Still Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves

In Spanish it's naturaleza muerta and not life at all.
But certainly not natural. What's natural?
You and me. I'll buy you a drink.
To a woman who doesn't act like a woman.
To a man who doesn't act like a man.
Death is natural, at least in Spanish, I think.
Life? I'm not so sure.
Consider the Cont?ssa, who in her time was lovely
and now sports a wart the size of this diamond.
So, ragazzo, you're Venice.
To you. To Venice.
Not the one of Casanova.
The other one of cheap pensiones by the railway station.
I recommend a narrow bed stained with semen, pee, and sorrow facing the wall.
Stain and decay are romantic.
You're positively Pasolini.
Likely to dangle and fandango yourself to death.
If we let you. I won't let you!
Not to be outdone I'm Piazzolla.
I'll tango for you in a lace G-string
stained with my first-day flow
and one slopply tit leaping lika Niagara from my dress.
Did you say duress or dress?
Let's sing a Puccini duet--I like La Traviesa.
I'll be your trained monkey.
I'll be sequin and bangle.
I'll be Mae, Joan, Bette, Marlene for you--
I'll be anything you ask. But ask me something glamorous.
Only make me laugh.
Another?
What I want to say, querido, is
hunger is not romantic to the hungry.
What I want to say is
fear is not so thrilling if you're the one afraid.
What I want to say is
poverty's not quaint when it's your house you can't escape from.
Decay's not beautiful to the decayed.
What's beauty?
Lipstick on a penis.
A kiss on a running sore.
A reptile stiletto that could puncture a heart.
A brick through the windshield that means I love you.
A hurt that bangs on the door.
Look, I hate to break this to you, but this isn't Venice or Buenos Aires.
This is San Antonio.
That mirror isn't a yard sale.
It's a fire. And these are remnants
of what could be carried out and saved.
The pearls? I bought them at Winn's.
My mink? Genuine acrylic.
Another drink?
Bartender, another bottle, but--
?Ay caray and oh dear!--
The pretty blonde boy is no longer serving us.
To the death camps! To the death camps!
How rude! How vulgar!
Drink up, honey. I've got money.
Doesn't he know who we are?
Que vivan los de abajo de los de abajo,
los de rienda suelta, the witches, the women,
the dangerous, the queer.
Que vivan las perras.
"Qye me sirvan otro trago..."
I know a bar where they'll buy us drinks
if I wear my skirt on my head and you in wearing nothing
but my black brassiere.


--Sandra Cisneros


~~~~~~~

Cisneros is a superstar of a writer, weaving vivid imagery with raw emotion seemingly extracted directly from the soul.

Latin American racing and literature - but mostly literature

Fans of the game know there is a grand tradition of horse racing in many Latin American countries. Even if not specifically, racing fans have a sense of it. We see who gets the work done on the backstretch. We see South American horses win major stakes and titles in the States. In many Spanish speaking countries (and in Brazil, for that matter) racing is far more a part of the fabric of the culture than it is in the U.S. today.

To prepare for an annealing into Latin American racing, I was inclined to lop every book off the shelf about racing and thoroughbreds set in any of our neighbors to the south. But before I could execute on this strategy, Jorge Borges convinced me otherwise.

In his essay The Argentine Writer and Tradition, the great Argentine man of letters responded to criticism that he was not adequately advancing a distinctly Argentine literary school due to his failure to bludgeon all his works with tangos and gauchos. Mark Frisch in You Might be Able to Get There from Here distills the point well.

"El escritor argentino y la tradición" (The Argentine Writer and Tradition) most clearly and distinctly portrays how Borges views his role in regard to dominant Western culture, and illustrates his purposes in dealing with the Western cultural heritage. That essay, along with a number of his stories, highlights that he not only sought to create a space where Argentine and Latin American Cultures could define their distinct qualities, but that he also viewed Latin American writers as playing a significant role in the redefinition of Western culture. Taking issue with those who claim that Argentine writers should focus on their indigenous material and their gaucho tradition, he argues that self-reflexive attitude is limiting and artificial. He refers to Gibbon's remark that there are no camels mentioned in the Koran....

