turn, there is about one-quarter mile left in the race - at Belmont, there is a half mile left.  A lot of jockeys without experience in the Belmont, and/or on the Belmont track, have lost the race due to misjudging the distance.  I hope this will not happen on Saturday.  Even though California Chrome is the odds-on betting favorite, at 3 to 5, I'd love to see another Triple Crown winner.
  Following are the post position numbers, the horse's name, the jockey's name, and the morning odds:
1.    Medal Count,    Robby Albarado     20 to 1
2.    California Chrome,   Victor Espinoza     3 to 5
3.    Matterhorn,     Joe Bravo     30 to 1
4.    Commanding Curve,    Shaun Bridgmohan     15 to 1
5.    Ride On Curlin,    John Velazquez     12 to 1
6.    Matuszak,    Mike Smith     30 to 1
7.    Samraat,    Jose Ortiz    20 to 1
8.    Commissioner,    Javier Castellano     20 to 1
9.    Wicked Strong,    Rajiv Maragh     6 to 1
10.  General a Rod,    Rosie Napravnik     20 to 1
11.  Tonalist,    Joel Rosario     8 to 1

More about the horses later.....

Famous Thoroughbreds

Black Gold and jockey J D Mooney, after winning the 1924 Kentucky Derby

Man o' War did not run in the Derby, but won the Preakness and the Belmont in 1920

Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte at the top of the stretch in the Belmont Stakes on June 9, 1973, on their way to becoming Triple Crown champions.

Pilot Whales, Secretariat, Pony Penning

Sylvain Cote is the owner and captain of the boat Espandor, which is generally fishing off the coast of Maryland, in the Atlantic.  Earlier this week, the captain was about 62 nautical miles off Ocean City, Md., when he saw a pilot whale supporting a calf on her head, holding it up in the air and trying to get the little one to breathe for a period of over 8 hours.  A group of 10 to 12 other pilot whales swam in a protective circle around the mother and dead calf.  Captain Cote and the captains of 8 other fishing vessels reported their sighting, while giving the whales a large area to swim in, so they wouldn't feel crowded.  All the boats stayed more than a quarter-mile away from the giant mammals, so they could grieve in peace.  A spokesman for the Marine Fisheries Foundation stated that she felt the calf was either still-born, or had died very shortly after birth.  Mother whales push their calf up into the air for their first breath, after giving birth.  This grieving mother did not want to accept the fact that her child was not alive.  The acceptance of death is difficult for all living creatures.

Mocha's owner came and visited her yesterday afternoon - Coffeepot  hopes to be in a new house by the middle of August.  And he was amazed at how fat Mocha has become in her 7 weeks' stay with me.  I told him that he'd have to play with her and exercise her a lot when he gets her to their new home.  My kits are great - Nedi is his quiet, loving little self; Lovey still has to swat at Mocha occasionally, but is otherwise OK with her presence.  ...  I finally saw the movie Secretariat last night - it was on a premium movie channel.  I had a super time seeing actors and actresses I recognize, and I liked the fact that the movie ended with the completion of the Belmont Stakes.  (I had forgotten that Secretariat had won the Triple Crown on my 17th birthday.)  There were a few things that I did not like about the movie - it did not show all the hard work and training that goes into making a race horse; there was an awful close-up of what were supposed to be Big Red's legs in the starting gate (and the clip was used several times), which anyone could tell was a chestnut horse with white oil-based paint on his legs; and the movie left several unresolved questions regarding the Chenery and Tweedy families, and about Secretariat himself.  I did enjoy the casting of the actors in their respective characters - and I knew that the real Penny Chenery Tweedy was in the movie, so I enjoyed looking for her - and she was very easy to spot.  More than 37 different horses portrayed Secretariat in the movie - I just wish they had found someone with a sock and stockings more like his than was used in that truly tacky shot of white paint on red legs.

If I were in Virginia, I'd be on Assateague, looking at the ponies in the Holding Pens near Tom's Cove.  Today the CVFD Saltwater Cowboys will be rounding up the herds on the southern portion of Assateague, and driving them to the Holding Pens with the northern herds.  Then the stallions will get rambunctious because they are all crowded together...  I know I'd be drinking water like an elephant, but I'd love to be there!  (Fifteen minutes ago the heat index in Ocean City, Md was 105 degrees.)