Enter the Land of Indigonation

You heard it here first...

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:36:37 GMT

Breeder's Cup picks:

Juvie Fillies: I love Proud Spell; she is just so fuzzy and cute, and I love the quick-horse-on-a-wet-track-coming-off-a-layoff angle. Have a huge soft spot for Tasha's Miracle and Grace Anatomy.

Juvie: Wicked Style. He's flashy and fun to watch, and his last really impressed me. That outside post sucks, though. Tale of Ekati has an amazing pedigree and is going to be a major player next year, but not sure how I feel about him tomorrow.

Filly & Mare Turf: Honey Ryder is my girl. She's always knocking on the door running against the boys....this is her day. She loves Monmouth, but the track is going to be an issue.

Sprint: Midnight Lute...have been waiting for him to strike it big for what, like three years now?

Mile: Let's swing for the fences here. Nobiz Like Shobiz, first time against older, but he gives me chilld when he runs; totally a different horse on the turf than he was this spring. My Typhoon; Mott wouldn't run her here if he didn't think she could do it.

Distaff: Love Octave and Ginger Punch to death.

Turf: English Channel/Dylan Thomas cold exacta....but my heart is with 'English. He's got some serious guts and personality.

Classic: I feel so in love with all of the three year olds this year...and I have so much respect for Lawyer Ron....but this week, my heart has been pulling me toward Street Sense. There are a lot of questions surrounding how he'll handle the track, but all I know is, he looked scary good working this week....and this race is such an unbelievable field, it's kind of a crap shoot, so might as well go with my heart. I say Street Sense/Hard Spun/Ronnie and Curlin photo-ing for the show.

That's all, she wrote. Everyone have fun tomorrow!

"You are a great champion. When you ran, the ground shook, the sky opened, and mere mortals parted the way to victory. Where you'll meet them in the winners' circle, and they'll put a blanket of flowers on your back. Run hard tomorrow. Goodnight, Dreamer."

Junior year thus far

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:22:49 GMT

Okay, I haven't posted in forever, so lots of fun, random stuff....bear with me here while I try to wrap it all up.

Classes: Only taking four “real” classes this fall, plus the Courier for credit. Pretty sweet schedule. Copyediting & Design is probably my favorite class. Broadcast History & Development is a little tricky because it’s a history/memorize facts and names course, and those aren’t my strong suit, but I’ve been keeping up with the reading and got 100 on the first test (grade is based on four tests). Biology In Society is kind of difficult material-wise, but we’re graded on three papers and two take-home tests, so at least I won’t have to do any hardcore memorizing. I’m taking Intro to Professional Writing (for my minor) with Kyle, and we’ve both decided it’s a waste of time. The professor is the nicest woman, but class is so disorganized and we could do most of the assignments in our sleep. Junior year going decently so far. I’m really bothered that I keep putting out my best effort and coming back with A minuses or B’s though….it’s just the perfectionist in me, but that bugs me.

D&C: I’ve been working there as an Outfielder for a little over a month now. I really, really like it. Admittedly, I’ve been struggling with the atmosphere a little, because I’m overly competitive sometimes and I hate people looking over my shoulder (it makes me too nervous to concentrate), but I like the other people there and I’m really comfortable with the workload….juggling calls, talking to coaches, getting things done on deadline, etc. I think I could cut 100 lines out of a roundup in my sleep now. I like that every single game is different—I don’t deal with monotony well.
And I’ve gotten lucky enough to pick up some really cool phone calls (there’s one main line that people call in on, so it’s kind of just a crap shoot as to who gets there first). My first night working, I picked up the soccer game that the girl doing the roundup that night had planned to use as the lead. A few weeks ago on a Friday night, I happened to pick up the phone when this kid Dave Zapata broke the Section V all-time rushing record and his coach was calling in the box score…I was literally shaking, haha, and I got to holler how he did (302 yards!) across the room and then write a cool web update about it. Also that same night, I got to write another web update on Averin Collier (the top-ranked DI prospect in the state) getting hurt, and also took Victor-Geneva football, which was the regional lead…so I’d say that was my best night ever! It was so exciting and I was literally running around campus on a high when we got back. This past Saturday, I got the Aquinas football game, which was the metro lead.
Plus it’s like hey, I just hung out and watched baseball and talked to a bunch of coaches and five hours went by like nothing? And I got paid 50 bucks for it? Sweet deal.

Courier: We’ve had lots and lots of fun bickering getting things off the ground this year and have already survived a few crisises, but overall, things are going really well. It’s really weird without Lyz (in England) and the kids who graduated around still, and we’ve had some growing pains with the website and magazine and how everyone is dealing with stuff, but we’ve gotten three editions off to the press without too much hassle. The entire paper was redesigned over the summer, and it’s been met really well. It’s been nice to get this part of my life and these friends and this routine back…I missed it over the summer. We’re having our usual good time with lots and lots of pizza and Coke Zero and Fergie. And tonight at production, we started talking about New York….aiiieeee!!!!!

The section where I’m a silly girl and write about my boyfriend: Okay, so sue me. still going strong and coming up on two years (Nov. 10)…seriously can’t believe that. I am really, really lucky, and we’ve been having so much fun together pulling random crap (like driving to Buffalo with Melissa on a whim), going out to eat, and doing silly things. He is probably going to grad school next year and possibly winding up very far away. I totally support him, but I am already freaking out a little (it’s just in my personality to freak about things way in advance)….but I just keep trying to remind myself that a) we WILL make it work, b) it’ll only be for like eight or nine months, and c) it could be so much worse; my friend Maggie’s boyfriend is in the Marines, and sometimes she doesn’t even have the option of seeing him once a month!

Fisher Football: Off to a 5-1 start, and looking really good…if it wasn’t for a 31-28 loss to Hartwick (dark horse of the E8 this year) we’d be unbeaten….Vosburgh decided to go for it instead of kicking a field goal to tie…oh well. We bounced right back with huge wins against Brockport (two rain delays cannot stop us, bitches) and Norwich (led by two touchdowns less than two minutes in) and look ready to take on Springfield.
I’ve only made it to two games this year (Homecoming against Brockport and this week against Norwich) because of work….that really, really bothers me. football season meant a lot to me last year….both professionally, because I got my first chance to do writing outside of the Courier when the team went on their huge run, and personally, because I made a lot of great friends in the “Cardinal Crazies” last fall during a really rough time for me. All the guys heckle me now when I show up for a game…”hey, where have you been? Ditching us? We have to catch up!” It just bothers me that I miss out on all the fun and camraderie. Plus, CTV covers all the games now, so I never see Cara on the weekends anymore…she goes to bed early on Fridays, is at the game all day Saturday, and produces all day Sunday. I guess I never realized how much my social life revolved around football (I am NOT a typical girl!), and now I miss it. But what can you do? At least I can go to the Alfred game (probably our biggest of the year), and hopefully we’ll get some more home games during playoffs….if we go as far as Alliance again (because we will definitely have to go through Mt Union), hopefully I can get off.

Racing: Let’s start with the bad news first. John Henry was put to sleep last week…the heat in Kentucky took a toll on him at the end of summer, and finally, his age just caught up with his body. It feels weird to be a racing fan in a world where John doesn’t physically exist anymore. What a remarkable life he had—how many lives touched, so many memories left behind, and how well he got to live, and for so long. He was surrounded by people who loved and cared about him right till the end, even if he tried to kill a few of them on occasion. We should all be so lucky. Rest in peace to a grand old man who did it all his way….it won’t be the same without you, John.
Good news. The Breeders’ Cup is next week….cannot believe it snuck up so fast….anyway, the Classic looks like a doozy this year, really evenly matched field, between the “big three” 3YO’s (Street Sense, Curlin, Hard Spun), Lawyer Ron, the up-and-coming horses like Tiago, and all the veteran campaigners who could still surprise. The Distaff looks fun if all the top contenders go….lots of classy, consistent 3YO’s (Octave, Lear’s Princess, Lady Joanne, Tough Tiz’s Sis, Panty Raid) and lots of tough, classy older mares (Ginger Punch, Balance, Indian Vale, Unbridled Belle) knocking heads. English Channel versus Dylan Thomas is the Turf, Greg’s Gold/Smokey Stover/Idiot Proof in the Sprint, and oh, it’s just gonna be an awesome day. Not sure how I feel about those new races on Friday yet, but if it means more live racing on TV…eh, okay.
Couple notable names missing, of course. Rags is out for the rest of the year with a hairline fracture suffered when she finally returned to the races in September…so glad it wasn’t more serious and she’ll be back; I’d miss her like crazy. Teuf is done for good after breaking down badly at Keenland last weekend…came through surgery okay, and prognosis is good, but he’s not out of the woods yet…got my fingers crossed every day.

Other random sports things: Yankees are out of the playoffs. In the first round. Again. Fun. Guess we’ll be seeing ya, Torre. Now I’m pulling for the Rockies, because a) they’re exciting to watch, and b) the thought of the Red Sox winning the World Series makes me physically ill. I’m kind of hoping the Indians knock them out before the finals. After losing their first two games to the Islanders, the Sabres have now picked up three wins in a row, including an OT thriller over Toronto tonight…I think everyone was panicking a little prematurely about them, because now they’re looking like a good, solid team. I’m going to the game against Philly with Craig on my 21st birthday next February, and can’t waaaait. The Red Wings (my favorite Western Conference team) are 3-1-1 and looking decent. Colts are off to a 5-0 start….Eagles are 2-3.

That's about it for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more. I'll try to update soon about the Breeders' Cup, the football season, the Matt Nathanson concert TOMORROW, etc....stay tuned, haha.

Niagara Falls....and a picture's worth a thousand words

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:22:09 GMT

So, I haven't written in forever, and I need to fix that. And I'm horrible at keeping in touch with people, and I need to fix that, too. And life is insane.

I don't know where to begin, so let's start with the most recent adventure. I went back to Buffalo with Craig on Sunday night after he got off work (spent Sunday and Monday night at his house), and we went to Niagara Falls on Monday...did the whole Maid of the Mist/Cave of the Winds/random sightseeing & adventures thing. It was AWESOME....I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

The pedestrian bridge over the American falls....see the edge like 50 feet away? Yeah, if that bridge breaks, you're screwed.

Horseshoe Falls

Hurricane Deck...from below, as we were on the way up on the rickety stairs of death.

Getting SOAKED at the Cave of the Winds tour.

Essentially UNDER the Falls.

The waterfall just owned me.

The view from below....sooo cool!

On the Maid of the Mist!

And this would be the "mist."

We had like an hour of being semi-dry after Cave of the Winds...then this happened.

Haha, I'm a mess.

Rainbow!

Still soaked & not caring (gotta love the before and after shots!)

American falls from the boat deck

We climbed some more stairs of death to get right next to the falls!

View from the observation deck.

(In addition, there was another failed attempt to visit Murph, an hourlong encounter with a screaming two year old, a game of Would You Rather with Melissa that went terribly wrong for Craig--I won't post the video ;)--, a drive through pretty Wheatfield, and John's pizza. A really good time!)

**********

So yeah....summer is almost over. We move back in at Fisher on Monday. Strangely enough, I have mixed feelings about it. I've been looking forward to going back and getting back to my routine for so long. But...I don't want to say goodbye to summer just yet. I was so apprehensive about it, but it's been really wonderful.

A rainy Fourth of July watching Funny Cide win at Finger Lakes. Seabreeze and the Red Wings on July 7. The week at Stuarts with the crew watching Jan, Bobby, etc. The Sabres forcing OT with seven seconds left and beating the Rangers in the playoffs. A weekend in New Orleans and nights on Bourbon Street and falling in love with that city and its spirit--I cannot wait to go back. Going to the track after work and falling in love with random claimers....spending nights at Java's with Bridget watching street musicians play and talking about life....driving down Beach Ave with the windows down listening to Matt Nathanson....Craig being here so much, and being reminded every day why I love him....and all of a sudden, September's here?

I don't want to go back and have the year go by in a heartbeat. I don't want to face the fact that many of my best friends (boyfriend included) will be graduating at the end of it. I don't want to take another step closer to the 'real world' myself....even though I know that the 'real world' will be a good thing, and that there are things to look forward to out there. It's just nerve-wracking, sometimes, to have so many things change and to not know exactly what's going to happen.

But at the same time, there is so, so much to be excited about. I love Fisher. I love everything about being there, and living with Cara, and the crazy stupid things that me and Craig manage to pull. I'm excited about getting back to that. I'm excited about Fisher Football. I'm excited about new classes--and no night class!

I love the Courier and I've missed being there like crazy. I miss bickering with Kyle and talking trash with Bill and spending nights at the office eating too much junk food. I'm excited to get back in there and have more good times and see what we can accomplish this year.

And also....I'm excited about my new job :-) Because roughly three years after first getting in contact with them, and four openings/attempts later, I just got hired by the D&C as an Outfielder in the Sports department...hopefully starting the week we go back to school!! I'll admit that I'm ridiculously nervous about it, because I want to do really well, but mostly, I'm just excited, and really, really eager (to the point of antsy!) to get started.

