Catching Up

It’s been quite a while since I last posted. Life’s been pretty quiet the past few weeks. In no particular order . . .

• I spent Thanksgiving in Boston with my mom, sister, and lifelong friends of my mom’s. We had a wonderful time. I particularly enjoyed a very late night trip Wednesday evening to Shaw’s in downtown Copley Square. Interesting store, Shaw’s. Lots of young people, and the accompanying vibrancy was tangible.

• I have fallen in love with a girl, which has been a long time coming. It feels wonderful. My mom pointed out to me how much different I seem, in a good way.

• I tried to claim another horse at Charles Town (a 2 year-old gelding named Passing Lane who is a grandson of Storm Cat), but another owner put in a claim on the same horse. A random draw ensued, and I lost. Passing Lane won his very next race, 7 days later.

• Christmastime is here, which means Catherine’s going to make out like a bandit plundering an empty ship weighed down by treasure chests! I’ve already bought her too many gifts, but it feels great.

• I saw Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in 2008’s, “Duplicity” onDemand the other day. I liked it! I’ve always been a Julia Roberts fan, and I liked her character here. She and Owen had definite chemistry, I thought.

• I read John Updike’s, “The Maples Stories” over Thanksgiving and really disliked it. It’s a series of short stories that periodically check-in on the lives of Richard and Joan Maples, from the time of their marriage until the time near their death. I found the characters shallow and the writing over the top. I’m just not an Updike fan, no matter how many times I try to read him. I recognize his brilliance, but I just can’t force myself to enjoy his storytelling.

Catching Up

In no particular order …

• I spent 4 days vacationing at the Westin Diplomat in Ft. Lauderdale. Two thumbs up. The staff were unanimously friendly and helpful, the facility was super clean and fresh, and the pool and beach area were so relaxing.  I went on a WaveRunner jet-ski thing for the first time and enjoyed myself. I feel refreshed and re-energized.

• While in Ft. Lauderdale I got to visit Gulfstream Park, the second major track I’ve been to this year . It’s a beautiful track and surprisingly intimate. It looks like it only seats 1,000-2,000 people (compared to 40,000+ at Del Mar). The facility was recently renovated, and both the main dirt track and the turf course look beautiful. I definitely want to go back there and see live horse racing one weekend.

• My horse Major Danger ran his first race under my silks Friday night. He was in a four-horse photo for 2nd and was placed 4th. He was claimed by the former owners, and is no longer in my barn. The new owners let us know they’re turning him out for the winter, which means he’ll spend the next 4-6 months resting on the farm.

• My girlfriend has noted her interest in trying the online video game I play, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, so I’m hoping to get her sitting in front of the computer to try it sometime this week.  It’s a lot of fun for me, and I’m hoping it will be fun for her, too.  It would be nice to play it together.

Major Danger Entered in Race 2 on Friday

Major Danger, the thoroughbred race horse who I bought last month, is entered into Race 2 this Friday night at Charles Town Races & Slots. He’ll be ridden by leading jockey J.D. Acosta, and will be the #8 horse wearing a pink saddle towel with a black #8. It’s a 6.5 furlong race, which is once around the track at Charles Town. The race’s post time is 7:41pm eastern US time.

Early Morning Thoughts

• John Allen Muhammad is going to die tonight, having been scheduled to be executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for the crime of killing Dean Meyers. Tim Kaine is not going to stay the execution, and SCOTUS has already denied a final judicial appeal. I am not for the death penalty, as I believe only God and nature gets to decide when people die. But for certain heinous crimes, I am not overly offended when the state kills one of its own, and this is one of those cases. As a resident of the area, the 2002 time had us gripped with fear, and had millions of families dealing with reality that their children were at mortal risk just walking from the car and bus to their school’s entrance. When families are teaching their 9 year-olds how to zig-zag walk from the car to the door, that’s a really awful statement about the lack of security they feel in suburban America. Unacceptably awful. And so tonight, it ends. The man responsible for all of it is going to die in about 15 hours. If I ran the world, I’d spend time fixing the basics of the penal system and the criminal justice system to ensure its effectiveness as a place of both deterrence and rehabilitation, and no one would ever be sentenced to death. But that’s not reality, and in today’s world, Muhammad is going to pay the ultimate price for his sins. May God have mercy on his terrible, evil soul.

• So my main hobby, following thoroughbred horse racing at major tracks like the ones in NY and California, is mostly on hold until January. The Breeders’ Cup has come and gone, and it was fantastic. I spent 3 days at Charles Town following the action, and I had a blast! But now the champion horses will all be turned-out for the winter, not to return until January and February at the earliest. Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida will open for those months, and it is a very hard, lightning fast dirt surface which only certain horses will be able to handle. But it’s a good opening meet for the 2010 Triple Crown prep season, and there will be a lot of future Champions running there in 2010. Until then, however, there’s slim pickings, and I’m likely going to take a break as the weather turns.

Hope You Bet The Classic!

My $5 Exacta Box I published here earlier in the week paid over $215, as Zenyatta won the Classic followed by Gio Ponti. My favorite quote from yesterday, from Richard’s Kid trainer (and egoist) Bob Baffert:

“I was disappointed my horse didn’t run better, but what a thrill seeing history made by Zenyatta,” said Baffert. “It was the only time in horse racing that I didn’t mind getting beat in a race. If they don’t reward her with Horse of the Year, it would be a travesty. Zenyatta made the Breeders’ Cup. And the way she won! I’ve never seen a crowd so captivated. It felt like a horse winning the third leg of the Triple Crown.”