In his essay, Borges says "there is no reason to emphasize camels in the Arabian work; on the other hand, the first thing a falsifier, a tourist, an Arab nationalist would do is have a surfeit of camels, caravans of camels, on every page."

Similarly, racing is part of the backdrop, part and parcel, first coronet in life's score in Latin America. I'd do better to watch the whole film, listen to the full ensemble, and not carve out one integral thread in the grand tapestry.

If you will indulge me, I will post a passage or two that strike me from Latin American writers over the next few weeks, regardless of whether they address racing directly. The context may even be more valuable than a surgical snapshot of racing in a vacuum.

MERRY CRIMBO! [obligatory holiday post, Kingdom of Loathing edition]

A RACING FAN IS YOU!



My stick figure was supposed to have a santa hat on him, but it fell off, and i'm fresh out of meat paste, so you'll have to use your imagination. All the best of the holidays to you and yours!

Thanksgiving tradition

Fairgrounds began their meet early this year instead of the traditional Thanksgiving opening day. Luckily, we still have the tradition of Alice's Restaurant Massacree to fall back on.

Exercise rider killed in line of duty

Ignacio Ramirez, known as Nacho to everyone at the track, was killed Sunday morning when he fell or was thrown from a horse he was about to work and the horse then fell on him. The incident occurred just before six, near the corner of a barn that leads to the main backstretch pathway. Trainer Jerry Weaver said he gave Nacho CPR before the ambulance arrived, but that Nacho was not responding. Weaver also said much of his skull on one side appeared crushed.

Nacho was a legend on the backstretch. Not only was he a longtime exercise rider, he also almost always had a horse or two he trained throughout his life. When he was younger he also rode in match races, unsanctioned events popular to this day in California. I did not know him well, but I have heard plenty about him, including how he had dodged death many times before. He had been in some horrific spills. He had been kicked plenty. And he had been shot twice. Just a coupla years ago outside his apartment he was shot when he found himself in the midst of a robbery. Even then in his mid-fifties, he healed up and headed back to the track.

By all accounts, Nacho was known as a good hand and a great guy. He will be missed.

Travisty at the ballot box

No, we're not talking about the presidency. It's much more serious than that. The injustice I speak of is that Jerry Hollendorfer is not in the Racing Hall of Fame. Hollendorfer has over 5200 wins. He's 4th all time in wins.

Perhaps because he only wins cheap races in northern California?

He's won the Big 'Cap and Coaching Club American Oaks. He beat the boys in the California Derby with the filly Pike Place Dancer. That filly also won the Kentucky Oaks. But that was his 2nd Kentucky Oaks victory, as he won it with Lite Light 5 years earlier. Remember that horse Event of the Year? Yeah, he trained him. He has also won the Hollywood Futurity and the Haskell Invitational. The Jim Beam, too. This year alone he's won two stakes with million dollar purses.

Maybe you saw another horse he trained on the cover of today's Form. That's Hystericalady. She won the Humana Distaff and the Molly Pitcher in a fabulous career before being the first day sale topper at the most recent Keeneland sale.

So, he doesn't just win cheap races in the comfort of NoCal, where he's won the last 982743 training titles. (factcheck.org has informed me From 1986 though May 2008, he won the training championship at every major Bay Area meeting, recording 37 straight titles at Bay Meadows and 32 consecutive crowns at Golden Gate Fields)

But, could he really compete on a bigger circuit day-in and day-out? Dorf took the training title from perennial Arlington king Wayne Catalano in 2001. He only competed at the meet twice, coming in a close 2nd to Catalano the following year when Dorf halved his Arlington string in the final weeks of the meet.

Quite frankly, that Jerry Hollendorfer is not in the Hall of Fame does not detract from his accomplishments in anyway. This fact does, however, speak to the extreme malfeasance on the part of Hall of Fame voters. In 2009 perhaps they will address this black mark on their record.

A race for the ages

On the backstretch, it's almost a match race now. Obama on the inside by a head. McCain is on the outside. They've opened ten lengths on Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.

They continue down the backstretch and that's Obama now taking the lead. He's got it by about a length and a half.

Their moving on the turn now. For the turn it's Obama. he looks like he's opening. The lead is increasing. Make it three, three and a half. He's moving into the turn. Obama, holding on to a large lead. McCain is second and it's a long way back to Bob Barr & Ralph Nader. Their on the turn and Obama is blazing along.

