Saturday, May 19, 2007

The exacta - For North

Go Rimbaud and go Johnny go!

The exacta: 1. Street Sense 2. Curlin 3. King of the Roxy

The last named didn’t race at the Derby, and I know, I know that Hard Spun will be out there, biting Street Sense’s flank. Deep in my gut, I have deep doubts about my horsey’s chance of winning this time. On the other hand, he’s a balanced horse. I like his views about getting out of Iraq now, nationalizing health care, and the hydrogen fuel cell. Street Sense is also all about Jackson Pollack, his favorite painter, and mine.

Curlin is a strong horse. Everybody knows he’s a strong horse. He does one hundred push ups every night before he goes to bed. If somebody is going to beat my horsey, it will be Curlin. It might be a KO. Curlin not so secretly wants to be a boxer, having once said, "fuck racin'! I can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." He has also stolen milk money from other horseys in the stables. Bad pony!

Finally, King of the Roxy. Since all eyes are gonna be on the Derby horseys, King of the Roxy is getting’ no kind of look in. Unfair! He’s fast, and he’s got nothing to lose.

Finally: song for this race is Patti Smith’s Horses, of course:

Do you know how to pony?

29 comments:

Roger Gathmann said...

North, ho ho. You haven't posted your exacta list. Playing your cards close to the chest, eh? I know you've been in confab with some fabulous touts, and in this race you are going to blow my socks off. But I'm not scared.

The great thing about win place show bets is that the improbability becomes so much greater as you add up the probability of the events. I always find that counterintuitive thing fascinating. I'm so easily fascinated.

Roger Gathmann said...

Also, I can't take the Barbaro stuff anymore. Enough! The WAPO story on, inevitably, St. Barbaro includes a phrase that I never thought I'd read about Barbaro's historic effect ...
"a sexier image for large-animal medicine as a career choice".

I don't know what to say about that. Large animal medicine is definitely a good thing, but sorry - it is anything but sexy. And if somebody does find it sexy, please, keep that person away from large animals!

northanger said...

what's an exacta?

northanger said...

win place show: Secretariat.

northanger said...

sexy, huh. that depends, how do you get a ... urine sample from a horse?

Roger Gathmann said...

North, if they are starting to check the horses for marijuana use, I'm over this country! poor things. They can't even light up after the races.

However, the thing I remember from that PBS series on a vet in Britain - isn't it all things bright and beautiful? - is that you often have to stick your arm into indelicate places in treating a cow. As for horses, huh, I'm not sure what you do with them.

Roger Gathmann said...

And you still haven't told me your win place show choices.

The exacta is what they call it in Shreveport. Hmm, so they call it something else in California?

northanger said...

i think we call them eenie meenie minie moes out here. hmm, eenie? ok, which horse is bay colored?

talking about pee checks, thanks for removing that pesky blog checker!

northanger said...

all things great & small?

northanger said...

just started raining at Pimlico.

Roger Gathmann said...

North, that's it! I am not a vet fan, but one of my brother's is - I believe he has seen the whole series, which entitles him to a honorary veterinary degree in Arkansas.

So, I can tell you are thinking about what outside horsey might surprise us all. And you aren't telling! So you gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, eh?

Roger Gathmann said...

It is raining? Is that good or bad for street sense?

northanger said...

post time: 6:15pm EDT (i think).

northanger said...

sun's out!

Roger Gathmann said...

Supposedly, SS won't get find any holes in the pack this time, giving Curlin his advantage - as per MSNBC.

I just don't like Hard Spun. Somehow, that horse gets under my skin. But I do fear it might be his day.

Roger Gathmann said...

Hey, I'm gonna have to leave at 5 for a party. I thought it would have been finished by now. Damn. And me, sitting her with my Queen Elizabeth green and pink chapeau on and everything.

northanger said...

aw man. you're going?

Roger Gathmann said...

Damn, yes. I thought they would have raced by 5. Bummer.

northanger said...

ok, i'll post the winner.

don't put your arm up anybody's butt! remember what happened last time!

northanger said...

they're going to the gate. they may run at 6:05pm.

Roger Gathmann said...

And I was preparing my stock of YouTube links and everything.

Roger Gathmann said...

Well, putting your arm up somebody's butt professionally is disgusting. But when it is between friends...

northanger said...

raining again. my gut? i dunno, maybe Street Sense could win this one from behind again.

northanger said...

well, ok. but don't fist & drive.

northanger said...

riders up.

northanger said...

[+] The nine-stanza poem, "Maryland, My Maryland," was written by James Ryder Randall in April 1861. A native of Maryland, Randall was teaching in Louisiana in the early days of the Civil War, and he was outraged at the news of Union troops being marched through Baltimore. The poem articulated Randall's Confederate sympathies. Set to the traditional tune of "Lauriger Horatius" ("O, Tannenbaum"), the song achieved wide popularity in Maryland and throughout the South.

northanger said...

too close too call!

northanger said...

two cajun jokeys. what a race! Curlin?

northanger said...

Curlin
Street Sense
Hard Spun

Lovecraft

“If Lovecraft was an odd child,” his biographer L. Sprague de Camp writes, “his mother showed signs of becoming even odder. In fact, she gav...