All things considered....I think things are finally on the upswing here. I think I'm finally figuring out what is REALLY important, where I'm going, and what I want out of my life. I think I'm finally this girl where yeah, amazing things happen sometimes.

So the end of summer isn't a bad thing. It's just LIFE happening, I guess. And either way, I think this year will be the best year YET.

I'm re-watching Street Sense's Derby to settle down and then going to bed. Goodnight.

Go Sun King!

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:18:48 GMT

From the Blood Horse this morning...I am posting this for Brooke's benefit in case she didn't see it yet :-) I agree with everything Haskin says here, and I hope this horse kicks ass this weekend!

Perhaps the most popular winner in New York would be Sun King, trained by New York’s favorite son Nick Zito, who has openly admitted his affection and admiration for the son of Charismatic.

Sun King’s unlucky string of second-place finishes in grade I stakes has given Zito his share of migraines, and a victory in the Whitney would no doubt be one of the highlights of his career.

Sun King has been knocking heads with the best for four years, finishing second in the grade I Haskell Invitational, Whitney, and Metropolitan Handicap, and finishing third in the grade I Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Champagne Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Woodward Stakes. He was beaten a nose by Invasor in the Whitney and a head by TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) winner Silver Train in the Met Mile. And he was beaten only a length in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Despite having won a pair of grade II stakes and a pair of grade III stakes, he still has managed to accumulate earnings of over $2 million. So, it is safe to say, no one deserves to finally land a grade I victory more than Sun King.

http://racing.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=39877

Stuarts Day Four: It's a British thing

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:58:26 GMT

We have a new course designer this year. His name is Richard Jeffry and he’s from Great Britan. Yes, he has a cool accent. He’s somewhat of a mad genius. He spent the entire day running around with his tape measure in hand like a maniac, as course designers are wont to do. Besides that, he very purposely wandered the ring checking random jumps that hadn’t even been touched while horses were on course…making us very nervous as he ventured onto their track…and I think I spotted him doing the Michael Dickinson check-the-footing-with-a-finger thing a few times! He definitely had this vision and was insane about following it. Everything he said sounded very stern because of the accent, but as it turns out, he was a big softie. Especially when we brought him a muffin in the morning.

Anyway, we wrapped up a great weekend today with the stadium. Will Coleman and K du Manoir were our big winners in the CIC, followed by Corrine and Dobbin, and then Jan and Syd Kent (apparently she’s only been riding him about three weeks, which made that even more impressive!). They all had clear stadium rounds—really great to watch! Jan won the Open Intermediate with her top horse, Task Force (rounding out the day, actually), and earlier, she picked up a win on one of her Prelim horses, Dario. Really fun to watch her; had never met her before this weekend, but she’s a class act, and I hope she comes back in the future (unless we scared her away with the Pony Club games!).

La and Eve had their ride early in the day. They weren’t in the running for a ribbon, but it was still exciting to see them go DOUBLE CLEAR! It almost got a little too exciting when Eve tried to jump one of the Intermediate fences already set up…La dragged her off with a very firm—“NOT YOURS!” And again, went around screaming and laughing the whole way. She’s been like that since I was eleven years old. I’m proud of her, and happy for her. I was thinking of Drib all weekend, and I’ll bet she was too, and Drib would be nothing but ecstatic right now.

Had a blast working stadium crew, as usual. The girls from Fox Creek Farm were back, and some of the girls who were at Black North when I was there were working. We all caught up and had some fun and everyone fought over the shady spots around the ring, as usual. And two of the BNF girls developed a serious crush on Will Coleman.

One of my cool moments of the day: Was standing next to Brian when he got the phone call from David that Karen and Theodore O’Connor had just won the gold in Brazil! Phil was second, Gina Miles third, and Darren fourth (with four rails down—hope Better is allright).

But yeah. We’re through for another year. It’s sad. It’s hard to describe why I love being there so much. Well, besides getting to see Olympic-caliber riders and horses compete, and then getting to hang out with them. It’s deeper than that. I guess it’s because for one thing, I’m totally in my element. Craig pointed it out on Friday morning when I was just striking up conversations with random strangers at dressage: Ordinarily, I am very shy and quiet, but here, I’m totally at ease and fearless. It’s a good feeling to have. Guess I should work on carrying it throughout the year, too. I also like it because I’m so sure of what’s going on and how to respond in any given situation. Ordinarily, how to act in a particular instance or how to deal with a crisis panics me. But not here. Fence destroyed? I’m instantly on my feet and out there, no hesitation, knowing exactly how to help put it back together. Rider down? Radio for Bob. Loose horse? Alert the crowd and keep calm. Lame horse? Hell, I’ll run scores on foot. I guess it’s a confidence thing again. For another thing, it’s just nice to feel needed…to know that we, as volunteers, are necessary to an event like this and that what we put into it is worth it. it’s a really satisfying feeling at the end of the weekend when things have gone off smoothly and all the riders are walking away smiling, having had a safe and productive weekend.

This was another great year (despite the lack of Darren…haha). For one thing, I got introduced to a wonderful rider in Jan. For another thing, I got to watch her and Bobby make fools of themselves on obstinate ponies. For another thing, my friends all TORE IT UP all weekend. And I had a blast with Jess. And another really special thing, I got to bring Craig with me for a day this year.

That’s all, she wrote…I need to sleep past 5am for the first time since Wednesday, and then I’ll have pics and video up soon. Night y’all!

Stuarts Day Three: Over the river and through the woods...galloping XC we go...and I rocked

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 02:57:19 GMT

It’s quite possibly my favorite day of the year….behind, say, Derby Day….CROSS COUNTRY DAY AT STUARTS!!!

To put the sheer amazingness in simple terms: I walked around in pretty pine woods and laid in the grass in the sun all day. While watching gorgeous, fit horses gallop across the countryside, and perform absolutely impossible leaps over huge fences that don’t fall over when hit. Sick and insane, I know. But amazing.

Also, one loose horse caught and one scoring disaster averted? I rock.

Got up early and got to see a gorgeous sunrise while driving to Victor. Hit the showgrounds at 6 and Jess headed off to jump judge while I hiked up the hill. By the start box. Sat on a couple of old fences to have breakfast (Timmy Ho’s bagel) while watching riders warm up and the first couple people start off on course (the Training divisions went first).

Laura and Eve had their run at about quarter to nine. Watched them come out of the start box and clear the first fence (with La talking the entire way), then turned around and hauled straight back up the hill toward the back field. It’s tradition that if you know a horse and rider, you follow them around the course like a maniac. My legs will hate me for about a week. But made it back there to watch them come through the water no sweat…now I’m getting really excited. They were sitting twelfth overnight, a couple people before them had time penalties, they’re clean and fast so far, they’re gonna be in the ribbons! Then, heartbreak. Eve ran out at the first part of a combination and threw a bucking fit before La finally got her over. Then she refused at the second part. 40 faults…crap. But they finished up strong…with La smiling and screaming the whole way. I will never cease to be amazed by that girl—she rocks.

Spent the morning walking around the course…down to the water, the up-bank at the road, out to the big hedge in the front field, to the huge flower tables by the trade fair. Things got a little more exciting than we bargained for with a couple of loose horses in the Prelim division. The first one lost the rider in the back field, then ran back up over the road to the front field….and straight for the trade fair. Shiiiit. But very, very luckily, he saw the rope around the course and must have thought it was electric tape or something, because he performed a perfect sliding stop. Have seen a Quarter Horse pull that move, but never a Trakhener. I was standing there and he started trotting like he was going to bolt again, so I ducked under the rope and grabbed the bridle till the trainer got there. All’s well that ends well.

The second loose horse actually jumped the rope fencing (thank GOD he didn’t catch a leg) and ran back to the warmup to be with his buddies before we caught him. Overall, the day was pretty tame spill-wise, though. Two riders had to be taken care of by medical staff, and were hospitalized overnight for observation….possibly concussions, but they were both conscious and talking, so everything is probably okay.

The CIC started at about 1:45, with Corrine and Dobbin first on course. Saw them at the start box, then made it back to the water/steps. Double clear! I actually didn’t find out till their ride that they changed the bank this year….instead of going up the steps, it’s down. I’m at the bottom waiting for them to come around the bend and go up…when all of a sudden, then drop over the top! Then it was another curve around, through the spectator areas (another first) to the last two jumps. I liked it. More visibility. Spent most of the time at the steps, and then at the water complex. Meant to walk around a little more, but didn’t want to miss any horses, and the camera angles I was getting were too good to resist.

We had a great day out there for the whole division—the crowd was really getting into it, yelling and hollering at each fence, and the horses were really tearing it up! Definitely a treat to get to watch such awesome riders and their horsemanship. I also have new respect for Teresa. Handsome Devil’s heart just wasn’t in it today. After two runouts at a very easy spot, she immediately turned and walked him right off the course, smiling and patting him on the neck. Good call.

So after today, Will Coleman and K. du Manoir are leading with a rail in hand…. Holly Payne and Madeline are second, Corrine and Dobbin third, and Jan and Syd Kent fourth. Ten points separate the top pair, so some movement conceivable. Stadium is pretty big now.

Here’s my adventure. During Intermediate, I was hiking up the road to go to the finish line (it’s my tradition to watch the last rider from the finish) when Billy, one of the outriders collecting scores, cut by me on his horse. The poor guy stumbles on his way down the hill, and is three-legged lame. They’re looking for a trailer to take him back to the barn when someone points out—how do we get the scores from the fences Billy is covering? The officials can’t pick them up. There isn’t another horse in the area. No way to tell the judges hey, go up to scoring. And Wezo is going to KILL someone if the scores aren't posted on time.

So happening to be standing there, and not able to held helping, I’m like oh, I’ll run the scores on foot for the last half of the division. Yeah. Goooood move Nicole. Here I am running through an open field (with no marked spectator paths) hoping to God that Brian is on top of things cause that’s the only way I know if a horse is coming on the track. And oh yeah, the sheets have to go up to scoring, on the hill. Plus, my legs hate me still. I think that was my year’s worth of exercise right there.

But it was exciting—it feels good to contribute and be needed. Really a satisfying feeling to do behind-the-scenes stuff like that (hey, that’s why I’ve been doing this seven years!). Glad I could step in—was in the right place at the right time.

The crowd really whooped and hollered the last horse through the line! Brian definitely got them into it.

So, another wonderful day on the Stuarts XC course in the books. Stadium tomorrow…aka my day to be in charge with the walkie-talkie and organize mass amounts of riders and horses. Can’t wait! Sad cause it's the last day of the show...but I get to sleep in a little...since when did 6am become sleeping in?

Also, another update from PanAm, which we got live on the phone...it pays when your announcer is a competitor's brother-in-law...Karen and the wonder pony Theodore O'Connor are now in the lead! Darren's in third. Show jumping for them tomorrow, too, so we should hear from them around three.

Stuarts Day Two: In which, two Olympic-class riders make fools of themselves

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:25:06 GMT

Another 5am wake-up call, and this time, I was dragging Craig with me. He had the day off work, so I was ecstatic to get to take him out to the show and introduce him to the wonderful world of three-day eventing.

Started off by watching the beginning of the CIC dressage. Corrine and Dobbin had a really nice test (I’m pulling for them to win), and so did Teresa Stewart and Handsome Devil (one of Darren’s students). Then again, most of the tests were pretty good, since most of these people are Olympic-caliber riders! I loved watching them, as always. Some people (cough, cough) might not think dressage is as exciting as the other phases…and okay, I guess the other phases maybe are more exciting, per se…but dressage is just as important, holds a ton of weight in scoring, and the benefits of it (harmony between horse and rider) carry over to the other phases. Plus, it’s beautiful to watch. Getting off my soapbox now. I made myself a cup of coffee with so much creamer in it that it barely qualified as coffee and attempted to explain some of the intricacies of dressage to Craig.

Then both jumping phases for Novice were starting—and everyone was bracing for organized chaos. Riders came down to stadium in their cross country gear, jumped the course, ran and changed equipment (horse), and ran cross country 15 minutes later. But everything went surprisingly well. Only two falls, riders getting out on cross country on time, warmup staff keeping things moving, etc. The only real bummer of the morning was that Carol Kozlowski (riding Jack Walnes’ horse Gran Mercury) crashed a fence and was eliminated after being second overnight on their dressage.

My three friends in the Novice were riding right after each other—Leah first, then roughly fifteen minutes till Fish, then another five minutes till Carol. Watched Leah’s stadium round—really strong, with only one rail down. Debated going and getting a spot on cross country, then decided to stay at the ring for Fish’s round. It looked like she really had to push Hannah around the course, and they had three knockdowns, but they survived.