Obama is widening now. He's moving like a tremendous machine.

Turmoil in the markets

Following the House of Representatives failure to pass a bailout plan for our beleaguered banking sector, the market tanked. The dust is still settling, and it may take well into the night for brokers, accountants and wall street paper pushers to close all the transactions on an off the charts high volume day. It looks like the S&P will end up down between 8% and 9%, though. This will be either slightly less than the percentage loss on October 26, 1987, in the days following Black Monday, or possibly a good bit more. Furthermore, if congress does not act quickly, today's drop may be the precursor to a crash akin to 1987.

But what does this all mean to the horse racing fanatic? Clearly, it is time to realign your portfolio. Get out of volatile investments like stocks and bonds. Given recent bank failures, you're deposits may not even be safe. I recommend putting all your money in less risky investments, like thoroughbred race horses.

For the best horse racing writing anywhere, look to the right

No, not to the Genghis Kahn wing of the Republican party, but to the right sidebar. That's where you'll find links to each member blog in the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance. Or better yet, check out the TBA rss feed (or this version which also indicates from which blog the content originated) which aggregates all TBA blogs in one place. If there are any that aren't of higher quality than the shoddy drivel you read here, I have not found them.

Racing media must learn to speak more entertainingly and to a younger audience

In a recent missive Steven Crist notes the parallel phenomenons of evaporating print coverage and at the same time the ascension of quality online coverage largely provided by unpaid bloggers. In the best instances this "quality" Crist speaks of means avant-garde, irreverent writing, or more specifically, writing peppered with obscure pop culture references and hilariously opinion laden political commentary.

Engaging content is not strictly the trade of online forum zealots fed up with formulaic mainstream horse racing media. Nor is it merely the purlieu of indie kids sipping lattes while pecking on their Mac Airs in hipster populated coffee shops attempting Colbert Report caliber satire. ESPN's Kenny Mayne isn't beyond a (properly mocking) Miley Cyrus reference. Delightfully unscripted exchanges on HRTV & TVG also regularly yield similar inventive wit. But the home of wily treatises that induce mouse wheel spinning previously known only to readers of The Onion, can be found, usually via the very googlable Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance .

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MID POST SHAMELESS PLUG
The Saint Louis, Missouri based punk band Dead City Dregs is on tour now. If you're in SoCal go see them at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood Friday night. I saw them in SF and I can personally tout to you that they rock.
============================================

Periodicals such as The Form could do worse than to emulate this approach. And it doesn't mean penning editorials in l33t (old people: google it, or for hippie Firesign Theatre Enthusiasts, trust that it's a 21st century version of op-talk). Stodgy geriatric sods in racing newsrooms may analogize this style to the excessive drum kit usage and inharmonious rants of punk bands. Regardless, Anti-Flag, Dropkick Murphy's (yes their punk!) sell a more concert tix than Crist does racing forms, and he knows this. I think he's on to something.

How the hell did I miss this?

Fairgrounds Racecourse in New Orleans is hosting a brief quarter horse meet

I was perusing the 2nd page of the form this morning, looking at the post times for tracks running today when POW, there's Fairgrounds with a mid-afternoon first post. But opening day is Thanksgiving. Everyone knows that! Upon further review, the Crescent City track is experimenting with a five day quarter horse meet. NOLA need a little action to heat up afternoons during the August swelter. Take a look at those fancy slots infused purses, they're giving away. Even I might brave 105 in the shade with 110% humidity and mosquitoes as big as bowling balls for some of that.

Bay Meadows auctioning off history

Bay Meadows Racetrack is apparently going to sell everything that isn't nailed down, and you can bid online, too.

From Blood-Horse:

The Aug. 23-24 sessions will feature all non-commercial assets of the track, including memorabilia and art work, track equipment, and restaurant/bar equipment. The Aug. 25, session will include all commercial assets of the track.

Pic of the day

Omar Figueroa entering the winners circle after prevailing aboard the Steve Sherman trained Buck Tuddy Buck in the 5th race at the Solono County Fair today.

