Have at it.
BTW- apparently Tom Harkin made some remarks about McCain filtering everything through his military experiences:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, “and he has a hard time thinking beyond that,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.
“I think he’s trapped in that,” Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. “Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous.”
Ruh roh. You know what that means. Off to the fainting couches for the keyboard commandoes. Assrocket calls it an outrageous attack, Gateway Pundit claims Harkin “blasted” McCain. Captain Ed weighed in, but I have to be honest, I didn’t read it. Powerline and the Gateway Pundit were enough stupid for me.
Is there a bigger bunch of pansies than right wing bloggers? They can spend years hammering the opposition, lying about them and calling them traitors, and someone makes a fairly harmless remark and they just go insane. Well, more insane.
Octavian
Harkin is correct.
Caidence (fmr. Chris)
Yes.
Said bloggers’ fathers, who never committed to dragging their zit-faced, model-painting, bb-gun polishing sons outside and teaching them the ways of being real men. One lead pipe blow to the head at a time.
Keith
Welcome to hystericism.
r€nato
Harkin’s remark is almost as outrageous as the supporters of a military deserter, defaming the service of a decorated Vietnam veteran who volunteered for combat, and mocking his Purple Heart awards with a band-aid. What kind of America-hating cowards would do that?
Oh, right… nevermind.
The Moar You Know
Outrage fatigue.
I has it.
Let the pansies rant. I just hope their mommies were prepared enough to put rubber sheets on their beds and towels on top of their computer chairs. Fuck, I am so sick of these people. So tired of their bullshit. I’ve gone past wanting bad shit to happen to them to wanting them to just go away and leave the decent folks alone.
cleek
fuck em. i hope they enjoy their 8 years in exile
r€nato
I wish it were as simple as mommy giving them their binky.
Delia
Harkin was right. We are cursed with two extremes here. The chickenhawk toy soldiers from Bush-Cheney on down to the Keyboard Kommandoes on one hand, and someone like McCain, who has never set foot outside the military mentality and seems to have decided to fall in line with the neocon idiots.
dmsilev
“Derby open thread”? Wasn’t the Derby two weeks ago? Methinks you mean “Preakness Open Thread”.
-dms
Ned R.
This actually might be the weirdest McCain related thing currently out there. Because who in their right mind would title an article “A Theme for McCain’s Pudding”?
McCain’s PUDDING?
PeterJ
Any horse starting that might be a bit too old for the race? If so, I predict that that horse will go down in the middle of the race due to exhaustion.
cleek
this pudding has no theme
i guess it’s a Churchill thing – just like everything else in the glory-of-war conservative movement.
Rick Taylor
Idolizing the military is all they have left. When George Bush wanted to sustain the occupation, his entire argument was, hey, I’m just doing what the generals on the ground want.
Dreggas
first and this has probably been asked before…do any of those ‘tards have military experience?
Second these are the same fucks who supported bush whose surrogates called McCain a Manchurian candidate during ’00 and claimed his service and subsequent status as a POW made him f’ing crazy to boot. Why do these bloggers hat george bush and ‘merikka so much?
TR
The right-wing bloggers will valiantly defend the worldview of their wet dreams. It’s all they have.
Mary
Horsies!
I’m going to do my best to ignore the nitwits for, say, 1:54 3/5.
Raenelle
I’ll go beyond that. To his prison experience. What do you learn as a prisoner? Well, in a situation where you don’t have to give up something, and you’re in someone else’s power, is it smarter to be nice, friendly, give the illusion of intimacy and openness, or to be a confrontational asshole? Of course, though your emotions may for a time give the advantage to the latter, eventually simple behaviorism teaches you to adopt the former. So, whenever possible, you’re nice, open, friendly, warm, accessible–but always on a purely tactical basis, on the basis of a simple cost-benefit analysis. What they can’t get to, what you can harbor and hide, is your deep resentment, your desire to shiv them. Of course, always holding in your anger like that makes you something of a pressure cooker–likely to explode at times.