After that, went to the cross country course. Managed to catch Leah at the first and last fences—and she went double clear this time! No 30 speed faults! And the people around me thought she was extremely entertaining, hollering in Smiley’s ear all the way around the course. Sarah went double-clear, with absolutely no missteps at the brush and drop, which was the part she was most worried about. Even though she was obviously going to be out of the ribbons, it was an amazing cross country run for their first time at Stuarts!!! Carol picked up a refusal and had time faults, dropping her way down from ninth. Too bad—she probably wound have pinned before that. When the final scored came up, Leah was ninth—less than a point away from being in the ribbons. If she hadn’t had a rail down, or if someone ahead of her had dropped one, she’d be sitting pretty. Sucks. Oh, well. That’s horse showing.

Then it was time for the annual Pony Club games demonstration. That’s always fun—it’s ridiculously brave little kids on these little short, fat ponies running relay races that involve popping balloons, throwing things, stacking things, etc, at a dead gallop. Then, apparently, the organizers had decided to be extra fun this year (or cruel. take your pick). They had Bobby Costello (former US Olympian) and Jan Byyny (rode for US in World Equestrian Games) come out, hop on two of the ponies, and compete against each other in a round of games. I was holding my sides laughing. Here is Bobby Costello, who I idolized when I was younger as he went galloping around XC courses jumping impossible things on huge Warmbloods….on a fat little palomino pony that is pinning its ears back and refusing to even canter….and running relay races that involve leaping off your horse and crawling under a hurdle on the ground. Priceless.

Brian was more or less having the time of his life during this, which was just the icing on the cake. Some gems:

“The only time in their lives that Advanced riders do not get lost is when they are going cross country. Because everything is roped off. You can ONLY go from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3…”
“Bad puns are a Pony Club tradition.”
“Don’tchu hit that pony!” (in reference to Bobby attempting to make the naughty pony move)
As Bobby is crawling on the ground….”I think we have the next cover for the USET magazine…”
Re: Harry Potter….“By the way, any rider who stays up late tonight trying to get that book will be automatically eliminated on the cross country tomorrow.”

Then we went back to watch a little more dressage—the last riders in the Intermediate division. I was psyched because I think Craig was actually starting to spot good and bad movements in the test….well, he could recognize when they messed up, anyway. And then he decided this one horse was his favorite because it kept whinnying during its dressage test, haha.

During a break between riders, Brian got on the PA to announce that he had just gotten off the phone with Karen from Brazil, and Team USA is leading the three-day competition at the PanAm Games! Darren and Better are sitting in fourth right now. Sucks that they’re not here, but glad it’s going well!

Overall, it was a really awesome day. Spent a lot of time being anxious and nervous about the girls riding, but they all turned out more or less okay. And it was an amazing day out on the courses—things ran smoothly, and the weather was beautiful! And just making a great day perfect—it was really cool to get to share everything with Craig.

CROSS COUNTRY TOMORROW....

Stuarts Day One: Old friends, new friends, and another %$#%^# downpour on XC

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:50:41 GMT

After a long year of planning and anticipation….Stuart Horse Trials 2007 is finally here!

As always, highlight of my summer, and I have been counting down for weeks. Went to the showgrounds on Tuesday night for the volunteer orientation and kickoff party. And of course, the annual nighttime course walk with Jess. Then on Wednesday, I was there for a few hours in the middle of the day for stadium setup and to do lunch with Charlie’s Angels (oh how I did not miss Charlie). And today, the competition kicked off at 7am sharp.

Every muscle in my body is already killing me. And it’s only Thursday!

The odyssey started at 5am when I got up and everything possible went wrong in my quest to get out of the house on time. My alarm didn’t go off right, dropped a contact in the bathroom, couldn’t find my bra, and Mary Sue (volunteer coordinator) called me about judging on my way out the door. Anyway, I dashed to pick up Jess, and we finally got to the showgrounds around 6:15. Jess was ring steward for dressage, so she took off for the warmup, and I went to hang out by the ring. I basically tackled Brian, the announcer, as soon as I saw him—he’s the coolest guy in the world, and was really looking forward to seeing him! Then he enlisted me to pound stakes into the ground and go on coffee runs for the ground jury. Oh, Brian.

The highlight of the morning was getting to see my friends Sarah (aka Fish—from Naz) and Leah (from the BNF days) ride. They’re both in Junior Novice. Leah and her OTTB, Smiley, went around 10:15. They had a really nice test. I haven’t seen them in competition together in awhile, but it looks like Smiley has come a really long way in his dressage. Now if they can just not get 500 speed faults in cross country again, they’ll be fine, haha. Fish went maybe half an hour later. It was the first time I’ve seen her horse, Hannah Bananna, and she is so freaking cute! Little TB mare with a star. Their transitions looked a little iffy, but mostly, it was a really nice test, and I’m definitely pulling for them this weekend.

Also got to see my friend Laura (La), who, along with Bridget, taught me basically everything I know about horses and riding. La is Leah’s trainer…she’s also got her mare Eve here this weekend in the Training division. Their dressage test was today (didn’t get to see it, unfortunately), and they do cross country Saturday morning and stadium on Sunday.

My friend Carol is running around here in Junior Novice somewhere, too. I missed her test this morning, but told her trainer, Carrie, to tell her good luck for me (Carrie’s riding this weekend, too, and is leading one of the Open Novice divisions right now). Carol is sitting in ninth overnight, with Leah in a tie for 13th and Fish in a tie for 18th. Don’t know if they’ll finish in the ribbons, but if they have nice jumping rounds and the leaders drop a few rails in stadium, it could happen.

At noon, I reported back to the trade fair to jump judge. We had our radio briefing with Brian, and while we’re sitting in the tent, it starts to drizzle a little. Well, okay, there was rain on the forecast. At about quarter after, it stops raining and the sun comes out, so we figure it’s all over and decide to head out to the course. Me and my fence partner, Christine, hitch a ride on a pickup truck. There are about ten of us in the bed, and we’re perched on the sides of it. The thing was such a crappy piece of rust, I’m amazed it didn’t completely fall apart as we’re going up hills, through the field, etc. The side we’re sitting on is just swaying freely, and everyone is convinced we’re going to fall off and die. Meanwhile, this guy Bill is sitting there very cheerfully advising, “Just pretend we’re working without stirrups. Balance. Balance!”

We get to our jump (the down bank) at about 12:30, with the first rider scheduled to go at 1. Keep in mind, we are in the middle of an open field. About ten minutes after we get to our spot, the skies absolutely open up. We’re covering our clipboard, order of go, and other essentials (like our Matthew McConaughey magazine and bag of M&M’s….hey, we had our priorities straight!) with plastic bags. There is no saving ourselves; we were soaked through in seconds. Meanwhile, Brian is on the radio trying to find Trish, the TD, to get her to approve a half-hour delay of the competition. He finally finds Trish ten minutes later, and she says okay, hold the first rider and get everyone out of the rain. We run up to the patrons’ tent overlooking the course, so now we have a bunch of sopping wet jump judges with clothes plastered to various uncomfortable places on their wet bodies mingling with all the rich sponsors…who were very nice and shared their complimentary cookies.

Half an hour later, it’s still pouring, and the ground jury decides that there’s no way the course will be safe anytime today. They decided to move the Novice cross country to tomorrow. The division was already supposed to do stadium, so they’ll do that and then go straight out to the course. Meanwhile, all the other divisions, including CIC, will be running their dressage tests as planned. It should be a chaotic but fun day. I’m excited now because Craig is coming to the show tomorrow since he has off work, so he’ll get to see all three phases of an event.

I’m also excited that CIC will be starting tomorrow. The one bummer is that Darren isn’t here—he was planning to, but he was an alternate for the Pan American Games, and just got called to go there about five days ago when another rider’s horse came up lame. So he’s in Brazil. Boo. But good for him, and I hope he and Better kick ass. And it should still be a good competition without him—Corrine Ashton, Kelli Temple, Bobby Costello, etc.

So yeah, safe to say, Stuarts ’07 is off to an…inspiring…start. Nice to catch up with my summer horseshow family, and of course, we now have another crazy story to reminisce about for years, ie, the wicked rainstorm. Although the consensus was that this didn’t even come close to last year’s monsoon on cross country day, and moving one division in no way comes close to moving five divisions.

Will try to update again tomorrow night if I’m not completely exhausted, and I’ll post pics at the end of the weekend.

Funny Cide @ Finger Lakes....4th of July

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:02:17 GMT

Me and my friend Matt drove out to the track around 11:30, when the gates opened. The parking lot was already full and they were going to overflow parking (in a field) by 1pm. It was unbelievable! Just so out of the ordinary for this track. People were bringing their kids and grandkids, and families were there together, and the whole thing was just surreal. It was steadily drizzling during the day, but nothing torrential, and everyone looked to be having a great time despite the weather…the track was messy, but from what I heard from eavesdropping on riders in the earlier races, it wasn’t unsafe.

Management did a good job of keeping things going, despite the crowd; they had extra concession people in (borrowed from PAETEC Park), extra food stands, extra tellers (called up from OTB)….the betting lines were really long, but they kept things moving along well. Anytime anyone got rowdy or anyone needed anything, there was security or a track rep there to help out. I’m proud of the hometown crew; they really stepped it up for the day, and deserve huge kudos!

We got to meet the Sackatoga guys (they did an autograph session), and that had to be the highlight of the day. They have to be some of the most wonderful, gracious, and generous people I have met in the sport. They all seemed genuinely flattered by the reception they were getting, and very humble about all the attention. They took the time to talk to each person in line, asking them how long they’d been coming to Finger Lakes or what their favorite one of Funny’s races was--for the record, I told them the Gold Cup. They were also very cool about answering questions (some of the more knowledgeable horsepeople were asking things like why is Garcia on him, why can’t he win at Belmont, and they were very candid and open about everything). I stopped to shake each guy’s hand and thank them all PROFUSELY for bringing Funny out to Rochester for us to see, and also wished them luck, of course. Got autographs and photos and a few good laughs. Really, they’re just great guys, and were enjoying themselves so much.

In a tent out front, they also had Funny’s Derby, Preakness and JCGC trophies on display. So I proceed to stand there in total disbelief, going, “There is a DERBY TROPHY sitting here at FINGER LAKES.” Too cool!

Plus, it was wonderful that everything going on was raising money for the track’s racehorse adoption program…they just did the groundbreaking for the on-track rehab and adoption center (first of its kind in the country!), and the sales of all Funny Cide stuff were going to raise money to support horses till homes are found for them. They had people on hand to talk about that, and there was a lot of interest.

A little after one, Craig calls, and it turns out he didn’t have to work his day job, so he booked it out to the track to meet us—and that made an already sweet day perfect. It was the first time him and Matt met, and they got along really well, so that was AWESOME. The three of us were having a blast. Enjoyed the races during the day….grabbed some lunch….got harassed by seagulls….lost a little money betting….lol. We’re all absolutely awful handicappers; we each picked a different horse in one race with six starters, and we couldn’t even get one of those three to hit the board. For the Wadsworth, I was backing Funny all the way, but the boys decided to get creative because they wanted to make money—Craig liked Tiger Speech because his grandsire, Machiavellian, is also the grandsire of Street Sense (he likes pedigrees); Matt liked Tomassi, because the name sounded cool.

As the day goes on, the crowds get harder and harder to fight. We decided we were going to skip the race before Funny’s and go stake out our spot at the paddock. Well, we get down there, and the crowd is already seven deep! And they don’t clear out when the horses for the previous race leave, either! COMPLETELY unbelievable. Our biggest day at the track usually is for the New York Derby, and MAYBE the crowd is three deep if there’s a big-name jockey or some horse that fell off the Derby trail in. But NOTHING like this. Thankfully, by virtue of me being really short, I managed to wiggle my way down right up against the fence.

When Funny walked into the paddock with Robin Smullen (Barclay was at Belmont with Nobiz for the Dwyer), this huge roar goes up, and everyone starts clapping as soon as he emerged out of the tunnel (the other horses were NOT pleased about this, by the way—Tiger Speech launched his saddle a good ten feet because they were attempting to tack him up when Funny appeared). I will admit to getting totally giddy—that’s my boy! He’s here! They took him straight on in to the stall to be saddled, and only walked him around the circuit once or twice. He was totally unfazed by everything and just kept looking around over everyone’s heads with his ears pricked. Some of the other FL regulars are standing around going damn, that’s class….we're all just in awe of him. I’m still totally in shock at this point….oh my God, there is a DERBY WINNER standing in my crappy backyard track’s paddock!

Call to post comes, they go out to the track, and we fight the crowd back to the front side of the grandstand. There’s no way we can see a damn thing if we stand near the winners’ circle, so I tell the guys just keep moving…we get down near the eighth pole and starting gate, and there’s no one there. We had a perfect clear view of the gate, and the horses would come by us again on the way to the finish. I turn around to look at the grandstand, and there is not an empty seat. Everyone is on their feet, and down on the apron, everyone’s standing on the picnic benches. As the field starts loading in the gate, everyone starts cheering….it was like the Derby field was getting ready to go off or something.