Meet the twins

The latest installment in the continuing series of horsemen looking ridiculous

Speed dressing

Jocks have little time between races to shower and change silks. This JC Penneys advert reminded me of their task, and will suffice as a maintenance post until I write something worthwhile.

Per dropkickmonkey.com: Spec commercials are usually done by creatives from an ad agency in cooperation with a director from a separate production company to help everyone gain a great piece for their demo reel. Usually spec commercials are not ever even shown to the client they are being made for. Basically its a fake commercial but its a great way to showcase ones talents in their respective art form.





UPDATE: the vid has been removed from youtube, presumably at the behest of JC Penny. It's hosted plenty other places, though, so I've embeded it from another provider. i still love this one.

Life at the Track

A friend of mine called me over the winter to tell me a friend of hers wanted to make a documentary short at Bay Meadows and asked if I could help him get access. I didn't take it very seriously, but said to just show up with a camera. I never did meet her friend the film maker and thought the project was probably just another idea that some San Francisco artist never got around to fulfilling. Then I saw the produce of his efforts on Current TV over the weekend.

No change

The Golden Gate Fields stewards made two notable NO CHANGE calls today. In the second race, the Russell Baze piloted Mr. Cool, who was anything but, mugged High Solids along the rail during the stretch drive. He then raced erratically throughout the remainder of the stretch, causing the ultimate winner Jehovah Jireh to alter course substantially. The Dean Pederson trained High Solids is probably the only horse that may have been cost a placing, here. Curiously, there was no inquiry into the race, and only a jockey's objection triggered the stewards to review the race. There was a collective grown in the grandstand when the no change announcement was made.

In the sixth race, eventual winner Missile Smoking hammered Polygraph in the lane, then rammed into 3rd place finisher Standford Gold in the last jumps before the wire. During the inquiry, I couldn't find anyone that believed the result would stand. Of course, it did. The head-on view of this race is most telling, although the infraction is obvious on the pan as well. Oddly, CalRacing.com does not show head-on shot in the stretch for this particular race.

Watch the races at CalRacing.com [free sign-up required]

New theory on War Emblem

The Kentucky Derby winner's problems in the breeding shed have been well documented. He's not infertile, but he simply refuses to cover mares. Some have even suggested he is gay.

A buddy of mine has developed another novel theory. After his recent divorce he subsequently dedicated his late 20s to making all the bad decisions he failed to make in his early 20s while he was paying a mortgage, climbing the corporate ladder, and banging his fashionably eccentric trophy wife. After shedding those burdens and drinking heavily at Coachella with a cadre of young lovelies, it came to him. War Emblem isn't gay. He's got whiskey dick.

I never was a Dead Kennedys fan. This Nouvelle Vague cover will do just fine, though.

Dutrow prepared to slay competition

Faster Horses

A Tom T. Hall classic

Comic strip of the day (dorf/miyadi edition)

Hollendorfer wins Bay Meadows training title again

Here it is. This is the difference. Steve Miyadi finished exactly one winner behind perennial leading trainer Jerry Hollendofer for the trainer title at the penultimate Bay Meadows meet. And this is the difference.

He finished exactly one win behind. This was just the nightcap at Bay Meadows Friday night. He had five other 2nds friday night. On an eight race card. I saw him the following day and i can attest, he did not slit his wrists, or so much as acknowledge a tough beat.

Like most every trainer that wins more than his fair share, whether Sherman or Dorf or R L Martin(readers of Laughing in the Hills will know), the response was a common: "yesterday? we gotta win TODAY."

Bay Meadows trainer title coming down to the wire

With three racing days remaining in the meet, there is not yet a presumptive winner of the trainer's title. Perennial leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is ahead with 51 wins, however Steve Miyadi is only two back with 49 wins.

Miyadi has been stuffing the entry box in the waning days of the meet, entering two horses in many races. In less than a week he has closed the gap from eight to two.

It appeared Hollendorfer may have been caught off guard by the late charge by an insurgent Miyadi. However, when this weekends entries were taken, a strong Hollendorfer presence emerged. Dorf entered four on tonight's card and Miyadi entered nine, before scratches. On Saturday and Sunday, Dorf has entered horses in aggressive spots. While running horses where they will hold odds-on favoritism is his modus operandi year round, retaining his crown may also be an element of his drop-and-pop approach this weekend.

