One Week to the 2017 Kentucky Derby (w/ correction)

Boulder, Colorado is in the midst of a Spring snow storm while I write this - we've had six inches of snow since last night, and it's still falling steadily.  Low temperature for tonight is forecast as 27 degrees (F), so we're looking at a hard freeze, too.  The roads will be treacherous in the morning.
   In the meantime, elsewhere, it's a week away from the Kentucky Derby, being run, as always, at Churchill Downs Race Track outside of Louisville, Kentucky.  The race is for three-year-olds only, the horses are usually nominated to the race as foals, but can also be supplemented at an additional fee.  The race takes place on the main, dirt track and covers the distance of 1 and 1/4 miles, or 10 furlongs.  It is the first race in the Triple Crown series.  Horses who race in the Kentucky Derby do not have to participate in the following two parts of the Triple Crown; nor do horses who participate in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes have to race in the Kentucky Derby.  All colts carry a uniform 126 pounds; if a filly runs, she carries 123.
    In the past, the cachet of owning a "Derby horse" was such that people would enter horses that should never have stepped foot onto the Churchill Downs track.  There were groups that started in two tiers for race that is generally over in about 2 minutes.  (I can understand the large numbers of entrants in the Grand National Steeplechase - that covers 4 and 1/2 miles - but not for the Derby.)  The number of starters in the Kentucky Derby is now limited to the 20 horses with the most qualifying points from approved races.  Thunder Snow was supplemented yesterday by Godolphin Stables.
   Since horses, while large, are really delicate creatures, there is normally a list of the top twenty-five qualifiers available for the race.  Today, my informant only listed the top 21 horses, so there might be one or three more possibilities.  The actual entries and post positions will be drawn on Wednesday, 3 May.  At the moment the only horse that is known to be a questionable starter is Girvin, who has a quarter-crack in a hoof.  (Personally, I wouldn't run a horse with a quarter-crack in any race, but I am neither the owner nor trainer of said colt.)
   So, here is a listing of the top 21 entries for next Saturday's Kentucky Derby.  They are listed by today's predicted odds, shortest betting odds first, with horse coat color and place of nativity, also.
1     Classic Empire    (bay, Kentucky)   5 to 1
2     Always Dreaming    (bay, Kentucky)    5 to 1
3     Irish War Cry     (chestnut, New Jersey)    13 to 2
4     McCraken     (bay, Kentucky)     9 to 1
5     Gunnevera     (chestnut, Kentucky)     12 to 1
6     Gormley     (bay, Kentucky)     14 to 1
7     Practical Joke     (bay, Kentucky)    14 to 1
8     Battalion Runner     (gray, Kentucky)    16 to 1
9     Thunder Snow     (bay, Ireland)    16 to 1
10   Girvin     (bay, Kentucky)     16 to 1
11   Irap     (bay, Kentucky)     20 to 1
12   Malagacy     (chestnut, Kentucky)    22 to 1
13   Hence     (chestnut, Kentucky)     22 to 1
14   Tapwrit     (gray, Kentucky)     25 to 1
15   Lookin At Lee     (bay, Kentucky)    28 to 1
16   Battle of Midway     (bay, Kentucky)    28 to 1
17   J Boys Echo     (bay, Kentucky)     33 to 1
18   Patch     (bay, Kentucky)     40 to 1
19   State of Honor     (bay, Ontario)     40 to 1
20   Untrapped     (bay, Kentucky)     50 to 1
21   Fast and Accurate     (gray, Pennsylvania)     66 to 1

Of the 21 horses listed, 17 were born in Kentucky, 1 in Ireland, 1 in New Jersey, and 1 in Pennsylvania.   Fourteen of the colts are bay, brown, or dark brown; four are chestnut; and three are gray/roans.  Patch, has only one eye, lost to an infection; he is by Union Rags.  And Girvin has a quarter-crack, and is the grandson of Sunday Silence...   That's all for now.

As of 6 pm, EST,  Battalion Runner and Malagacy will not be competing in the Kentucky Derby.  That opens up the field to Sonneteer and Royal Mo.....

Spring in Boulder, Colorado

We're two days away from May, and it's snowing.  Of course, we had small flurries multiple times yesterday, but the forecasters are now saying we'll have a six-inch accumulation by supper tonight.  Besides distemper outbreaks in our local raccoon population, spring also brings thunder snow and lightning.  Late Monday night and/or early Tuesday morning, we had one heck of a rain, hail, and thunder and lightning event.  I thought we were having a downpour of rain, until I looked out the window and saw hail bouncing off the neighbors' roof.  There was one very loud roll of thunder in the middle of the event.  Lightning struck an ash tree six blocks from the house, and blew most of the bark off the tree.

This time of year also means that Boulder starts to see ravenous bears that have just emerged from hibernation.  The first black bear sighting in Boulder happened yesterday, when a youngster was spotted in a yard near Broadway in South Boulder.  It had apparently eaten plenty during the night, and sought refuge in a neighborhood tree for a twelve hour nap.  It left about dusk, after being filmed by all the local television stations and by hundreds of curious adults and children.  (Hey, there's been a bear sighting! Let's go look!)