IMO, it’s not just his geopolitics that derive from his wartime experiences. His whole personality was wounded by the NVN communists–layer on layer of defensive survival tactics, all hardened around a molten core of inexhaustible anger and hatred.
SnarkyShark
John, by saying the right wing bloggers have lost their “bearings” as well as their marbles, you are offending their delicate sensibility s! We should try to be more understanding!
OK…I lied.
Kick em in da junk!
cleek
i think some of them have the 40th Anniversary edition of Risk. and a few of them have finished Cally Of Duty 4 on the medium-high skill level.
why do you ask? are you an Islamofascist trying to take down our country’s toughest cyberbloggerwarriors ?
Mary
1:54 4/5. I was close.
Dreggas
Shit that’s too easy, just deny them their cheeto’s.
KRK
I vaguely recall our host speaking out in defense of Cheetos recently, as in, why do we malign a perfectly delightful cheese-ish snack by tying it to the likes of those? I agree. (And if my recollection is wrong, well, he should have.)
Wouldn’t pork rinds be a good alternative? While they don’t conjure images of orange-stained keyboards, a snarker favorite, there is a satisfying element of metaphorical cannibalism.
Dennis - SGMM
You regulars know that I’ve commented about my family’s tradition of service to this country that dating back to April 19, 1775 (Concord Bridge) and that I served in Vietnam. Serving in the military does not imbue me, or any candidate for the presidency for that matter, with a special insight about the use of military power. We know how it was where and when we served, we understand how it was to be an enlisted man or an officer. We know, if we experienced combat, the advantages and limitations of our weapons. Anything else is transformed through the lens of our preconceptions or, if you’re a politician, our later ambitions.
I don’t denigrate McCain’s service. I was an Airframes Cat Checker for too many A-4 Skyhawks to do that. I know the courage/optimism/denial that it takes to take off and land from a carrier. I do suggest that his military service, noble as it was in the prison camp, doesn’t give him any advantage in understanding the application of military force.
Dennis - SGMM
“that dating back”????
Make it, “that dates back”
Thom
Further comment from Harkin:
It was a dumb fish to throw into the barking seals pool, but that at least adds a little sense to it.
nightjar
Agreed. Unfortunately, enlightening the average wingnut mind on your insightful discourse would be like handing the average Chimpanzee a copy of War and Peace and asking for a book report.
If any furry primates were offended by my remark, I wholeheartedly apologize.
Soylent Green
What Dennis said. McCain’s military service should be off the table.
But we still have to counter the narrative that he is an expert on military affairs and defense policy.
It’s not as though he was paying attention at the Naval Academy, finishing 894 out of 899. In that sense, he is another Bush, a privileged son from a powerful family who could attend good schools without actually bothering to learn anything.
J. Michael Neal
The Cheetos don’t make the man; the man makes the Cheetos.
Conservatively Liberal
Fixed.
I love Cheetos (a bit too much at times), but pork rinds would be a good choice. We can point out that their faces, fingers and keyboards are covered in hot sauce, bits of rind and spittle.
How do the Keyboard Commandos control their bladders at the latest outrage?
Depends.
incontrolados
Jen aside, can we please make pw a mock site?
Wrong thread. Sorry.
I know I’m personanongrata.
Jeff and his friends are on the fringes.
Ok, I’m not friendly with the in crowd. What can I say?
J. Michael Neal
The problem isn’t that McCain is completely dominated by a military mindset. The problem is that he’s dominated by a fighter pilot’s mindset. There are a lot of admirable skills that go into being a fighter pilot. Sitting back and taking the time to think about a problem rationally isn’t one of them.
McCain still behaves as if making any decision right now is better than making the right decision in five seconds. That was true in his original job, but it isn’t any longer.