Pick a Derby horse, already (Nerd Edition)

I don't care how let down you feel after seeing Sn4tchbuckl3r's Second Chance #1. If you had any hope that ironic use of leet in a webisode title would yield hilarity, you deserve your fate. It's time to put Mario Kart aside (you know the Wii Wheel sux) and pick a fucking derby horse before you're consumed by GTA IV tomorrow. WHAT!?! No. You're not. Right now? Sweet mother of WoW, you demented nerdling, you've got GameStop line passes to buy it at midnight? God help you.

Good luck, bad luck

Lost photos, DQ'd cinches, and bad beat stories are a dima dozen in this game. Occasionally one is worth repeating.

My dear friend, horse racing enthusiast, music junkee, and all around wonder-girl Kes is in New York while on military leave. She's busy going to every indie concert she can at night, and spending a few of her days at the track. On one of these she nailed an impossible pick 3. With a small ticket she singled a horse at 17-1 that resulted in a payoff well into four digits.

She knew immediately what to do with the windfall. A band, She & Him, Kes's been touting to me since long before their first album came out in March were playing a small venue. She blew her mutuel take to be within panty flinging distance from the performers.

The show is tonight. Was tonight. It's postponed due to illness, but she has been assured her tickets will be honored at a later date. Chances are she'll be back in Iraq by then.

Local protests, Bay Meadows jockey colony notes

In San Francisco today we did not see the chaos and instability seen in Paris and London when the Olympic torch passed through those cities. No, here we are professionals. We protest like no others.

As Bay Meadows kicks off another race week, we may yet hear protests from trainers unable to secure the services of their favored jockeys. There are several regular jocks that will not be riding on upcoming days for various reasons.

Last Friday morning Pedro Flores and the bug boy Rojas head north to Emerald Downs, following Leslie Mawing who left the previous week. Luis Martinez and David Lopez have not yet returned to riding after spills. Beginning on Sunday April 13 three more jockeys will be unavailable, each serving a three day suspension. Bobby Gonzalez, Omar Figueroa, and Inoel Beato were each given days by the stewards. In the event of a full field, you may see some names that don't often grace the form.

photo courtesy of racehorse owner Alex

Quote of the day

You have no passion for the game. None. I have 10 times more passion than you could ever hope to.

--Tom "Bomber" Doutrich
Bay Meadows Racing Secretary addressing yours truly
4/7/2008 10:48 am PDT

Pic of the day (LOLcats edition)

Everyone's favorite internet meme, save rickrolling (old people: google it), has finally come to the tote board brad blog. Gitch yer lolcats on.

Sex Scandal Rocks Racetrack

Now that I have your attention, BUY THIS BOOK. While the world's early adopters are busy creating muxtapes (here's mine), let us not forget the analog joys of a good read. T.D. Thornton's Not by a Longshot: A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track is out in paperback and plenty affordable for you to pick up a few copies.

As a fan of racing, and presumably someone that would appreciate more quality racing books, racing coverage, and generally for racing to command a greater degree of mindshare, we need to support work that serves this end.

Birthdays, Mother's Day, Fathers Day, May Day--whatever the occasion--find an excuse to give this book to both the racing fans AND the reading fans in your life. They'll love it, and you'll be proselytizing for the great sport of thoroughbred horse racing.

But make no mistake, this book is not propaganda. This is a dead honest look at racing at a second tier track. The struggle, the sacrifice, and the characters that feel they must choose between what works and what's right, makes this book as much a study in cognitive dissonance as a true racetrack yarn. The huge ups and spectacular successes are in there too. Despite odds against and the constant uphill battle of racetrackery, all beautifully illustrated by Thornton's masterful pen, the reader is not denied redemption. Not by a Longshot is the total package.

Time Out!

This scribe is headed to Fairgrounds for a brief respite and some NOLA revelry. It can take some time to recuperate after a bayou venture, so I'll leave you with this MIA track with which to occupy yourself. All the cool indie kids were listening to Paper Planes a coupla years back, but as far as I know the vid has only been around a few months, and it looks like they made it on a budget of a buck eighty five. Enjoy.

