Did You Know...

Tweet It's time for my birthday month edition of DYK....and I have some doozies for y'all. I love October, the leaves changin', touch football games, cigars at night by the fire pit, Rocktober (AC/DC's coming!), Oktoberfest, Keeneland fall meet, pickin' apples in Niagara County, drinking spiked hot cider at the Bills game, and the best holiday of all in Halloween, ya just can't beat it, but I digress....so Did You Know....

- That 60 years ago today marked the death of the great Colonel Matt Winn (pictured), also known as "The Father of The Derby," he died at age 88 after being present for 75 straight runnings of the Kentucky Derby.

- That 20 years ago today (our TBA'er Post Parade will appreciate this one) parimutuel racing was revived in Texas for the first time since 1937. A meet was held at G. Rollie White Downs in Brady, TX (population 5,976). Andrew Beyer of Washington Post fame had this to say about the return, "It wasn't at a grand facility in Houston or Dallas. The first thoroughbred racing was conducted in the town of Brady, best known as the home of the world championship barbecue goat cook-off. Brady is so rural that signs at the local motel advise patrons, 'Do Not Clean Birds in the Room.' " Hilarious.

- That 30 years ago today one of the greatest races of all time took place at Belmont Park where Affirmed and Spectacular Bid (in his 3yo season) dueled in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Affirmed went on to Horse of the Year after defeating the Bid, who was named 3yo champion of 1979. Here's a look at one of the races of the decade....

Happily Ever Always, PETA and Organic Peas

Tweet I'm going to sneak a quick post in while the Space Kid sleeps. I learned today that he doesn't like organic peas, based on the fact they ended up all over the front of me.

Did anyone see the 8th at Monmouth yesterday? I was interested as it was the last Survival at the Shore race of the day and I needed to hit the board to not risk my life preserver. Did I just say that? Anyways, I was on the favorite, Ever Always who was taking all the money and moving between 1-5 and 1-9 (she ended up at 0.05!!). She crushed this 3YO and up allowance field for non-winners of two (this was her third race) by 15 1/4 lengths (Rachel-like) as the only 3yo filly in the field. I tell you to watch the replay on this race, she was simply awesome. One to put in the watch list, for sure.

On Sunday, upon completing the first leg of my trip home from NYC, I arrived in Altoona at the in-laws who happened to have ESPN on their miniature kitchen TV and I recognized Michael Blowen from Old Friends on screen. I was fortunate to meet him during our Lexington trip in April the same day a Paragallo horse was being rescued. So, my in-laws and I continued to watch the Outside The Lines segment on horse slaughter and Michael and a representative from PETA were going back and forth as to the best way to save Charismatic and War Emblem, both currently over in Japan. The PETA rep was so focused on the negative, while I thought Michael was very well spoken and handled the issue with compassion and thoughtfulness. The clip is here if you missed the seven minute plus segment shown for the first time on Sunday.

I was reading Dan Illman's formblog last night and ran across Alydar's past performances. Pretty impressive, indeed. I remember as a teenager the triple crown duels with Affirmed. It's amazing that the highest odds he ever went off at were 2.10....amazing. Not to mention he raced 26 times...

Ok, back to the washing machine...gonna try and Shout it out...and maybe sneak in a race or two from the Shore.

Did You Know...

Tweet It's a holiday weekend filled with weddings, picnics and maybe a quick trip up to Ft. Erie this afternoon to see the ponies. So we've brought back a DYK for your holiday viewing pleasure:

- That 32 years ago today, a young 2yo colt named Affirmed won his maiden race by 4 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park at odds of 12-1 (odds he certainly would never see again!).

- That 104 years ago today and very appropriately after the recent Preakness victory, Harry Payne Whitney's Tanya became the second filly to win the Belmont Stakes. A feat unmatched until Rags to Riches overturned the mighty Curlin at the wire in 2007. In 1915, he also won the Kentucky Derby with the filly, Regret.

- That 18 years ago tomorrow, Jockey Steve Cauthen won his fourth European derby (specifically, the Derby Italiano). Cauthen also won the Epsom Derby twice, the Irish Derby and the French Derby, in addition to his Kentucky Derby win with the aforementioned, Affirmed during his illustrious career.

- That 11 years ago tomorrow, Jockey Eddie Maple announced his retirement at Belmont Park. Maple ended his career with nearly 4,400 career victories and earnings north of $105M.

I won't jinx myself (yep, just did), but after day one, I'm sitting in 58th place (over 4,200 entries) in the TBA Sponsor Monmouth Survival at the Shore contest with a bankroll of $44.20, thanks to Get Serious' ($19.20) win at 8-1 in the 9th. We've got a long way to go. The Space Gal also had a decent day with 2 of her 3 hitting the board, no life preserver necessary.