They break good (looked like Funny broke very relaxed and then tucked in behind the speed) and go by and vanish around the first turn, and we don’t see them for a good minute. I’m trying to listen to the announcer, and the guys are going crazy because they’re watching their horses lay second and third on the infield monitor.

All of a sudden, we spot the field as they emerge at the end of the backside, and Funny’s number starts moving on the monitor. I yell, “Here he comes!” and I’m shaking as they come into the stretch, just screaming his name over and over as they’re coming down the lane toward us and Funny is making his move. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. He catches Johnnie Bye Night (reigning FL Horse of the Year) directly in front of us and rolls home to win by daylight.

Everyone starts whooping and hollering and we run back to the winners’ circle. They can’t even do the ceremony in the normal enclosure because the Sackatoga guys have so many people with them, so they just do it out on the track. Funny comes walking back past the grandstand, and everyone is giving him a standing ovation; it continues as they unsaddle him and start walking back to the barns, and doesn’t stop until he’s out of view.

What an unbelievable day! I’m thrilled to death that he won big, and maybe it’ll be the confidence boost that he needs to pick up some wins at Saratoga or Belmont later this year. Either way, it’s great that he’s happy and healthy, and I will never, ever forget seeing him today. What a thrill. Sackatoga/Tagg/Smullen/etc were so wonderful to bring him out for the fans to see, and the owners are so damn wonderful. And like I said earlier, I am so proud of Finger Lakes and how today was handled. Cannot believe the crowd that showed up. Who said horse racing is a dead sport? I will not stop smiling over today for a good, long time.

I can try to keep going on and on about how wonderful it was....but they say a picture's worth a thousand words:

The Sackatoga crew:

Funny's 2003 Derby and Preakness, and 2004 Gold Cup trophies:

Me & my favorite railbird-in-training

The champ in the paddock and heading to post. Check out the crowd behind the fence!

Break from the gate

Coming back to the winners' circle....uh...attempting to FIND the winners' circle in all the chaos!

Going back to the barn.

Lousy couple of days as a sports fan...

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:46:56 GMT

Horse Racing:

Let’s start with the old news that I never sounded off on. Invasor was retired on Saturday the 23rd. I was literally jumping up and down giddy earlier that day because he had turned in a bullet work that morning getting ready for the Suburban. I go out that night, come home to click onto the BloodHorse and find out that he cracked a sesamoid in that work and is all done.

He’ll be okay, thank God, sesamoids always make everyone nervous…but it’s really such a damn shame. Such a classy horse…a real international superstar…won the Triple Crown in his home country, then came over here and beat everything we had to offer…Sun King made him EARN that Whitney…he ran down Bernie in the Classic with his ears pricked like he could go around again. I gotta give props to the connections…it would have been really easy to retire him after the Classic, but they brought him back for a 5YO campaign. Even if it was abbreviated, it was really sporting of them, and we still got to see two wonderful races in the Donn and World Cup. Probably the best older horse to win a championship in America since Cigar…and that is saying a lot. So disappointing to lose him.

The bright side?

The race for Horse of the Year is suddenly wide open. Right now, the frontrunners are the three year olds: Rags, Street Sense, and Curlin. All three will be racing within the next month, and they’ll be forced to take on each other and do well if they want to grab the title away from each other. Maybe Todd will be more inclined to run Rags against the boys again. She just returned to the worktab recently, heading for the CCA Oaks….Street Sense is back, too, and I’m glad.

The older horse division is suddenly wide open, too. Flashy Bull is the leading contender in the east…four straight wins and just got his first GI (happy McLaughlin has another nice one). But Lava Man staked his claim out west by winning his third straight Gold Cup in a THRILLER yesterday. That a special horse, but not leaving Cali will hurt him. Should be an interesting summer and fall.

Hockey:

Sabres lost both co-captains today, as expected. After free agency opened at noon, Danny Briere went to Philly around, oh, probably 3:30….eight years for $52 million, getting ten million the first year….after all the noise he made about wanting to stay in Buffalo….SELLOUT. A few hours later, nothing major has happened with Chris Drury, so I go for a run….around the block a few times and I’m rounding the final bend toward my house when I get a text from my friend Matt going “AHHHH NO NO.” So knowing Matt pretty well, I bolt for the house and the computer only to find out….that Drury is a Ranger.

Yep. Kind of ironic, in a sick twisted way, considering that Drury kept the Sabres alive in the playoff series against the Rangers by tying Game 5 up with 7.7 seconds on the clock (May 4….we were there!). Also surprising, because like 99% of the rumors I heard had Drury going out west somewhere. So now the Rangers have Drury, Jagr, and Gomez, who they also managed to sign today. That thought kind of makes me sick. My immediate response to Matt was “Someone needs to go Tonya Harding one of them.”

The bright side?

The Sabres aren’t a lousy team by any means without Drury and Briere. They still have Vanek (um, almost anyway….need to sign the contract), Afinogenov, MILLER, Stafford, Roy, etc…plus whoever they pick up in free agency (maybe resign Zubrus?). They’ll have to step up and work a lot harder, and their division suddenly looks really tough, but I don’t think they’re automatically a throwout because they lost the captains. They won’t be the top team in the NHL, but eighth seed in the playoffs and take it from there? Sure.

Also, Detroit got Rafalski and I'm happy about that.

Baseball:

The Yankees have been pretty woeful lately….they suffered through an awful road trip, won the first game of a home series against Oakland 2-1, then dropped a pair of games to lose the series. On Saturday, they lost 7-0 and managed one hit (maybe two….does it matter though?). Today, the score was 11-5. It really doesn’t matter if Jeter and A-Rod are two of the best players in the country if as a whole, the team can’t get it together and put some wins away.

The bright side?

They have the All Star break to hopefully wake the hell up. And I guess October is still a good ways off. And the Mets and Cubs are doing okay.

More baseball:

Barry Bonds keeps inching up on Hank Aaron’s record (has 750, record is 755). Personally, I think any pitcher with any reverence for the game and integrity shouldn’t give him the chance to swing at the ball. Walk the slime.

The bright side?

Unless Barry dislocated his shoulder without me knowing about it….there is none.

The lone bit of totally good news?

Of course it comes from horse racing. Because it never fails to make me happy.

I can’t wait till Wednesday. Funny Cide will be in Rochester to run in the Wadsworth Handicap at Finger Lakes, and I will be right up against the rail watching. It’s going to be exciting to see him. I adore that horse.

Maybe he’s lost a step from his Triple Crown run, but there is an old warrior who didn’t leave the stage too soon….who never sold anyone out for money….who always gave his best, even in the middle of every slump….who never cheated or claimed to be something he wasn’t. Granted, it’s a horse, but seriously….I need to see all of that right now.

Here's lookin' at you, kid...

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 03:20:06 GMT

My kiddo was retired today. He’s got a tendon injury (Pletcher thinks it started in the Derby) and would need 90 days, so they decided that since he would miss the fall races they ought to retire him. I’m not sure whether or not to be furious. On one hand, it’s 90 days, and I think with his versatility, he could come back after some time and have a great 4YO campaign. So retiring him is a JOKE. On the other hand, tendon injuries never heal quite the same as bone. So maybe it’s better this way, because God forbid anything more serious happen to him….

I will never ever forget falling in love with this horse…and that’s what it was, falling, because it was fast and sudden and everything. It was last summer when he won the Sanford…he missed the break, got shut off on the far turn, and again in the stretch….meanwhile, Teuflesberg is out there cruising on the lead, and I figure there’s no way this other horse is getting up. All of a sudden, he changes leads, straightens himself out, and runs on to get Teuf in the last jump. That took guts. I was down in front of the TV yelling, “There’s my Derby horse!” And I nicknamed him "the kid," as in "Damn, that kid can RUN!"

From there on out, he was my kid....And even when there were questions about his pedigree, his ability to get a distance, the bar shoes, I never waved, because I saw from the first that he had the guts to get to the wire first, whatever happened. And he rewarded that faith time and again.

The Fountain of Youth this year was amazing….it was the same situation, where he’s fourth turning for home and looked hopelessly beaten, and all of a sudden, he just started coming relentlessly and nailed Stormello in the last jump. Refuse to lose.

Won the Champagne over Nobiz and King of the Roxy….the Florida Derby over Chelokee and Notional…a good second in the Hopeful to Circular Quay….a decent finish in the Juvie behind Street Sense, who no one was catching….he competed with the best of his generation all up and down the East coast, and finishes up with a record of 9-5-1-1. Not too shabby.

I’ll never forget watching him walk onto the track for the post parade for this year’s Derby. I just kept thinking, ten months of following him, and all the questions that have been asked of him, and everything, and it’s all coming down to this. Out of thousands of foals, he is one of twenty on that track….and I was so proud of him.

He’s leaving for Ashford tomorrow morning. I knew he’d be going there at the end of the year, so I was getting prepared to say goodbye after October 27. I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye this soon.

I’ll miss you, kid. Thanks for an amazing ride.

The new adventures of Barbie & Aggie

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:51:16 GMT

Tuesday night.....eight hours, dinner, a movie, ice cream, the beach, a kinky reggae, fake names, an illegal immigrant, cross dressing, and four or five trips across town...warrants a recap.

It all started at 5pm when Bridget picked me up after work. We decided to head to Jay’s Diner in Henrietta to grab something to eat. There was a thunderstorm rolling into the area, but we figured since Jay’s is only a 15-minute drive, we could beat it in. That was before we hit a traffic jam on the 390 and decided we didn’t want to sit in it…so we hopped off the Brooks Ave exit by the airport, intending to take the long way around. Of course we turned the wrong way off the exit and wound up in the ghetto…whoops. Turned around at a gas station and headed back to the road that cuts around the airport to Henrietta. Of course by then, the little side trip had cost us, and it’s now raining…wind’s picking up…there’s lightning bolts…oh god. And it got even better when we got to town and the power was out there…so now you have these very large intersections with no traffic lights working. Shiiit. Thankfully, the power was on at Jay’s and we made it there in one piece and happily sat inside with our food while the storm shook everything outside…

Then, since the dollar theater was right across the street, we decided to go see what was playing, and decided to see “In The Land Of Women.” It was amazing! Really not what you’d expect from first glance at the trailer, but so, so good…really interesting take on relationships, family, personal strength, etc. Parts of it are heartbreaking, but it’s also warm and quirky and funny. The whole cast was amazing, especially Adam Brody (aka Seth Cohen) as a heartbroken soft-core porn writer living with his grandmother. So, definitely a good way to spend a couple hours!

We get out of the theater (it’s not 9pm, for those of you keeping score) and decide that the ice cream scene in the movie made is want ice cream. So instead of going to the place right down the road, or even in Spencerport, we decide to drive all the way down to the beach! After we lost the creepy guys who kept squealing their tires at us and trying to pick us up, we walked down the pier by the lighthouse and chilling out down there to talk. We start talking about where we’d like to travel and/or live….and this prompts another trip aaallll the way across town to see the lot in Chili (right by Henrietta) where Bridget’s family is building a house (they’re moving in September).

And after that, we really didn’t have anything else to do, but didn’t feel like going home yet. So we drove downtown to Java’s—where else? Got our drinks (mmm Kinky Reggage!) and were chilling on one of the sidewalk tables when this man comes and sits down at the table next to us and starts asking where we’re from. About six times (Guy: Where you from? Bridget: Gates. Guy: Where’s that? Bridget: West of here. Guy: No, really. Where you from? Bridget:…Gates. Guy: You’re from California?). Then he asked if we were law enforcement (leading to my theory that he’s an illegal immigrant). Then he asked for our names, and thinking quickly, we told him that we were Barbara and Agnes. And of course, we proceeded to use these names for the rest of the night.

So we proceed to ignore him and soon, he goes over to the other table to talk to this bunch of guys, and pulls the same “where are you from” routine with them. Me and Bridget are laughing our asses off, so when this kid from the other table looks over, we just raise our glasses at him like, sucks to be you. So then the kid comes over and introduces himself as Chris from the Thousand Islands (I think he and Bridget were hitting it off). We happily watched Chris’s friend and his girlfriend trade shirts, and the friend proceeded to strut up and down the sidewalk sporting the cami like it was a runway. Then, unfortunately, our new stalker follows Chris to the table. Fuuuuuck. Thankfully, soon after that, Java’s closed, and we were able to go hide inside with the workers for a bit till we were sure he was gone…then made a break for the parking garage.

Thus concludeth the evening.