When he was in the Army, my father spent a year teaching at the Air Force Academy. (Long, funny story, but it’s how he spent his time during the Vietnam War.) Between that and a year in the Pentagon, he came away with the opinion that the Air Force has, by far, the lowest quality of senior officers, because the path to promotion, unlike commanding a battalion or an aircraft carrier, builds the wrong skills for high command. McCain is a walking example of why the Navy doesn’t let flying be a path to the high echelons.
The Grand Panjandrum
I’m sure all the complaints about Obama’s patriotism would fade away if he would just wear the flag lapel pin. Andrew Sullivan has this blog post to provide proof for my thesis.
BTW: Jim Webb will be on Meet the Press tomorrow.
w vincentz
Thanks for this thread. What a beautiful race!
Big Brown cruised. Belmont bound!
Kent D rode him perfectly, unlike Real Quiet in the Belmont, and Fu Peg in the Preakness.
I hope to be at Belmont when Big Brown runs. I just might get to see a triple crown winner! I was there for Real Quiet and Smarty Jones. Gosh I love to see a beautiful thoroughbred run!
I know this site is mostly about politics, beer, and other interesting topics, but as a thoroughbred owner and breeder, I’m so greatful that you put up this thread, John.
I’m thrilled that all the horses ran a clean race and came home safely. We’ve had too many tragedies in horse racing, but today gives some people a taste of the thrill that all of us in the thoroughbred industry hope for, when a beautiful horse, with a jockey wearing your silks, enters the winners’ circle.
It’s only comparable to the thrill I’ll feel when Barack puts his hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office.
I LOVE WINNERS!
JackieBinAZ
It spices up the bland diet of oatmeal and prunes.
HRA
” do suggest that his military service, noble as it was in the prison camp, doesn’t give him any advantage in understanding the application of military force.”
I agree.
Personally, I would also agree that my cousin who spent 20 years in the Navy as a fighter pilot does not have the qualifications to be president based on his military career.
Tom Harkin is right.
calipygian
Hmmm…where do I start?
I spent 20 years in the Navy. I enlisted three days after my 17th birthday. I have not known anything else except for what I did in the Navy. For the last 20 years, I have been told where to live, what time to get up, what to where and where to go. It is almost impossible for me to process anything without refering to the context of my service. When I left the States in 1990, there was no World Wide Web, no cell phones that weren’t the size of wheelbarrows and I don’t recall seeing an ATM machine. When I returned to the States in 2001, I didn’t know what the fuck Walmart was (no, for real). To say that anybody who has spent a siginificant chunk of their adult life in the military DOESN’T filter everything through their experiences is kidding themselves. Much to my dismay and chagrin, I have found that I have a much different approach to problem solving and decision making than non-military people (lets put it this way – I’m no Hamlet) and it annoys the shit out of me to see some people’s approach to problem solving and decision making. My daily life is full of wanting to choke the shit out of people for being dumb or not properly thinking things through or making obviously stupid decisions because their process is faulty (in my view) and all of that is due to my world view and is something that I am working on (judging people for what I perceive is their weaknesses, not my own processes).
To say that someone, a retired Navy Captain, the son and grandson of Hero-Admirals and someone who didn’t even wait to retire before he went into Congress (he was a Congressional liaison IIRC) is shaped by his 63 years Navy-Government service and drawing a government paycheck and may have trouble thinking outside that box is….DUH!
Doonhamer
Preakness: As an unapologetic animal welfare activist with regard to events such as racing and rodeos, I will cheerfully agree* to disagree with those who support these events.
Military experience: I spent almost one-fifth of my life, nine years, in the Navy, operating and maintaining the electrical equipment on a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine.
Do I have military experience? Yes.
Does my military experience qualify me to lead this country? You decide**.
*through clenched teeth
**not offended if you decide What are you, stupid or something?
calipygian
Fixed. :-)
Now commence field day!
reid
John McLaughlin is getting more and more irritating with every passing week. Every question to his panel either promotes Hillary or bashes Obama. And someone has been putting tacks on Monica Crowley’s chair, too; she’s getting cranky. Oooo, I’m so mad I may just fire off an e-mail, oh! Don’t make me!
