This 'n' That Miscellany

The three-year-old colt (actually, he's a ridgling) Catholic Boy ran away from everyone in the Mid-Summer Derby - otherwise known as the Travers Stakes, run at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga.  Bravazo, the D Wayne Lucas trainee, who ran in all three Triple Crown races, was coming up hard to finish in third place behind Mendelssohn finishing second.  It was a really great race.
 
The President is complaining because he Google-searched his own surname plus the news, and found that most of the news stories listed ran toward negativity about his leadership.  He is swearing that Google needs to be investigated because they only list "Fake news."   -  The man is an idiot.

There were voting primaries in Arizona and Florida yesterday.  I grinned when I saw that ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio finished last of three candidates where he ran.  I was very happy to see the ex-Mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum, won the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination. I could only sigh when I saw that DeSantis, the President's Republican pick, won that race.  DeSantis is such a suck-up to the man in the Oval Office - his advertisement for running was creepy, showing him reading a book supposedly written by the President to his son, and then helping his son build a wall of wood blocks, while chanting, "Build that wall!  Build that wall!  That's right, son, let's build that wall!"  And then his statement this morning, telling voter's not to "monkey up the election" by voting for Gillum, who is African-American.  That really set my teeth on edge.

I am still working on identifying a bunch of older photos of ponies that lived on Assateague Island - both in Maryland and Virginia.  Trying to match body markings on pintos is fairly easy - but when you're looking at anklets, socks and stockings when the ponies are either in sand, water, or grass and bushes can make it hard.  Most of the bays, chestnuts and sorrels on the north end of Assateague, in Maryland, have few distinguishing marks, and with the life in the wild, their coat colors can change dramatically between high summer and the dead of winter...  I've gotten half of the photos identified, but some of them are single "shots" and no other photos of that particular pony are posted elsewhere.  It's like working on  a family tree and/or a locked-door murder mystery.  Fun, but puzzling.

I've been reading quite a bit recently - still have five Tony Hillerman books to find and read to complete his series.  Then his daughter, Ann's, three books.  Have read about half of the C. J. Box books so far.  I've had several series recommended to me that are only available as electronic books that I have to download to my PC...  I might be tackling them soon - but I love to sprawl in my chair in the living room or on the balcony and read...  Being tied to the PC is not something I particularly want - and I positively hate reading on a tablet or Kindle or whatever...  I want a real book in my  hands.

I start eleven days of walks at 7:30 a.m. with the owner of 5 King Charles Cavalier Spaniels on Friday.  His wife is visiting family, and he needs help with the furry scurries.  On Labor Day, Monday, I start 3 to 5 weeks of cats, chickens and fish sitting while the owners go play in the Canadian Rockies...  They'll return when they feel like it, or the weather turns too cold.  That means fresh eggs on a daily basis and tons of fresh veggies and grapes from the garden, too. 

American Pharoah and the Travers Stakes

This past Saturday afternoon, Saratoga Race Course once again earned it's nickname, "The Graveyard of Champions."  American Pharoah tried to become only the second horse to win the Travers Stakes after earning the Triple Crown Championship.  Like many other great race horses, he failed, leaving Whirlaway (in 1941) as the only Triple Crown Travers winner.  I greatly appreciate the fact that owner Ahmed Zayat decided to run the colt in the Mid-Summer Derby after winning the Haskell Invitational on 2 August.  Most owners and trainers would have backed the colt off work, slightly, and allowed him to regroup and recover from the Triple Crown campaign before gearing up again for the Breeders Cup Classic.
   Mr Zayat knows that everyday people and bettors in America need a fantastic horse to help boost interest and income into thoroughbred racing in the United States.  After American Pharoah came through the Triple Crown trail looking better than ever, it was decided to run the colt in the Haskell.  With the short breaks between the Triple Crown races, perhaps the Zayat family thought that the colt would continue his unbeaten streak with a break of 27 days between the Haskell and the Travers.
   Keen Ice, a colt by Curlin, ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby; he did not run in the Preakness; and he finished third in the Belmont.  In the Haskell Invitational, Keen Ice took second place, two lengths behind American Pharoah.  In the Travers, Keen Ice won by three-quarters of one length.  Was the difference between the two colts Keen Ice's time off during the running of the Preakness?  We will never actually know, and it's certainly something that will be debated for many years to come.
   Saratoga Race Course has been known as the Graveyard of Champions since 1919, when two-year-old Man o'War met the only defeat in his career in a six furlong race.  The colt that beat him was named Upset.  And he won by three-quarters of a length.   In 1930, Gallant Fox, the Triple Crown champion was defeated by Jim Dandy, at odds of 100 to 1.  Secretariat was beaten by Onion at Saratoga in the Whitney; and Rachel Alexandra was defeated by Persistantly in the Personal Ensign.  And don't forget that while Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown winner crossed the wire in front of Alydar in the Travers Stakes, Affirmed was disqualified, and Alydar was proclaimed the winner.   I'll happily wager that Saratoga will continue it's tradition of kicking dirt in the faces of Triple Crown winners - it seems to be a habit.  

"The Mid-Summer Derby"

Saturday, at Saratoga Springs, New York, the 146th running of the Travers Stakes will be held.  It's called the Mid-Summer Derby for a reason - quite a while ago, many owners thought that making a three-year-old race 1 1/4 miles in the first week of May was asking too much of the horses.  At that point in time, most thoroughbred foals were born in April, May and June, and were barely actually three years of age. (All thoroughbreds have their birthdays on January 1 of each year - so if your horse gives birth on December 31, the next day your new baby is a yearling...)  A lot of breeders and race horse owners wouldn't try to run their horses on the first Saturday in may, in the Kentucky Derby.  Colts that took time to mature, or were born late in the spring, were aimed at "the Mid-Summer Derby,"  the Travers Stakes, run in late August at the same distance as the Kentucky Derby.  This year, the Travers will be run on 29 August, with a gate time of 5:46 p.m. EDT.  The horses entered are all three years old, they will all carry 126 pounds, and they will race for one and one-quarter miles.  The purse is guaranteed at $1.25 million.  If the Kentucky Derby winner is entered, the purse is raised to $1.6 million.
   American Pharoah was the 2015 Kentucky Derby winner.  American Pharoah is entered in this Saturday's Travers Stakes.  Nine other horses will race against him.  American Pharoah is "bucking the odds."  The only other Triple Crown winner to enter and win the Travers Stakes was in 1941, and the horse was Whirlaway.  Affirmed crossed the finish line first in the 1978 Travers, but was disqualified and placed second for cutting off Alydar in the stretch. (Alydar's trainer, John Veitch,  said the win was "a hollow victory").
  So, who is running against American Pharoah in the Travers Stakes?  What are the post positions and what are the morning line odds?  Here you go:
1.   Upstart   at odds of 15 to 1
2.   American Pharoah   at odds of 1 to 5
3.   Mid Ocean    at odds of 50 to 1
4.   Texas Red    at odds of 8 to 1
5.   Frammento    at odds of 30 to 1
6.   Frosted    at odds of 6 to 1
7.   Keen Ice    at odds of 12 to 1
8.   Tale of Verve    at odds of 30 to 1
9.   King of New York    at odds of 50 to 1
10. Smart Transition    at odds of 20 to 1

   I'll be cheering on American Pharoah.