Summertime

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 04:41:37 GMT

Here’s the long-promised update on things I’ve been up to this summer thus far! Nearly halfway through (have been off since the end of April, back to Fisher on September 3)….going by a lot faster than I expected, but still so long to go! It helps that I get to see Craig tons, and Cara is close enough where I’ve seen her a couple of times, but I miss Courier kids like crazy.
Anyway, the adventures…

Excursion to B-lo: Went to Buffalo for a little over a day (got there Thursday night after Craig got off work, went home Saturday morning) and had some good times. On Thursday night when we got there, we wound up staying up till 4am playing games. Friday morning, went to IHOP with Craig, his mom, Melissa, and his grandpa…it was my first time meeting his grandpa, and he was really cool and crazy (crazy is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned!). Then it was wandering around on some random errands, and somehow Craig got talked into buying new shoes, and Melissa freaked him out at the mall by telling him we were going to be there for hours.
Went back to the house and played DDR….I have no freakin’ coordination, and somehow wound up playing it against Craig’s mom….I’m pretty sure that experience got captured on film….haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, cause I was basically about to trip over my own feet and crash, haha. Then went down to Mississippi Mud, a restaurant by the river, with Craig & Melissa for lunch, which was really good (mm hotdogs)…although the dive-bombing seagulls were a LITTLE distracting, to say the least! On the way home, Melissa freaked Mrs. Kanalley out by telling her that we were downtown and not on the way back yet (it was around 2:20 and we needed to be back by 2:30), and me and Craig are sitting there dying while this is playing out on speakerphone. Then Craig’s parents and Melissa left for Syracuse (they had a bball tourney this weekend), and our night of ridiculous adventures began.
First we tried to visit our old newspaper adviser, Murph. Don’t know if she was home or not….we were ringing the doorbell, peeking in the backyard, etc, and nothing. Tried calling Kyle, Adam and Rachel to get her number…then Craig realized he already HAD her number after all that and tried calling it, and nothing. So we decided to leave, and Craig wanted to show me how to play tennis, so we went to the park, and, well, I am an appallingly bad tennis player. Let’s put it this way: First I hit the ball over the (20-foot) fence, then I hit it onto the court (where other people were playing), then I hit it over the fence again, then I hit it across the street (clearing the fence again to do so)….yeah. Then it was back to Murph’s because we’re ridiculous, but still no answer, and thankfully, her neighbors didn’t call the cops.
So then we settled down a little and went to pick up pizza for dinner…On the way back to the house, we drove around a little, and Craig showed me some stuff like where he went to high school, and pulled over so we could walk up on the pedestrian bridge over the highway to see the sunset. Then we had pizza (John’s—soooo good!) and watched Invincible on ondemand. It was a fun Friday….
We had some other adventures this weekend besides that. Went to the beach here on Wednesday night because Abbott’s ice cream is a Rochester summer tradition and Craig had to experience it. We wound up chilling out on the sand to eat it, and witnessed the wild adventures of some drunken high schoolers planning a jihad or something (don’t ask)….then later that night, we went to see Ocean’s 13 (really good!). Then today (Sunday), we hung out here for a bit (let’s just say it’s nice that the Red Wings had a HOME game today! haha) and played some Scrabble and battled to a 190-186 finish…intense.
Basically…..I like Craig (love, actually, but that’s no secret), and I like Buffalo, and I like the beach and all that other stuff, so it was a blast.

Adventures in Nawlins: Spent three days in New Orleans with Erin and Jason at the end of May for a conference (paid for by the yearbook…second free trip from Fisher in three months, boo-ya. hey, I pay tuition!). It took me all of an hour to fall completely in love with the city. It’s just so colorful and full of music, and the people there are REALLY friendly—it seemed like everyone wanted to stop us and tell us something about city history or whatever. I loved the palm trees, shopping from all the street vendors with handmade stuff, the food (pizza&daquiris on Bourbon St, coffee&baguettes at Café du Monde), and walking on the Riverwalk at night. Bourbon Street is basically the biggest party imaginable, between the neon lights, live music or street performers on every corner, and music blaring out of all the clubs…can’t even hear yourself think! I really want to go back someday, especially if I can go during Mardi Gras…haha.
We weren’t really in the areas that got hardest hit by Katrina (we were north of that), but on the van ride to and from the airport, we went through some of the residential areas that did, and it was really shocking. To see how it looks two years later, some of the streets just look like a bulldozer went through the middle. It’s sick. Whatever the gov’t, etc, is doing down there to help, it’s not enough yet.
As for the reason we were there, the conference was really cool, also. Me and Erin did the writing track, and it was info on different styles of writing, interviewing, training staff, etc. On Friday, we got paired with someone from the photography track, and got sent out on the city to write&shoot a feature about someone. My photographer, Shirley (from University of Mississippi) and I wound up interviewing a dealer from the casino who was outside on her break…she was fun.
The plane ride was fairly uneventful…maybe I’m starting to get used to this, haha. Our trip home was a little dicey….stranded for close to four hours in Philly because of a thunderstorm….but compared to the JFK experience with the Courier, it was nothing! Jason was tweaking, though, because he’s never flown or anything, so we had to talk him down.

Life as an intern: Have been working at Messenger Post since the end of May, and I’m loving that! Have gotten the opportunity to cover a couple of cool things…did a ribbon-cutting at Sutherland high school, interviewed a girl from U of R who runs her own Internet dress shop. This week, I’m covering the LPGA here, talking to some local players, so that should be REALLY exciting (Craig is going to be there for the D&C on Friday, too, and my friend Ben is freelancing and covering it). Also interviewing a 10-year-old who just won the Soapbox Derby. That should be interesting.
I like the other interns, too. Besides me, there’s Janna from Cortland, Travis from Geneseo, Melissa from Syracuse, Jessica from Bowling Green, and Michael from Fredonia. We’re basically like Grey’s Anatomy, but with journalists. We fight over assignments, some people are attempting to become romantically involved (noooo), and we make blunders like breaking the printer. Me and Janna have done it twice. Yep.

Watermelon III: Me and Nadine had our third annual ‘watermelon,’ which is basically our code word for “really horrible drunken adventures we have that our parents should never, ever know about.” This year, we actually had a REAL watermelon (well, a watermelon soaked in watermelon vodka…). We called for pizza, and Zach provided us with a trunkful of alcohol….we found out that Wild Berry Smirnoff is kosher, but not the other flavors…Jake played with an axe…and we watched Coupling, which is funny, because British people are always funny.
Then we moved the party down to Durand Beach to have a bonfire. We played in the waves at the edge of the water, sat in the sand singing songs from RENT, and watched fireworks that someone was shooting off in I-town.
Good times with good people.

Riding: Just started lessons at a new place, Pleasant View Farm….I’m really excited about it, seems like a cool place with good horses, good instructors (mostly hunter/eq)…I’m riding a Thoroughbred gelding named Bear right now…apparently, he likes to test people, but we were getting along fine the other night, so hopefully we’ll start to click soon and really rock some of the bigger jumps!

Racing: Looks like the kid won’t be making the Dwyer on the fourth…he just had his first post-Derby work last week, and Pletcher said he got so banged up in the Derby (bumps and bruises) that it’s taken this long to come back. Guessing he won’t be back in a couple of weeks…that’s okay, though, still a month left in the Belmont meet, and Saratoga coming up. I think it’s exciting that he’s such a versatile colt. With his running style and background, he could run in the Classic. Some people think his pedigree says sprinter, so I’m sure he could find a niche closing at the short distances and point to the BC Sprint. Or, Johnannesburg screams ‘turf,’ so could point to the BC Mile. He’s got a great future…and he’s still my kiddo.
Rags came out of the Belmont great, and it on track for the CCA Oaks on July 21 (then on to the Travers, another prep, and probably the Distaff….Classic next year).
Lastly, and most exciting at the present moment: Funny Cide’s coming to Finger Lakes on the fourth of July to run in the Wadsworth! The track bumped the purse up to attract him, and they’re using it to promote the track adoption program. It’s gonna be a great day….this is so out of the ordinary for us, so I’m sure a good crowd will come out….can’t wait to see him!

peace out, Triple Crown '07...happy endings

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:03:27 GMT

First of all: Okay, I know it’s now three days after the Belmont and I haven’t blogged since the night after the Preakness. Kind of bothers me, too…there’s a lot I want to say. But I’m still alive and will catch up to it, promise.

Second of all: It’s three days after the Belmont. Which means I ought to do some sort of race recap or Triple Crown wrapup. But all I can manage at the present moment….and all I can manage the last few days when thinking about the race is still….

WOW.

WHAT A RACE. WHAT A FILLY!

Rags To Riches wins the Belmont over Curlin, becoming the third filly in the 139-year history of the race to win it, and the first since Tanya in 1905…yep, that’s over a century ago. She gave Pletcher and Johnny V their first win in a Triple Crown race. Also, she was the first filly to win a Triple Crown race during my lifetime (okay, technically, Winning Colors was during my lifetime, but I was a year old, so I don’t remember a thing and it really doesn’t count, k?)

It wasn’t so much that she did it….it was the way she did it. They turned for home with four of them in a line…CP West on the rail starting to fade, Curlin bulling his way through a hole between horses, Hard Spun trying to kick on for that last quarter mile, and Rags pulling up on the outside (after stumbling at the break and going wide on both turns, by the way)….and within a couple of jumps, Rags and Curlin had put daylight between them and the rest of the field, and were battling it out down to the wire…I’m talking head to head, neither giving an inch….seriously, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, that’s the sort of thing you dream about, but it panning out that way was just too good to be true. I don’t think Durkin could believe what he was seeing, either. When they hit the line, he just screamed “A FILLY IN THE BELMONT! A FILLY IN THE BELMONT!” She wanted it bad, and there was no way in god the colt was getting by her…and he turned in a winning race, too! Regressed off the Preakness my ass…he has nothing to be ashamed of.

Of course, I’m semi-bitter because I was actually supposed to be at the track on Saturday (to make a long story short, my 6am flight out of Rochester got cancelled at about 3am, and I couldn’t find another way out in time. Guess what airline?)….but honestly, it didn’t ruin my day. That was a history making race, and I’m just glad to have gotten to experience it, and don’t really care of that was in person or on television or over the Internet, or what. I don't care where you were, if you love horse racing, it was one of those moments where you're in awe and it's an out of body experience. I was screaming, I was crying my eyes out, and I was laughing all at once (if I was actually out in public, someone would have called 911, probably). Then I realized about fifteen minutes afterward that not only did I have a win ticket on Rags, I had the trifecta....and I never would have bet that tri if I was at the track! I did it on a whim because "Everything else is going wrong today and I'm due to get lucky!" Come to think of it, Rags probably won because I wasn't there. Just my dumb luck to miss it, but if that's the price to pay, hell, I'd rather have that race unfold, no matter where I was.

I’ll never forget this moment in racing history, right here and right now, with this unbelievable filly. Her name’s already in the history books for doing something remarkable, and I seriously think she has the potential to be one of the all-time greats. She’s certainly done everything right so far. Don’t think there’s a 3YO filly that can run with her….the older mares might be tricker, but in terms of talent, she is right there…she’s beaten the best 3YO males out there (except for Street Sense)…which leaves….

Donde est Invasor?

No, I’m kidding. At least for now. But seriously, if she stays sound and at this level, and beats up the sophomore boys again, why not try the Classic instead of the Distaff? She’s headed in the right direction, and I don’t think it’s too farfetched to say that by the end of the year, she might be ready to take him on, and could be a serious threat for Horse of the Year…

She has a long way to go before that, though…and like I said, for now, it’s great to just get to enjoy what she’s already done, and enjoy this feeling of wow, we’re not going to see something like that for a good long time. Still walking on air, here.

I’m really, really happy that Pletcher got his first Triple Crown win, too. Pletcher is one of those people in racing that a lot of us love to hate. We respect him for being a good horseman and winning a lot of big races, sure, but he’s Mr. Corporate, with the big-money clients and the precocious babies and handling them conservatively to protect their value. However, deep down, everyone knew it was just a matter of time till he had that breakthrough horse…and ironically, he accomplished this by acting out of character. Rags’ name was getting tossed around as a Belmont contender for weeks, but most of us figured that he’d be conservative and run Circular Quay for Tabor instead of a filly. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high and told people on TBC that I’d be pleasantly surprised if she was in. Which is why I was positively GIDDY on Tuesday morning when he put her in. Seriously…good for him for not letting the best 3YO in his string sit in the barn while a major race that she could be a player in was run…and it paid off, big time! Good for him….and good for Johnny V. He’s another one of those guys where you know it’s just a matter of time, and how fitting that they got their first one together.

So that’s it. Triple Crown’s over for another year. Possibly my best non-Triple Crown attempt-Triple Crown ever. Started off with Street Sense breaking the Juvie Jinx and winning with that crazy rail-skimming run…saw him coming and knew it was over. A winning performance by Hard Spun to finish second, and Curlin back in third, a boy becoming a man. And of course, Scat Daddy picked the worst day possible to have a bad day…but I still love him so, and he’ll be back soon to pick up some big summer/fall scores (possibly starting with the Dwyer in July?). On to the Preakness, and a hell of a race…Curlin coming back when it looked like he was beaten and giving his all, and a winning race from Street Sense, too…and of course, brave little Hard Spun back there (Pino so should not have been blamed for that, by the way). And of course, the Belmont. And there really isn’t anything else to say about the Belmont, besides Rags is amazing, and Curlin has nothing to be ashamed of. One of the greatest races I’ve ever seen, hands down.