This photo was released by the Boulder Police Department, who were asking that citizens stay away and give the bear plenty of room....  Did they?  Of course not!

   I did have to laugh at myself last night.  Joel was on-stage, and I was staying with Rosie.  It was 8 p.m., full dark, and with light sleet falling.  Rosie suddenly lifted her head and looked toward the back yard.  I could see what looked like a flashlight beam inside the shed, as the door was, oddly, open.  My first thought was what is a bear doing in the shed?  My second  thought was why the heck would a bear have a flashlight?  My third thought was that the light was at a very high angle...  It finally hit me that Mark, the gardener, had returned after dark to cover the new flowers and tender plants to protect them from the snow.  The "flashlight" was a head-lamp, and Mark was getting wire forms and protective sheets out of the shed.   -  I was mean, I guess.  -  I walked up behind him in the dark, and said, "Mark! This is unexpected!"  He almost went through the roof, he jumped so high.  Then I felt guilty for frightening him.  So I stayed out and helped him cover the plants....   

Cold, Snow, a Young Hawk, and the Classic

The past week, I have watched the snow levels creep down the mountain tops in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.  This morning, fog and clouds are obliterating the scene, so that even the Flatirons are invisible from my building.  The temperature is also falling - about 1 degree Fahrenheit per hour.  I awoke to such heavy rain that I thought it was hailing this morning - I put on my glasses, and looked out the window, and saw that it was just large drops of rain; but it sounded like they were absolutely pelting the ground.  Just as I pulled my covers back up, there was a huge clap of thunder, and Nedi dived under the bed, while Lovey climbed under the covers with me.  The news said there was thunder snow up in Genessee, and I believe it.  We had lightning and thunder for about an hour, and then it calmed down again.  Right now, we're having periods of drizzle, while the forecast calls for a rain/snow mix most of the afternoon and evening.
  Yesterday morning, a juvenile red tail hawk came arrowing down into the back yard and missed one of the squirrels by inches.  The squirrel ran up a tree, and the bird seemed stunned. It sat in the grass for a few minutes, then flew up to the fence and sat for about 30 minutes.  One of our male squirrels ran up the fence and sat within 6 inches of the hawk, and the hawk just looked at him.  I had to laugh out loud - the squirrel looked belligerent and the hawk looked abashed.
   I made a nice sum betting on the Breeders Cup races, but the taxes in two states and the IRS ate more than half of my winnings.  People are still talking, declaiming, discoursing, and arguing over the race inquiry in the Breeders Cup Classic.  Bob Baffert, who trained the winner, and finally won the BC Classic, is upset because of the furor.  He feels it diminishes the fact that his colt, Bayern, actually won the race - even though Bayern did not break straight from the gate, and was the cause of the stewards' and jockeys' inquiry.  Bayern broke to the left, and didn't straighten out until he was 3 or 4 strides from the gate; in doing so, he brushed up against the horse on his left, causing a domino effect almost to the rail.  But, the California rules of racing allow for horses that don't break straight from the gate - if they straighten up within 4 to 5 strides of leaving the gate, the horse is normally viewed not to have interfered with the other runners.  Bayern did straighten up; Moreno had rotten racing luck through the whole race; Shared Belief's jockey, Mike Smith, believed he could have won the race, if Bayern hadn't run into his right shoulder, shoving him left.   The Track Stewards followed the written California Rules of Racing, and declared no interference.  -  But people will talk about this Classic for a long time.  For Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, and the owners, I wish that Bayern had jumped straight out of the gate - but he didn't, and that's that.

Thor's Visit

I was sound asleep this morning, with Lovey on my left shoulder and Nedi on my stomach.  My sleeping companions awoke me by literally "digging out" at a dead run to hide under the bed.  I have no idea what gave them the warning, but, as I awakened, there was a tremendous flash of bright white light and a simultaneous crashing roar.  I thought that either (a) a building had exploded, or (b) a meteor had crashed in Carpenter Park.  I was amazed at the silence that followed - one person in my apartment building yelled in surprise, but I was waiting for sirens to immediately begin.  Dead silence.    After a few minutes, the cats came creeping back into the bed.  I kept lying there, staring at the window.  I had grabbed my alarm clock and looked at the time when the first blast had frightened me - it was 1:06 a.m.  Six minutes later there was another bright flash, but there was a slight pause before the booming noise.  Both kits again went under the bed.  I got up and peeked out the window - snow was falling, and there was a third flash of lightning followed by a more distant boom of thunder.  Thunder snow!  The front was moving very fast over the area, and within ten minutes, one could only faintly hear the thunder rumbling out to the east.  It was amazing.  I certainly felt that we poor mortals had been visited by Thor, and that I had heard and seen the lightning and thunder of his great hammer, Mjolnir...