Bay Meadows - News and notes

Old gelding disappoints
Motel Staff returned to the races over the weekend and pretty much stunk up the joint in a 25k optional claimer contested at one mile over the lawn. The eleven year old stood in the gate at the start, spotting the field at least five lengths, and never really got into the race. The gelding was not claimed out of the race by former owner GCCI or anyone else for that matter.

In contrast, there was a flurry of claiming activity [drf - free subscription required] in the the first leg of the triple play series, in which claiming horses will ultimately run for a purse of $60,000.

Trainers title race remains tight
Through the end of the race week Monday March 17th, the top spot in the trainer standings remains deadlocked. Steve Sherman, Jerry Hollendorfer and Steve Miyadi again share leading trainer honors, each sporting 23 wins.

Hollendorfer and Miyadi are mainstays in the trainer standings. Both have big personalities and can be abrasive both naturally and for show. Sherman can clearly hold his own with these two backstretch hobgoblins, but unlike his co-leaders, Sherman is not terribly cartoonish. I have for some time wanted to feature him in my periodic series of horsemen looking ridiculous, but he has thus far been an elusive target.

While Steve Sherman has effectively run the NorCal contingency of the family training empire for some time, he only took over as trainer of record on January 1st of this year. This allowed patriarch Art Sherman to concentrate more heavily on SoCal operations. Despite much success on the SoCal circuit in prior years, Art has had a very rough start to 2008. His win percent hovered in the low single digits, last I checked. No word on whether sonny boy Steve will be summoned southward with his 30% winning percentage to right the ship.

Intrepid blogger Tote Board Brad noted in industry publication that no one reads
Lastly, this blog received some wee mention in a broadcast industry rag this morning. The article highlights the career of Christina Olivares, on air talent at TVG, and formerly of HRTV. If you count up 13 paragraphs or so from the bottom, there you'll find a brief passage which reads Horse-racing blogs with names like “Brad Buys a Yearling” and “Left at the Gate” chronicle her on-air exploits.

While mention in any publication, save the police blotter, is a lovely ego boost, being mentioned in the same sentence as the world's best horse racing blog is a true honor.

I wouldn't say I've chronicled her on-air exploits, but I'll link to the totality of posts--both of them--about her and let you, the reader, decide. One I penned in 2005 and the other in May of 2006. With that said, I am stalker enough that I accosted her recently while she was at Bay Meadows to get my picture taken with her. In my eloquence I believe I said something along the lines of "uh...uh... bub... bub..bub, uh, picture... uhh.... bub bub bub..." before thrusting my camera into some passer's by hand and mugging for all I was worth. I'll spare you the pic of my sorry self star struck and mouth agape, but here is the popular broadcaster standing trackside at Bay Meadows last month.

Racial tensions heighten in trainer standings battle

Going into the NorCal race week, Steve Sherman, Jerry Hollendorfer and Steve Miyadi are locked in a tight battle for leading trainer at the Bay Meadows meet, each with 19 wins. Miyadi, a southern California native of Japanese decent, is listed atop the Equibase standings since he has reached the mark with the fewest starters, as is their practice. His winning percentage stands at a robust 40%.

Recently Geraldine Ferraro, a Hollendorfer surrogate and ardent supporter, made comments that Miyadi was only able to challenge Hollendorfer in the standings due to his race. "If Miyadi was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the racetrack is caught up in the concept."

In response to the accusation of race playing a part in his success, Miyadi responded "The notion that it is a great advantage to me to be a Japanese American named Miyadi and pursue the trainer's title, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public."

The Hollendorfer camp subsequently accused Miyadi of playing the race card.

Miyadi has two horses on today's Bay Meadows card, Sexy Soldier in the 5th, and Runaway Wagon in the 6th. Each is making their first start for the Miyadi barn, previously being trained by John Sadler and Jorge Periban, respectively. Both are expected to attract some attention at the windows due to the popular bettor's angle "first time soy sauce."