I think this year was exactly what racing needed. There were definitely good things about last year’s Triple Crown (Barbaro’s Derby, the rise of Bernardini, Jara and McLaughlin winning the Belmont)…but overall, I think it left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. This year, we needed an evenly matched bunch of 3YO’s and a few crazy exciting races and some history of the positive kind, and that was just what we got. Who could have imagined how this year’s Preakness would turn out? And then we got an even better show in the Belmont! This is why we come back to racing, after everything, in spite of heartbreak.

For me, personally, the Belmont helped to ease a lot of bad memories. Back in 1998, I fell in love with this gorgeous chestnut filly named Three Ring. She was a tall chestnut, built almost like a colt, with a wide blaze, flashy white stockings, and soulful, intelligent eyes. She dominated her own division down in Florida the next spring, and she made it look so easy…then ran in the 1999 Derby, with Johnny V up. She got the trip from hell in that race—slammed hard coming out of the gate, in tight around the turn, and actually lost her saddlepad turning for home because the girth came loose. About five weeks later, on Belmont Eve, she won the Acorn, her first Grade One score. And a few weeks later, she was gone, killed in a freak accident in the Belmont paddock. I don’t talk about her much, because nothing in my time following racing has ever hurt me quite as much as losing that beautiful filly.

But this week, coming up to the Belmont, I couldn’t stop thinking about her or talking about her. The coincidences were just too much. The first time I saw Rags, last June, she looked so much like Three Ring that my heart almost stopped. Even now, it shocks me, sometimes. The way she dominated her own gender. Then taking on the boys in a Triple Crown race. Johnny V up. And ironically enough, at Belmont, where Three Ring got her greatest victory shortly before dying. Should have known right then that it was going to be a photo in the Belmont, because Three Ring was all out to win the Acorn.

This time, the circle goes unbroken, and this time, there was a happy ending. It’s good to see those every now and then.

you gotta believe.

Sun, 20 May 2007 04:48:54 GMT

Twenty-nine years and counting without a Triple Crown winner…Street Sense just got nipped by Curlin today, with Hard Spun back in third. I so called that. Hard Spun was a tired puppy and was going to run a good race, but be done turning for home. Street Sense and Curlin….one of those two would win, and the other one would be second. I wanted Street Sense so badly…I mean, more and more, I really thought he might be the one to do it. you look at him just walking to post and think oh, my God. The way he carries himself, the way he runs, the consistency he’s shown. But going into the race, Curlin scared me to death. He had never faced real adversity before the Derby, got shoved around good there, and he was going to either come out of that experience kind of scared to run again, or would come out fighting mad. Watching him train the last two weeks, it was definitely the latter. He was set to run the race of his life. So I knew it was going to play out this way…and the result, well, they both ran winning races; it was a matter of about eight inches, and those eight inches didn’t quite go the way we wanted them to.

Still…I’m not disappointed. I’m glad they all came home safe. Just thinking about the last two Preaknesses (Alex nearly getting wiped out in ’05, Bobby’s breakdown last year) had me nervous all day, and a horrible, horrible spill about an hour and a half before post time didn’t help the nerves one bit. So all of them getting around in one piece, I’m perfectly content with that, whatever the result.

And to top it all off, probably one of the most exciting renditions of a Triple Crown race I’ve ever seen. They’re flying on the front end, Hard Spun’s huge move on the turn, Street Sense taking the lead (was going CRAZY when he got there), then Curlin COMING BACK ON HIM after being passed (they just don’t do that!) and them hitting the wire together. Unbelievable.

I’m not disappointed in Street Sense. He ran a winning race; it was just someone else’s turn today. He’s going to continue to be a very strong horse the rest of the year; has yet to run a bad race in his life! We still haven’t seen the best from Curlin. Stumbled out of the gate today, was stop-and-go most of the way, has yet to run a complete solid race against stiff competition. Scary to think he could be even better, and he showed his heart today. Hard Spun might need a break after today, but man, that little horse has some heart. He’s a trooper.

The class of those three has prevailed, and there are some very good horses out there (SCAT DADDY, Nobiz, etc) who could still come back and do outstanding things. I still think this is a really solid bunch of 3YO’s, and it’s going to be fun to follow them through the Belmont/summer stakes/against olders in the fall and see who makes a run at the 3YO championship. So yeah, I’m sad that we’re going to Belmont in three weeks with no Triple Crown on the line, but nothing to be down about….WHAT A RACE.

It was a good Preakness Day. The Dixie was the lone dark spot, really, when Mending Fences was injured. But Flashy Bull won the Schaefer, Southwestern Heat (Xtra’s baby) ran a good second after leading most of the way in the Hirsch Jacobs. Diabolical won the Maryland BC in determined fashion. And my favorite part….how fitting was Michael Matz winning the Barbaro Stakes with Chelokee, and the Jacksons presenting the trophy in the winner’s circle? The racing gods gave us that one. So right, and so full circle. Really emotional moment there.

Which brings us to the other non-pleasant part of the day. I hate NBC right now. For one thing, their interviews with Matz and Calvin Borel today were pretty classless. I’m pretty sure they were aiming to make Matz cry. Seriously, I understand asking the hard questions as a reporter, but come on, you’re behaving like vultures. It’s been a year. Ask him about the horse that just won, NOT Barbaro as you replay the accident for the thousandth time. Then they literally drag Borel away from Nafzger postrace, Neumier basically criticizes his ride…yeah, what race were you watching? For another thing, they continue to schedule things like JACKASSES. Sabres-Senators game right before the Preakness telecast goes to OT. In most of the country, they cut to Pimlico and switched the OT period to a cable channel (NBC Sports, Versus). Craig was telling me that something like half the country didn’t get to see the overtime period. I’m in the Western NY market, so my local station stayed on NBC and wasn’t planning on going to the track till the game was done…I LOVE the Sabres, but I was freaking out. I was literally in my driveway ready to drive to OTB to watch the race when the game ended. Soooo, that brings us back to the core problem, which is scheduling. NBC needs to learn that hey, occasionally closely-matched sporting events like oh, say, playoff hockey games sometimes run longer than expected, and maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t schedule important things after them…like, say, another live and pretty important sporting event.

There’s my other segue. Sabres season ended today, finishing the series (conference finals) 4-1 against Ottawa...lost in OT, so I guess at least they went down fighting. I’m disappointed about that, too, but not distraught. I had fun watching them this year. And seriously, if you want to call me a bandwagon fan because I’ve only watched them for 2 years, go ahead. Could care less. I’m just glad I got into them when I did (still blaming Craig, Lauren, and Matt…), because they’re a really exciting, gritty team, and it’s just been fun watching them. Ryan Miller is amazing, I love Max Afinogenov because he’s fast and cool, and Chris Drury kinda reminded me of Afleet Alex today. No seriously, he pulled some crazy stuff today to help keep them flying, and after getting hit in the head with a puck today, too (can’t help remembering Alex’s Preakness). I still can’t believe I was at the game where Drury scored to force OT with seven seconds left, and then Afinogenov got the gamewinner. That was possibly the coolest night ever.

Anyway, I think the team rocks, I think the fans and the city have real class (okay, maybe I’m biased), I think they accomplished a lot, and after the initial disappointment wears off a little, well, celebrate an AMAZING season….and look ahead to next one! Seriously, they’ve gotten pretty close the last two years, and I think they’ll win a Stanley Cup sooner rather than later……just like there WIIL be a Triple Crown winner eventually. You have to just believe in those things…win some, lose some, disappointments, whatever, if you don’t believe and you’re not still enjoying the ride, then it’s just not worth it. I wouldn’t trade a second being a sports fan….ESPECIALLY not a racing fan on a day like today.

That’s all, she wrote. Goodnight.

Lucky 7's

Sun, 06 May 2007 03:02:47 GMT

Let's sum it up....the two outstanding quotes from the weekend:

I knew it was going to happen eventually. Going into today, I told my dad, Scat Daddy has not run a bad race in his career yet. He’s tough, he’s consistent. But it has to happen eventually…even Secretariat had bad days. He’s ready for this race, and the only thing I see beating him is if he picks today to have his first bad day.

18th of 20. Think that qualifies as a bad day? Just didn’t fire. I just can’t find any explanation other than that. He was in good position during the early stages, got carried a little wide on the turn maybe, but no excuse, he’s been wide before, and suddenly, he vanishes from view. I had no idea where he was until they showed the complete order of finish after the race. When he vanished that fast, I panicked, because I thought for sure something had gone wrong with him, and then after the race, when I realized, nothing happened, he’s fine, he just had a crappy day….that sense of relief was just as good as winning.

And he’ll be back to fight another day, and back to win again. He’s not just my Derby horse. That’s my horse. That’s my kid. I’m not abandoning him because of one bad day. Okay, he’s not a Derby winner, but he could be the Preakness winner, the Belmont winner, the Travers winner…hell, even the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or Mile winner. He’s given me quite a ride already. Today, when they walked out onto the track and they called his name in the post parade, I proceeded to promptly start crying. I couldn’t believe it. I was so proud of him, and it was just surreal. I have been following this horse for ten months…and today, he walked onto the track and into the gate as a starter in the Kentucky Derby. That’s a victory in itself. And there WILL be more victories down the road. The Preakness is in two weeks. You can’t mope about one shitty race. This is the Triple Crown. Man up.

Let’s get to the winner. On the backside, Tom Durkin (sounding totally shocked), calls Street Sense as 19th. They’re turning for home, and I’m watching Hard Spun, who’s leading and the handful of horses behind him, waiting to see who’s gonna fade and who’s gonna get into gear. Suddenly, on the overhead, I see someone absolutely FLYING up along the rail, and without even seeing the silks or hearing a call, I bolt out of my seat and scream “STREET SENSE! IT’S ALL OVER!” Goes flying by 18 other horses in an instant. He flies by in the stretch and wins by a couple, and man, I was so happy for Calvin Borel, Carl Nafzger, and James Tafel. I was crushed for about two minutes after the race when I realized where my kid was, but that went away when they were bringing Street Sense back to the winner’s circle and watching the celebrating. It couldn’t have happened for nicer people.

Goodbye to the Juvie Jinx….such a textbook performance. This horse is something else. In some cases, the best horse doesn’t win the Derby because of traffic, etc, but today, I think this was a case of the best horse in the field winning, and no one could question it (not even me, much as I love Scat Daddy and would love to find excuses for him). In terms of agility, handiness, and acceleration, I rank this guy right there with Afleet Alex, who probably would have won the Triple Crown in 2005 if not for a few glitches in his Derby trip. I hate to get so high on a horse after what happened last year. But it’s so hard not to. That’s the beauty of this sport. You always keep dreaming. About five minutes after the race, I turn to dad and say damn, what do you think….he just blew by those horses in the blink of an eye, he’s pretty damn talented, period, and he hasn’t had a bad day yet. But it has to happen eventually. It’s just a matter of if it happens in the next five weeks. But right now, you can’t help but dream. Someone WILL do it eventually, and if Street Sense wins the Preakness, I swear to God, I’m flying straight to New York (yes, even if I have to go JetBlue). Someone will do it eventually, and when they do, I will be there, I swear it. This is a good horse. we’ll find out soon if he’s a great horse. The dream is legitimate. Hell, who cares if it’s legitimate, dream anyway.

I think today was when I realized I might really be over Bobby. It’ll always be bittersweet when I think of him, and I sobbed my eyes out over the documentary tonight (especially at the end when they showed Baby B and the date for Derby 2010….so, so fitting). But for the past year, whenever I thought Triple Crown, I thought of him and what might have been….shattered dreams. It was so unfair. Tonight though, I’m thinking Triple Crown, and I’m thinking of Street Sense. I’ll always miss him, sure, but as Matz said tonight, “At least I had him once.” Onward.

I also have to give HUGE props to Hard Spun. He led as far as he could take them, and if he wasn’t faced with a total monster today, everyone in the country would know his name right now. He hung in there so tough, and I can’t wait to see where he goes down the road.

Overall, I enjoyed Derby Day. Everyone came home safe and sound, and it was a good finish, so that’s all that really matters. I’m happy with it. And Triple Crown season isn’t over yet…not by a long shot. Well, it’s really never over for me since I’m already looking at horses for Derbies two years down the road….haha, I need to get ahold of myself.

Well, I was promised insanity. Craig kept telling me, wait until you see all the crazy fans at the arena, wait until you experience this atmosphere, etc….we get down to HSBC and people are running around in blue and gold wigs and tailgating and hanging out outside listening to a band (people without tickets could watch on a screen there), and I’m like okay, this is cool…..nope, wait till the game gets going, wait till this place fills up, he says. So wait, it’s supposed to get better, and I’m already having a blast? Just the “wow, I’m at a Stanley Cup playoff game!” was enough of a ‘wow’ factor for me.