Doonhamer
Aye aye, Mr. Calipygian!
(Petty Officer Doonhamer proceeds to pretend to clean with standard Navy issue green abrasive pad and Lighthouse for the Blind brand cleaning fluid for four hours while actually shooting the shit with shipmates).
So can I be preznit now? Geez…
w vincentz
Doonhamer,
I disagree with you about your take on horse racing. All of us in the horse racing industry care deeply about our horses. The Jockey Club started the Safety Committee two years ago. There will be modifications in all aspects of our sport to insure the welfare of our animals, as they come first.
I support these events. If you don’t, oh well.
Thoroughbred racing has gone through some difficult times lately, but Big Brown has many in this country buzzing. It’s great for our industry. It will draw crowds, inspire new owners, and just might give you a chane to see a triple crown winner in your lifetime.
A horse like Big Brown doesn’t come along often.
Last time was a horse named Affirmed. The battles throughout the TC with Alydar are the last in 30 years.
Oh, I’ll mention that two that I’ve bred are linebred 3X3 to Alydar. One is a 3 yo filly that will be on the track soon. And yes, I was there when she first stood up on her wet wobbly legs on a cold March night. Everything since has been pure joy…never abuse.
The Grand Panjandrum
This is how you handle telemarketers.
Doonhamer
That would fall under the “agreeing to disagree” portion of my post.
w vincentz
OK…I “cheerfully disagree” then.
Doonhamer
That is your right and your prerogative, and, if you form your opinion after considering the conclusions drawn from your own research and experience in the subject, I will certainly respect it while perhaps disagreeing with it. As you will no doubt respect mine, based upon the consideration I’ve given to the conclusions drawn from my own research and experience.
I must say that doing so cheerfully is but a bonus! :)
Enjoy your Saturday evening.
ed
Yeah, stop hating on Songbird McCain. If there’s anyone who doesn’t deserve that sort of attack, it’s our Songbird.
w vincentz
Likewise.
Mary
Why am I suddenly craving straight cut fries?
D-Chance.
The Preakness IS a derby. So is the Belmont.
Krista
You’re doing better than me. I’ve been craving cake.
t jasper parnell
Huckleberry’s apology.
This is weak.
Nicole
Three years ago, I, an anti-Bush voting, Battlestar Galactica viewing, horse racing fan find this site and appreciated getting another point of view from my own… and now, I find I have found the enemy and it is myself… I can’t believe I missed this thread (because I was busy watching the Preakness)!
As bad as I want to see a Triple Crown, I’m going out on a limb and saying Casino Drive is going to beat Big Brown in the Belmont… I will happily eat crow if I’m wrong, but (WARNING: Useless Trivia ahead) Casino Drive has a cool angle- his dam, Better than Honour, was the dam of not only last year’s Belmont winner (Rags to Riches, go filly power!), but also the winner of the Belmont the year before that (Jazil… um… well, he paid good odds). Superhorse versus Son of Supermomhorse.
r€nato
Golly, if only we had someone in charge – you know, a “nation-czar” – who could lead the way by encouraging Americans to conserve fuel, demand greater fuel economy from car manufacturers, promote research into alternative energy sources…
Instead we have this putz.
w vincentz
D-Chance,
The Derby is a mile and a quarter. The Preakness is a mile and three-eighths. The Belmont is a mile and a half.
Three entirely different distances, and different fields.
All three Grade 1 Stakes.
The third jewel in the triple crown is the hardest, that’s why we don’t see one achieve it too often.
For many, it’s the thrill of their life times.
Nice to see you’re interested, but the three races are very different.
Mary
Damn it, Krista! I used to eat that cake straight from the freezer when I was a kid. Now I have cravings and the grocery store is closed.
I’ll see you the cake and raise you a straight talking Pizza Pockets commercial.
w vincentz
Nicole!!!!