Racetracker Zen

Among the sect of racetrackers, there are those full of zen. Few trainers, and even fewer management types fall into this group, but a number of the guys and gals that make the card happen each day do. They may be recent immigrants that groom and walk hots by day and claim a tack room as castle by night, or some third generation tracker that works the stable gate at hours obscene to most taxpayers. When I first spent substantial time on the backstretch, I mistook their easy-going-ness for the resignation I've always seen among financial district ladder climbers toiling for the man, for the mortgage, for the next office over. It's different, though. Most of these folks have a decent work ethic despite little to no opportunity for ladder climbing. Many of them could have higher paying jobs in secular society, but each day the return to the track. I wont assign them motivations, but I can attest there are intangibles to spending one's days at the track.

Blog may resume mediocrity soon

This blog has offered far less content recently due to a labor dispute, but it now appears that the writers strike may be settled very soon. Stay tuned.

Baze cracks 10k win mark (pic)

We're not unreasonable, say stewards

They only want to eat your brains

Long time readers know this blog has often highlighted the CHRB's incompetence and lack of leadership. On Saturday the CHRB, as represented by the NorCal stewards, offered one more very small example of their inability to think critically.

If you recall, by Saturday Santa Anita had already cancelled racing on Monday the following week but had not officially cancelled Sunday yet. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knew there was no way they could run on Sunday given the rain.

Many of those trainers with horses entered for Sunday at Santa Anita wished to enter those horses at Golden Gate Fields. The stewards would not allow them to do so because Santa Anita had not yet officially cancelled their racing program. Several horses that would have run at Golden Gate were thus turned away and may sit on the sidelines up to a month waiting for their condition to return, or worse yet, some will be shipped out of state for a spot in which to run.

This song reminds me of the stewards' only one way approach. Here are the Lyrics.

11 year old gelding claimed

While Heath Ledger has passed on, 11yo gelding Motel Staff, only slightly Heath's junior, is alive and kicking. In fact, he's turning a new page in his career after being taken out of a 16k claiming race from owner GCCI and trainer Cliff Delima by Steve Miyadi for CM Racing.

When asked why it was worth risking sixteen grand on a horse that is nearing the end of his career, Miyadi responds curtly. "He's finally learned how to run. He's really coming around now."

The stakes winning old timer has plenty of back class and can still perform at this level, evidenced by his second place finish Sunday. When pressed, Miyadi offers a more believable, albeit nefarious angle behind the claim. "Look, I kidnapped him. He's a member of the [DeLima/GCCI] family." Miyadi does not plan to drop Motel Staff into softer company to pick up a short priced win, as is often the approach with his claims. "They'll pay the ransom, so why should I give them a discount? They'll pay it, and in the mean time, he'll win."

Pic of the day

Horse racing commands a much greater mindshare in Japan. This translates even to top tier arcade games with spectacular intricacies and commensurate development costs every horseplayer stateside with an xBox or Wii can only envy.

Monty Meier, latest victim of the blog

In the continuing series of horsemen looking ridiculous, here is Monty Meier in the Golden Gate Fields racing office. Monty is one of the nicest fellows on the backstretch and has a horseman's resume a mile long, working with many legends of the game. By all accounts he is an exceptional horseman. Many readers will know his brother Randy Meier, a mainstay on the Chicago racing circuit and member of the 4000 win club.

As for Monty's broken glasses, he blamed the rigors of life on the backstretch, but rumors are circulating that Monty is the victim of domestic violence. Anyone who knows his longtime sweetheart Turtle, who also gallops for the Meier barn and is quite a horseman in her own right, would not quickly dismiss such a theory.

Super Likit 2nd

Super Likit finished an impressive 2nd this past Friday in a race so tough that three entrants were claimed. The winner, Kona Town Girlies, was very impressive and is now two for two, as she also won her debut in the maiden $8k ranks. That horse was claimed from the Sherman barn by Sue Gilmour. I would expect the filly to be stepped up, and I would rather not face that one again, even though Super Likit was closing ground on the winner. The filly came out of the race fine, and will be pointed for one more race over the Golden Gate surface she favors before the NorCal circuit shifts back to Bay Meadows in early February. There are no races in the condition book for straight four year olds that she fits, but we would hope to see such a race on the overnights. If not, she will have to take on older in open company. After Fridays impressive run, she just may be able to handle them.