Little did we know how much crazier it was going to get. I still cannot believe it even though I saw it with my own eyes…and I can’t believe I saw it! I was so damn lucky to be sitting in that arena last night!

Most of the game goes by, and it’s still 0-0….the place is going insane every time anyone gets near the goal, Miller and Lundqvist making some crazy saves, a couple scary close calls….everyone is screaming at the refs and chanting and generally making noise…it was so tense in that place. And all of a sudden, with just over three minutes left on the clock in the third, the Rangers score. The place goes dead quiet. Well, that’s it, right? It took someone this long to score once, so there’s no way anyone else makes one. That’s the game-winning goal, that’s the season going down the tubes. It went from so exciting to so miserable. The clock’s running and it’s not pretty and people are getting up and leaving en masse, and everyone’s pretty down, and I’m sitting here like damnit, there are still 16 seconds left on that clock, you stay in your seat and make noise for every fraction of a second. Even if it’s looking really grim.

And all of a sudden, BANG! Chris Drury scores with 7.7 seconds left to send it into overtime! Unbelievable. The place just erupts…everyone is going crazy and screaming and jumping up and down and hugging and high-fiving total strangers (Craig and me were hugging before the lady on the other side of my proceeded to totally maul me, haha). People are flying back into the place after leaving….we heard a lady on the radio today saying how people were on the escalator in the lobby when the horn went off, and they proceeded to try to run back up the escalator, and security had to shut it off so no one got killed.

So now it’s gone from looking like it’s all over to alive and kicking in the space of an instant. Everyone is on their feet making noise during the entire intermission, and it increases as the sudden-death overtime starts…the place was so tense, every time it got near the goal…I have video of the start of overtime, and really, the noise level in there is unbelievable, looking back at it. So to make a long story short, about five minutes into the overtime period, BANG, Max Afinogenov with the gamewinning goal! That red light goes on on top of the net, and everyone just shoots out of their seats and goes berserk. Basically, the celebration after the first goal times ten. I’m waiting for the building to come down around us, and I didn’t care, at that point. Everyone is going stark raving mad and standing there giving the team a standing ovation. I haven’t seen anything remotely close to this since the two Derbies I went to, and yes, that includes the Syracuse court-storming and any Fisher-Naz game!

We get out to the lobby and out to the street, and everyone is still screaming and singing and chanting and celebrating. Everyone is walking in the middle of the road leaving the arena, and the cars (which obviously aren’t going anywhere) are honking and people are running over to slap high-fives through windows. Total strangers still, keep in mind. We get to the parking garage where we were parked, and Craig immediately starts laying on his horn (as is everyone else), and the noise level down there is unbelievable. Except now we’re sitting in a long line of cars and I’m getting antsy, so every time I see someone, I’m leaning over out the window and encouraging the crazies to come over and high five us, haha. We finally get out of there, and everyone’s still laying on the horns all over the place, and we’re driving by bars and everyone is outside on the sidewalk celebrating, and then we got flashed by a bunch of drunk girls in the backseat of this car we passed….yeah, let’s not go there.

Unbelievable night. Unbelievable. I know I got into the hockey thing kind of late (just last year, I’ll admit it, I blame Craig, Lauren, and Matt), but this season and the heart they play with and the excitement really hooked me, and being in that city going so crazy after that game tonight was just unbelievable. It was all heart and soul that got them there last night—how can you not love them? Go ahead and call me a bandwagon fan because oh, I didn’t follow them ten years ago when they were lousy or whatever…I don’t care. I can’t wait to watch the game tomorrow (game 6 at MSG), and I’m cheering for them wholeheartedly the rest of the way. Any sport, once you get into playoff/championship season is intense, but there is something special about this. I believe. And okay, I’ll be the one driving to Java’s honking my horn if they win. What? There are other crazy sports fans in Rochester, I feel that’s perfectly acceptable behavior! LET’S GO BUFFALO!

*Click the quotes to read on about Derby Day/playoff excitement!*

Why lucky 7's? Street Sense was number 7 today in the Derby, and Drury scored the crucial tying goal with 7.7 seconds left last night.

Also, I am a damn lucky girl.

too excited for words

Fri, 04 May 2007 03:23:21 GMT

I’m gonna pour my heart out now cause I don’t know if I’ll get to a computer before Saturday. This is about to be a weekend of ridiculously exciting proportions.

After Craig gets off work tonight, he’s coming back here and picking me up…I’m spending the night at his house tonight/tomorrow, and we’re going to the Sabres playoff game against the New York Rangers on Friday night at HSBC Arena. Series is tied 2-2, and neither team has lost a game at home yet, so this one is crucial. Buffalo’s lost a couple of heartbreakers (double OT on Sunday, questionable call the other night), so they need to come back strong. I can’t wait. I’ve been to one regular-season game (Nov. 05) and Fisher hockey games, but nothing like a playoff game. Craig keeps telling me all about the atmosphere there and all the crazy fans….I’m so excited about it, and I know I’m so lucky that I get to go. I’ll definitely make sure to take a billion pictures and write all about it afterward.

I’ll be home Saturday morning to catch the Churchill Downs card and all the coverage leading up to the Derby…post time shortly after 6. The Derby is less than 48 hours away. I can’t believe it. I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait. Every time I think about this race, my heart starts pounding and I get chills. Last night after the draw, I got the shakes really bad…I’m so, so excited. This isn’t healthy, is it? Everyone’s like, "oh, you’ve been so excited for this all week." It’s not just Derby Week. I’ve been following some of these horses for TWO YEARS since they went through yearling sales and I tabbed them as hey, this might be a good one. In Circular Quay’s case, I’ve kept an eye on his since birth, because I loved his dam.

I’ve been following Scat Daddy for TEN MONTHS, since he won the Sanford last July. That’s ten months of getting excited about workout notifications, getting chills every time he loads in the gate, screaming myself horse when he wins (and occasionally getting warnings from my RA), defending him when he loses. I picked him out as my Derby horse almost a year ago, and here we are. I’ve invested so much emotionally in this horse. And he has never, never let me down. I cannot believe that he made it into the field for the Kentucky Derby. He’s seriously beaten the odds just to get in the field. How long I’ve been waiting for this race doesn’t even compare to some of the connections, though…these horses have spent four years being prepared for this…40,000 foals born in 2004, and literally, every lesson, every race, every workout was spent aiming for the dream of the Kentucky Derby….and now, 20 of them get to live the dream. Corny as it sounds, they’re all winners in my book. I’ll be happy if they all finish safe…I’ll be ecstatic if Scat Daddy wins. All the preparation is over. It’s all over but the running.

There’s an old saying about horses…."Don’t worry about what you can see, worry about what you can’t." What that means is, the thing that’s ultimately going to cause a horse to win races (or not) is the what you can’t see by analyzing it’s speed figures, its pedigree, its running style. What’s important is its heart, courage, will to win, if it’s going to fight back when another horse tries to pass it, etc. Well, my kid has that. He’s proven it a dozen times over. In the Sanford when he got the trip from hell, had to zigzag all over the place down the lane and still got up to beat Teuflesberg in the last jump. In the Champagne when he turned back Nobiz and King of the Roxy to win. In the Fountain of Youth, when he looked hopelessly beaten at the top of the stretch and suddenly dug in and came zooming up to catch Stormello by a nose. In the Florida Derby when he turned back the speed horses and then held off Notional. He’s been training beautifully. Hasn’t put a foot wrong. He’s the epitome of class and professionalism in a young horse, and he is so ready to roll on Saturday.

This race….it’s going to be great. Usually, you have a group of precocious two year olds, and then they fade at three and the later-developing horses catch up and that group becomes the Derby horses. What I like about this year is that it’s a mix….the two year olds from last year have held their form, and other horses have developed. I don’t think we’ve seen the best from any of them yet. Saturday’s going to be a clash, and something’s gotta give.

I think it’s going to be kind of bittersweet when they hit the finish line. The minute after the race is over, everyone will start analyzing who won, going, "oh, can he win the Triple Crown?" Last year, when Bobby won like that, I was so sure that he was our Triple Crown winner…there were these two weeks of pure excitement, and just this total giddiness thinking we were on the brink of something special…and then just like that, the joyride was over in an instant. So yeah, it will probably be a little bittersweet. They’re honoring the Jacksons in between races and showing the documentary (finally!) on Saturday night, so there will probably be some tears. But more than that, I’m sure I’ll be excited.

Also, I find it horribly ironic that I’m going to a Sabres game on Derby weekend, since virtually every horse racing fan in the country hates the Sabres (and Rangers) for the infamous double-overtime that pre-empted the documentary last weekend.
I just want them all to come home safe.

Hope everyone has an amazing Derby Day....

GO KID GO!!!!

"You are a great champion. When you ran, the ground shook, the sky opened, and mere mortals parted...parted the way to victory. Where you'll meet them in the winner's circle, and they'll put a blanket of flowers on your back. Run hard tomorrow. Goodnight, Dreamer."

Kiddo's bar shoes

Wed, 02 May 2007 02:32:02 GMT

You know what? Screw the bar shoes. And screw the doubters. Screw them.

Pletcher says that he has been training in the bar shoes all along. I don’t know if I necessarily believe that because he said it….I tend to take things trainers say with a grain of salt, unless it’s Mott, Servis, Matz, Drysdale, etc. But in this case, I believe it’s a fact because of pure common sense. I believe Scat Daddy has been training in these shoes all along. That’s because IF he wasn’t in them from the start….IF he’d had a problem or an injury that required a chance of tactics, a change of shoes…he’d have missed training time…he would not have been as consistent as he’s been over the past ten months…he would not have PROGRESSED in his abilities…this horse has never put a foot wrong.

Especially this past week. He’s been perfect. He hasn’t had a problem—we’d know if he did. Everyone is watching the Derby horses like hawks. If he has had a problem in the last few weeks that required the change, we would know about the problem. I’m going to believe he’s been in these shoes all along, and they were just noticed now because it’s Derby week and everyone’s going to notice everything about these horses…it’s not some mysterious, eleventh-hour injury.

Bar shoes? What bar shoes? Oh, the same ones he trained in to win the Sanford, Champagne, Fountain of Youth, and Florida Derby? The same ones he trained in to beat Nobiz, Stormello, Notional, Chelokee, Teuflesberg, and King of the Roxy? I have been with this horse since last July, and this disclosure is not enough to get me off the bandwagon. He’s sound. He’s got the resume to do it. He’s training brilliantly. He’s just plain good enough. I don’t give a damn what he has on his feet as long as it gets him to the winner’s circle.

I BELIEVE IN THIS HORSE. He’s my kiddo, and win, lose or draw…he will refuse to lose, and I will refuse to stop believing.

I am so nervous and excited about this race, I feel like I’m going to be sick. Every time I think about it, my heart starts pounding…and it’s still four days away! Post position draw tomorrow!

i've loved these days.

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 03:59:09 GMT

Last night of my sophomore year of college (halfway there already?!), and tonight was definitely the best way we possibly could have sent this year off. Tonight was the party for the five-year anniversary of the Courier (first edition was published in April 2002), and it was a great night. There was a lot of chilling and semi-awkward conversations with Comm department faculty for the first couple hours, but by the end of the night, it was just current staff sitting there. We had a lot of deep conversations about our lives and said our goodbyes for the summer, and goodbye to the seniors…it got really emotional right at the end. It was really hard to say goodbye to Kyle—we went through a lot together, and he lives close to five hours away. Also Lyz, because she’s going abroad in the fall; despite some really awkward beginnings, we got to be pretty good friends. Same with Linds and Claire, definitely. I hate, hate, hate goodbyes. But we all said at the end of the night, this is not a goodbye…we will see each other again. I will go through withdrawal over the summer, and I already can’t wait to get back into things in the fall.

So much of this year was defined by the Courier….late nights in the office talking about our lives, homework that didn’t get done because of those late nights, coffee runs, jamming out to Fergie and Justin, days when everything went right and we were laughing our asses off, and days when everything went horribly wrong and we were laughing anyway. It’s the people I’ve gotten to be around that make it special. They have taught me so much about life, and who I am and who I want to be.

I have never felt so much like I fit in somewhere. I have never known better friends than the ones I have now. They are my second family, and together, we make an amazing team. Tonight may have been our last night together for awhile…but it’s not the last, it’s the beginning of the best.