I remember you from Steve’s Derby Trail. So good to see you! Maybe I’ll meet you at Saratoga. I’ll be at Belmont at Jimmy J’s barn.
Krista
Bwah-ha! Yeah, that cake is awesome. We still buy it every once in awhile. The chocolate cream pie was a good time too.
cbear
Larry JohnsonAgent Flowbee is at it again:Who Wants to Be the Next Millionaire?
This is seriously funny shit.
Johnson is now claiming that Karl Rove has the tape and is using it to raise money, but that the “conservative Republican billionaire” is trying to thwart Karl’s evil plans because he hates Mcain (for putting gonorrhea in his samwiches, or something) and wants Hillary to be the next Prez….and it only gets better from there.
The comments are priceless.
Everyday I tell myself I won’t go over to NoQuarter today, but it’s like picking a scab—I can’t stop.
SamFromUtah
there is an ultra conservative Republican billionaire who wants to pay your $1 million dollars for the tape.
Do you think he’d be fooled by a home video of me wearing a wig, ranting in front of a crepe-paper stained glass window?
I’m male and white, but I know some of these guys aren’t too sharp.
Dreggas
Wait I thought they already had the video and were going to release it come October?
SamFromUtah
Wait I thought they already had the video and were going to release it come October?
I thought so too – but on re-reading Johnson’s claptrap excerpt a few threads ago, he just says four different people have told him that it exists.
Wotta maroon. They’re going to have to go with the artist’s conception and blurry satellite shots like I said before.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Agent Flowbee’s just covering his ass. “There was a tape, but the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy – inconjunction with the Bavarian Illuminati and the Gnomes of Zurich – don’t want you to see it!”
Just Some Fuckhead
This is Obama’s own fault for marrying an uppity black woman. If he’d married a thieving drug-addict like McCain did or an influence-pedding serial philanderer and adulterer like HRC did there would be no fucking problems. WTF was Obama thinking?
KRK
Something tells me this billionaire is the son/wife/colleague of a Nigerian exile.
Rick Taylor
Rove has it and won’t use it until October, so McCain will win in November. The disgruntled Republican who hates McCain wants to buy it and release it now so that the super-delegates will come to their senses and support Hillary before it’s too late. Yes, it’s silly, but I think that’s what he’s saying. I’d be tempted to ask if he thinks he’s living in some bad spy novel, except given who we’re talking about. . .
Jon H
Agent Flowbee is still participating in the CIA LSD trials.
bago
THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!
Darkness
Our mission in Iraq will be a success; it will spread
peace and democracysectarian in-fighting throughout the Middle East.Fixed. And Mission Accomplished:
Hezbollah’s Actions Ignite Sectarian Fuse in Lebanon
Mary
This was a triumph.
I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
And so the circle is complete. (And did you know Coulton supports Obama?)
Darkness
I just reread what I posted and in case anyone thinks the previous was tongue-in-cheek… I really believe that’s what the neocons really wanted when they invaded Iraq. In the 70s and 80s infighting kept oil cheap. Unfortunately, they missed the Peak Oil memo that made the previous endless warfare cheap oil technique null and void.
Unless… breeding infighting was intended to raise the price of oil, given that they are oilmen. Well, I don’t give them that much credit for sly intelligence, just basic-evil intelligence.
Notorious P.A.T.
Me too! And I was never even in the Navy.
See, that’s why I disagree (respectfully) with people who say that McCain’s service or anything that happened therein have affected his personality. From all reports he was a jerk before ‘Nam, and he was a jerk after too.
Kevin
That comment is full of win.
daryljhusseinfontaine
SNL is on the plus side of amusing tonight; Japanese “Office” and the “There Can Only Be One” commercial are comedy gold. Even Grampy McSame’s appearance wasn’t half-bad; he was slightly less stiff in his reading than some of their guests.
