It's been 3 days since the Belmont where Big Brown lost the Triple Crown. He didn't even really get to finish the race (he was eased up) and I think that's what causes me the most heartache. It hurts to even log onto Blood-Horse and read the other racing news! I mean...Curlin is racing this Saturday in the Stephen Foster (gr. I) and he's the reigning Horse of the Year in America and won the Dubai World Cup! Yet...I can't even get excited about that. I was pretty skeptical that Big Brown could win the TC, but I - of course - hoped he at least could! No one has won it in the last THIRTY years. If he didn't win, that's one thing. If he at least tried, I could handle that. If he at least battled for it, that I could handle the loss. His jockey eased him up (knowing he wasn't injured) and I just...it hurts! Steve Haskin wrote that Big Brown didn't even get to finish the race with any dignity and, in ways, that's how I feel. Apparently, from Haskin's article, Big Brown was a pretty angry horse when he got off the track and when he was finishing the race. I hate to blame the jockey, it's bad form, since he's the one who was riding and could tell what's going on with the horse better than an observer and there's just simply no reason for Kent Desormeaux (the jockey) to throw the race. There's just no amount of money that could have made him do that. Of all the TC potentials I've watched in the last 6 years, this is clearly the hardest. Even War Emblem losing it in 2002 wasn't that bad since he stumbled at the start of the gate. He finished the worst of any TC contestant (6th I think?), but, of course, Big Brown's name gets slapped to that title now.
I think of all TC contestants, Real Quiet's will always have that "what if?" attached to it. The horse lost on the wrong stride - by a nose. By the next stride, he'd taken over the winner. That had to have been a VERY painful year. So far, Big Brown's will be mine. I just hope he does well in the Travers in late August. If he wins there, the Belmont will always have that "what happened?" to it, but it won't be so painful to recall. At least it's been an exciting 5 weeks, but what a HUGE crash last Saturday. I won't even watch the race or look at any pictures from the Belmont. LoL
On a topic change, an 800-word prequel to the Harry Potter books (set about 3 years before PS/SS) sold for almost $49,000 today. The card, handwritten by JK Rowling, is going to be available to read on-line tomorrow and it's being printed in a book. Yet, the actual card STILL sells for almost $49,000. How nutty is that? I'm debating whether I want to purchase the book card-book from Waterstone's or not. All the auction proceeds and book proceeds go to two charities and, I think, 13 authors wrote these cards. So it'd be a neat collection to have. We'll see what the story is and I might decide to purchase the book with all the stories from Waterstone's. It's only $10, but the shipping is like $16. LoL
I also found out that Stephenie Meyer (the author of the Twilight series) will be in Chicago with a band called Blue October the day after I arrive in Chicago!! I'm tempted to go and get a book signed by her (I'm hoping I can somehow get a book by Tamora Pierce signed when I see her keynote speech at Terminus too). We'll see how much it costs and what the event actually entails, though.
So...Saturday, September 27th the California Academy of Sciences reopens again. I almost can't wait till it reopens it. The thing is set-up to be a Green building (it has a living roof!) and it's going to have a 4-story rainforest (with an underwater part) and the deepest coral reef in the world. Not to mention it's a natural history museum AND has a planetarium. It just looks SO cool all around. I've been reading about the building construction and it's pretty neat. A lot of money was shoveled out for this building, but it's going to be really great to visit. You can read all about it here.
With that...I'm off.
No comments:
Post a Comment