So now that the giant yawn that is professional baseball is finally over, it's time for more important things - like the biggest weekend of horse racing in the US. The Breeders Cup races begin tomorrow with the contests among the females. True the horses that have attracted the most attention this year, Rachael Alexandra and Zenyatta, won't be in action tomorrow (Zenyatta will be taking on the boys in Saturday's last race), but there are still some very fine horses running. Given that they'll be doing it at Santa Anita and not on dirt I'm not going to hazard guesses as to who will win. But be it Music Note, Rainbow View, Proviso, Careless Jewel, Cocoa Beach, or whoever, it should be an interesting competition among top-flight talent.
Posted by armand at November 5, 2009 03:34 PM | TrackBack | Posted to SportsAnd the first race, the Marathon, is great - 1.75 miles, and yet the winner wins by a nose. The Europeans post the first win with Man of Iron, the regally bred half-brother. His mother, Better Than Honour, was the dam of Belmont winners Rags to Riches and Jazil as well. His sire was former European Horse of the Year Giant's Causeway. And Man of Iron was a replacement runner for Coolmoore Stables. That'd seem to bode very well for the Europeans this weekend.
Posted by: Armand at November 6, 2009 03:49 PM | PERMALINKAnd I've got to say ESPNII's analysts and reporters are making much of the rest of their network, and other sports reporters, look like hacktastic airheads who should be employed by Page Six or TMZ, or huffing and puffing with your Thanksgiving relative who just won't shut up. They are doing a super job of going through just how you win a horse race, what jockeys do, what different track surfaces are made of and their effects (and the effects of lasix) ... basically they are helping viewers better understand the sport and the competition. Given that sports news and analysis tends to be more like entertainment news it's sort of jarring to see.
Posted by: Armand at November 6, 2009 05:34 PM | PERMALINKGoldikova! Damn she's a great horse. She had a tough, tough trip, and yet for the second straight year she beat the boys in the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Posted by: Armand at November 7, 2009 04:38 PM | PERMALINK