Delia
Hey, at least I’m female. I could maybe fool him better. Wait, my sister’s a better actor than I am and she can do accents. Sure, she’s a redhead, but we can get her a good wig and some make-up. She doesn’t like the internets, but I do. We can post it on Youtube. Oh wait, then Larry won’t pay us our millions.
Conservatively Liberal
But the Hillary supporters say that she will DEMAND that the Saudi government give us oil at prices we want!
Fulcanelli
Lots of interesting video and reading here: Vietnam veterans Against John McCain.
This fucking guy is toasted and shouldn’t be allowed metal tableware never mind the command of the US military arsenal.
Another magnificent underachiever. Fourth from the bottom of his class. He’s so much like Bush it’s eerie. I think the GOP breeds them somewhere offshore, like veal or Department of Motor Vehicles employees.
I hope to tap-dancing Christ that Obama can survive the gauntlet in front of him, between the Hystrionic Gender Voters, Hillary’s flying CIA and Lawyer monkeys and the GOP Mujahadeen and pull this off in November. My offering to Pezuzu should give him a boost right through the primary, although the smell is starting to attract neighborhood attention and my wife’s family keeps asking about my Mother-In-Law.
The pure drivel in the MSM gives me Grand Mal seizures and I bit off a chunk of my tongue, and teh blogs, well, I have to take about every third day off or I start to shit blood.
My wife complains about the mess and says this isn’t healthy. Give it a rest. Then I catch her firing one off at some ignorant fuck at one of her online haunts or howling like at the TV like a banshee and she’s breathing green fire for the rest of the day.
This is normal right?
Damn, I’d give anything for a thumb-sized spliff of humboldt county indica or hydroponic skunk, a few Valium 10’s and about a pint of Gold 68 Absinthe. Righteous.
Heh. Bring it the fuck on, McBush.
eglenn
And here’s the “Still Alive” Coulton as a ringtone.
Probably gonna take a little Audacity to make it a ringtone on my phone (max 30 sec clip)…
Dreggas
That entire post deserves an award or somethin’
Dreggas
O.M.F.G. CLASSIC!
cbear
dreggas–
er, which of the 10 videos is omfg?
Studly Pantload
I see Ignatius at the WaPo is calling for Obama to select a veep from across the great divide, and mentions Hagel by name.
A) No, I don’t want even a moderate Republican w/in a heartbeat of the presidency after this next election, thankyewverramuch, and B) making certain the Dems are unified as all get out after this nasty primary season is Job One, an idea for which that I’ve heard and liked is for Obama to name someone from the Clinton camp as his RM.
I’m liking the sound of Obama/Clark ’08, myself…
(BTB, there’s currently no preview available, so if I fooked up the linky-dink, my apologies.)
Dreggas
D’OH The ducktales one.
Dreggas
This one
I screwed up the link before.
Jon H
” From all reports he was a jerk before ‘Nam, and he was a jerk after too.”
Which is to say, McCain was a Naval Aviator.
Q.E.D.
cbear
Jeebus dreg, I don’t know whether you smoking it or snorting it, but I want some.
Conservatively Liberal
Portal is a great game, and I hear that there will be a Portal 2 coming out from Valve. Instead of cake, maybe next time the pie is a lie. ;)
If I had a Portal gun, I would fly to some remote area in Siberia and find an old, well used outhouse. I would place a portal on the floor, then head back to the US and start filling the Siberian outhouse with Rove, Bush, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neo-con assholes. Maybe visit a few sewage treatment plants and portal the contents to the Siberian outhouse just to put icing on the ‘cake’.
One can dream.
Regarding the fun that is the House of Mirrors (or the Chamber of Echos), AKA RedState, in a discussion (bawling circlejerk?) about Peggy Noonan’s latest observations on the lack of a pulse in the Republican party (compared to the born-anew Democratic party with Obama), Gamecock has a solution:
If he is looking for Grade A fertilizer, he should just recycle his compositions (but beware of the methane buildup). I bet this guy keeps a pistol in his lap while surfing the web so he has something in his lap that feels hard.