All that aside, it’s been an amazing year in general. I don’t know if I need to do a like, “year in review,” because I’m sure I already wrote about all of it! Mostly, I’m amazed by how much I got to travel. It started with the trip to Toronto in October to see Wicked; I was so glad I finally got to see the show, and I feel like I went outside of my comfort zone a little by going there with basically random people (I knew them, but we weren’t close), and they wound up being good friends. Then there were the road trips for the football playoffs….first to Springfield, Massachusetts at the end of November, which was the road trip from hell….then to Alliance, Ohio two weeks later for the Final Four. I’ve never been to either of those places before, so it was fun just to get a change of scenery; a lot of good times, I was really proud to be a Fisher kid, and plus, I got to cover the Final Four for two different newspapers…it was my first time in a press box and everything, so that was cool. Um, we went to Syracuse in February to see SU vs. Georgetown, so I guess that counts as a road trip. That was fun, except for missing most of the first half. Then in March, of course, there was the trip to New York City with senior staff. I won’t get into details, because I already wrote a crazy long post about it, but I will say again that it was the most amazing time of my life, so many incredible stories, and I can’t wait to go back next year.

The other thing that strikes me looking back at this year is that I learned who my real friends are. Already talked about Courier kids, and like I said, calling them a second family was really appropriate. I learned that Cara will put up with my antics and my drama even when it’s two in the morning and she has a test the next day, and that she’s someone I’m willing to do the same for. I learned that Kyle and me are both still learning about ourselves, and can learn a lot from each other—that because of that, we can be honest with each other. I learned that sometimes, first impressions of people can be so wrong (won’t name names), and if you give them a shot, you can find friends in the most unexpected places. Most of all, the other defining thing of the year--I learned that I love Craig more than I even thought I did during the first go-round of our relationship, and that waiting for things to sort themselves out was the best decision I could have made. He’s not just my boyfriend, he’s my best friend, and I can’t thank him enough for all the times he’s been there for me.

It’s so hard to say goodbye to them all for the summer. But I know in my heart, from those goodbyes with them that it’s NOT a goodbye. I’ll see them soon (some sooner than others!), and we’ll have crazy awesome stories of our summers to share with each other, and I can’t wait.

That seems to be a theme right now….”I can’t wait.” This year has been so amazing. But despite how amazing it was, I know there’s better times to come.

Peace out, St. John Fisher. Thanks for another crazy/beautiful year. See you in September...I CAN'T WAIT!

wonderful day

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 04:56:03 GMT

Well, today was the day. Today, I took my boyfriend to the racetrack for the first time ever. The Finger Lakes season just started last weekend, and it was absolutely gorgeous out today, so it was a nice chance to go. Plus, Craig now has to type up entries/results for the track at work, so I was like hmm….might as well show him the stories behind those little bitty blocks of type. I fully intended to just drive out there without telling him where we were going, but he figured it out when we got on the 490 going East, which just proves that he knows how my mind works too well (oh, also, drove by the gas station was got stranded at last May, haha). Made it to the track just before the second race and stayed to watch a couple. Neither one of us had any winners (I think Craig had one horse that ran third), but we didn’t have any money down or anything, so that was okay. Mostly we just hung out to watch, grabbed some lunch, Craig asked a billion questions and I gave way too long and complicated answers because I like talking about racing a little too much, and had a few chats with some random people who overheard parts of conversations and decided to put their two cents in. Overall, I think he got a good dose of the real racetrack experience…haha.

This was after we spent most of the morning at the Family History Center (till 1pm, when they closed) researching the Italian side of my family. You know, after we had some fun finding the place because we got off at the wrong exit on attempt number one. But anyway, that was interesting. I’ll admit that sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), I’m clueless looking at the records and stuff (especially when they’re in Italian!), but I’m continuing to develop appreciation for finding new/interesting names and seeing how people are connected. It's a fun project! Oh, also, I might possibly be somehow distantly related to my friend Matt? You could say that was the find of the day.

Basically, it was an amazing day. Wonderful. Perfect. Insert any adjective you like here. I had a blast and it was just fun spending time together, as always, and I’m heading to bed now with this huge smile on my face that’s been there all night.

One last quick note….welcome to the world, Baby B. Barbaro’s new little brother was born at 2:08 Thursday morning, and he is cute as the dickens. He joins the other full brother, Nicanor, who’s a yearling now. I have a feeling one of these guys will do something special…just a gut reaction…but even if they never make it to the track, they’ll always be special to me. Those little guys have been such a dose of hope for people…a reason to look to the future…and because of that, they’ve touched more lives already than a lot of others will do in their lifetime.

:-D

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:06:37 GMT

My cousin Greg and his girlfriend Caryn got engaged today!!! I'm so happy for them. They're an adorable couple, and Caryn is really sweet, so I'm excited about her joining the family. I was basically running around my room in circles when I found out tonight. It's really exciting :-) Thought that that definitely warranted a quick update. Goodnight!

nothin' but love

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:16:11 GMT

I’m sitting in the Courier office, and we just sent our LAST edition of the year to the printer. News got finished up like half an hour ago, and Mike and Bill are over in their corner finishing up Sports, and then we're all driving back to the dorms together because it's fricken snowing in April. It comes out Wednesday. Boo. I’m seriously going to go through withdrawal. I’m going to miss bickering with Kyle over everything News-related. I’m going to miss the late nights sitting in the office being sarcastic assholes about everything and eating our body weights in junk food. And I’m going to miss Marie, Linds, Adam, Claire, Scott (graduating), Tyler (transferring) and Lyz (going to England) like CRAZY. We all make a really amazing team…I think if you take even one person out of the mix, the whole thing changes. And we all pretty much rock. We have the last edition coming out on Wednesday, a magazine (which got put together in two weeks) coming out Friday, and the re-launch of the website on Monday. Basically, we’re taking over the world. SEXY. I’ve learned so much this year, and I’m so excited to keep going with it. I’m already looking forward to/brainstorming for next year (Viewpoint editor!), but seriously…withdrawal. Ok, now Claire is dancing. What am I supposed to do without these crazy kids for four whole months?

whoot, whoot

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:50:12 GMT

I registered for fall classes today and got into everything I wanted to! Taking Copyediting & Design, Broadcast History, Intro to Professional Writing, Biology & Society (last core class!), FirstGen seminar, and the Courier for credit. I only have one class on Monday/Wednesday, and nothing at all on Fridays. NO NIGHT CLASSES, either, which I am ecstatic about since I’ve gotten stuck in at least one for three straight semesters!

Housing selection was last week, and me and Cara will be in Keough 205 next year. We’re right next to the stairs and can see the quad from our window, so that’s good. We’re right next to the laundry room, which is either really good or really bad!

This weekend is our last production weekend of the year, so it should be full of the usual crazy hijinks. It’s also Fisher’s little siblings weekend, so my sister will be taking a little field trip up to the office. That’s going to be a riot. They also have Fisherpalooza on Saturday, and Jared Campbell is performing.

I get to spend tomorrow night watching The Notebook and analyzing it for my final philosophy paper. It’s going to be sweet.

I have the best friends in the world. My roommate is crazy and makes me laugh way too hard for my own good. And pretty much the more amazing boyfriend ever, and I cannot believe that I am so lucky.

The Derby is in 24 days, and the kid is going to OWN.

This year has gone by too fast. But overall, I’m pretty happy with my life at present, and excited about things.

random

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 05:53:20 GMT

Okay, before it gets lost in the hype…can I please point out that after the Wood Memorial today, the only horse to ever hand Nobiz Like Shobiz a defeat is STILL Scat Daddy? Nobiz ran a hell of a race and I respect his talent…but come on…my boy is getting nothing near the respect he deserves...it's like they forget he's even running in the Derby. They had the guys on NBC analyzing the Derby contenders, and no one (not even Bailey) put him in the top three. Huh. Guess winning the Florida Derby and Fountain Of Youth (not to mention the Champagne and Sanford) isn’t that important after all. Oh, well. Four weeks….four weeks till he shows them….

Giacomo’s little brother Tiago won the Santa Anita Derby…came from out of nowhere to nail it at the wire. Definitely like this little guy. And I’m thrilled that Mike Smith has a Derby horse now!

Home for Easter break right now. It’s been kind of weird. Dad had a partial replacement done on his bad knee on Wednesday, so he’s been miserable and things are semi-hectic around here. I’m just glad he got to come home fairly quick—the first prediction was that he’d have to stay there through Saturday/Sunday, but they discharged him yesterday.

Went to Java’s with Bridget last night to catch up, and that was a riot…you know, between when we nearly died trying to back out onto Spencerport Road and when we nearly died trying to park on Gibbs Street downtown. Oye vay. We sat on the couch in the back for literally like three hours sharing random stories and talking about our lives and destined and whatever…that was nice…it’s nice to know some things just don’t change. I'm so glad we got a second chance at being friends after being idiots during high school. Bridget’s friend Kaylin (met her at a party last summer) came and hung out with us for awhile, and it was cool to see her, too...also ran into a couple kids I know from around. Java's seriously equals place for totally random encounters.

In other news…haha…Craig has been researching my family tree with me (he’s into genealogy, so he knows what he’s doing, and I’m just kind of haplessly following along), and that’s getting more and more interesting. My grandma just gave me this pile of stuff to go through that my great-grandma put together on family history, and it’s insane. It’s literally like over 200 pages from an old typewriter in this huge binder. I spent part of tonight going through it, and wow. Won’t bore you with all the details, but she was one FASCINATING lady. And umm, Craig found out that I’m apparently distantly related to Abby Wambach (Olympic soccer player who went to Mercy, scored our gold medal goal in ’04), Lucille Ball, Bob Barker, and oh yeah, the president of the US. That’s right, apparently George W. Bush is my eleventh cousin. My immediate reaction was “no way!” followed by “can I disown him?”

I’m blocking the fact that there are only three weeks left in the semester from my mind.

Edit to add: And, um, I know I've been really bad about responding to LJ comments lately...I think there's a handful I never got to...but I promise I'm not intentionally ignoring anyone, and I promise to start being better about that :)

Scat Daddy owns Florida

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 18:16:46 GMT

Going into the Florida Derby yesterday, I kept telling people (because I will tell basically anyone about horses, whether they want to hear it or not) that Scat Daddy really didn’t need to win…he has the earnings to get into the Derby, and a good enough record to warrant a shot, really…he just needed to run decently and stay healthy. Actually I wasn’t really expecting him to win…the competition was tough (facing Notional and Birdbirdistheword for the first time, Matz's untested Chelokee, Stormello and Adore The Gold back for another shot), so it was another big acid test, and I thought he might bounce off the Fountain of Youth win, they wouldn’t have him fully cranked for this, etc.

Um. Wow. Shouldn’t have doubted. Another super-workmanlike effort to run down the leaders, then hold of Notional, who was coming hard late. This is despite going wide on the turns again, and a rider change (Johnny V was in Dubai, so Prado was up). He’s just a horse that knows how to get to the wire first, how to get the job done…he refuses to lose, and he’s got a lot of class. You think he’s done, and he finds another gear…I thought Notional was going by him midstretch, but then the kid found more. People are saying he’s still overrated, but come on. Not only does he have two straight wins at two turns, he now owns a Grade One win as a 3YO around two turns over some highly regarded horses…this is in addition to his Grade One as a 2YO (the Champagne), his two wins over Nobiz, etc. That’s a pretty impressive resume already. He’s pretty much owned the Florida preps…third in the Holy Bull, won the FOY, won the Florida Derby…he’s going to be one of the favorites on the big day.

So now I believe my kiddo has an important date in Louisville in oh, less than five weeks. How did we get here so fast? I’ve been following this horse for so long already, and it’s the most rewarding feeling, as a racing fan, when you follow a young horse form the start and see them turn into something special. I can’t believe he’s really going to the Derby (if he stays sound, that is...fingers crossed). I mean, he probably already would have gone, but today was a BIG DEAL, and he passed the test with flying colors. Now it’s time for the big dance, and believe me, I’m enjoying this ride every step of the way.

Invasor won the Dubai World Cup yesterday….and all I’m gonna say is wow. He just does everything that’s asked of him so beautifully…he’s a world-class racehorse, a real international superstar (Uruguay’s Triple Crown winner, America’s Horse of the Year, beats an international field in Dubai). Might have to use the ‘g’ word about him soon…shh…

Besides racing stuff, it’s been a great weekend so far. Friday night was Fisher’s annual drag show….yes, we have a drag show. Be jealous. It was a lot of fun, between watching Mike freak out and dancing in the back of the room to the Spice Girls with Lora and watching everyone mob the drag king. Last night, went to Henrietta to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Craig (caught an 11:15 showing after he left work and I left the Courier office). I used to watch the cartoons when I was little, so it was a lot of fun to go see this…really enjoyed it, and had a great time with Craig, as usual…it was a nice, fun break from the stress of the rest of the weekend. Speaking of stress…other than the aforementioned adventures, I’ve spent most of the weekend at the Courier because it’s production weekend (hence the reason for song choice on this entry…oh man). Second to last one of the year already. Good times, as usual. Mostly making fun of Brad who is gimping around the office after spraining his knee on the soccer field, and Kyle deciding it would be a good idea to throw water bottles and subsequently dousing Adam. Okay, so I guess it’s not that stressful. I should stop pretending to whine. I really love my life :-)