Their ‘discussion’ centers around the diarist calling for the old fogeys to get out of the way and let the young Republicans take over the show like the ‘Democrats are doing’. That the young Repubs are honest, hardworking people who don’t have a corrupt bone in their bodies, and those old farts have screwed everything up so bad that it will take the young’uns to put it right.
Thinking about where the Republicans were a few years ago, and comparing it to now sure makes me happy. Lets bury these assholes this fall.
D-Chance.
Well, that’s all nice and dandy, but both the Preakness and Belmont are still ‘derbies’ by definition… all races restricted to 3-yr-olds are, although by tradition only the major stakes races are considered as such. 2-year-olds run in futurities, 3-yr-olds in derbies, 4-yr-olds and older run in classics.
Cassidy
I think you’re making the wrong argument.
1) Military service does give an individual better insight into the application of military force. It may not make you smarter or better, but it does give you the personal knowledge of the military’s capabilities. I would even go further and say that to really have that insight, you need to have been Combat Arms.
2)This bag was opened when we ran Kerry, a “genuine war hero” against Bush.
3) Personally, I’d like to see more people use military “problem solving”.
4) McCain’s service does give him more insight into using military force, but that isn’t the argument. The argu,ment is whether his military sevice has imbued him with the qualities to make a good Commander in Chief. Big difference.
Dennis - SGMM
Good points all and your last one is on the money. You can go through any amount of military service and gain some insight into the use of military force or you can gain none. If military service is a valid criterion for selecting a president then, by extension, we need only take the highest-ranking officer and nominate him or her. Not an appetizing prospect.
Nicole
Holy cow, hi, w vincentz! How are you? I’m hoping for a Triple Crown, but already regretting not forking out the $$ for reserved seats at the Belmont- I did general admission for Smarty Jones’ Belmont and it warn’t pretty… ah well. Definitely planning on taking the trip to Saratoga this year and looking forward to your filly’s career!
D Chance- minor correction, but the Triple Crown races are also considered classics. I think the term “classic” may have more to do with the length of the race (sprints versus classic distances) and tradition, though I’m not sure. Derbies are limited to three-year-olds, that’s true. Handicap is the term for many stakes-level races for older horses, I think, where the weight each horse carries will vary according to the track handicapper’s estimate of his or her chances to win.
I’m curious as to whom will get the mount on Casino Drive, since Desormeaux obviously is not going to take him over Big Brown. And I think Denis of Cork is coming back for the Belmont. Should be a fun race.
w vincentz
Nicole,
Thanks for ‘splainin’ to D-Chance. For many that are new to racing, when someone says the derby, it means the Kentucky Derby. Wordwise, DC is correct.
One of the fillies I bred raced in the 7th at Penn National on Thurs, May 16 (against olders in a maiden claimer). She held first through six furlongs but couldn’t hold. I hope that next out, they shorten her up.
As far as who will get the mount on Casino Drive, I haven’t heard. All I was saying before is that Big Brown is a huge boost to our sport. As you know, he’s off to Three Chimneys
after Belmont, so it might be a rare chance to see a TC winner.
Nicole, if backstretch passes weren’t so hard to get on big days, I’d try to get you a couple, but they are tough to acquire lately. If you still have my phone number or email address, get in touch. Saratoga is much easier to get you into the barns.
Now it’s back to the polo ponies. We wintered the string from a big Long Island club and they all need prep before we ship em out next week.
Regards.
Dave_Violence
Left wing bloggers?
calipygian
How about people who are so insecure about their cock size that they feel it necessary to put the word “violence” in their screen name?
Thats pretty pansified.
Stephen1947
Can I just say that you should apologize to pansies for comparing them to keyboard kommandos? That’s really a low blow!
The Other Steve
The proper response to this style of outrage is…
“Is he wrong?”
liberal
Studly Pantload wrote, No, I don’t want even a moderate Republican…
Actually, Hagel is overall pretty conservative.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Weak apology for a weak joke.