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You are here: Home / Sports / Deep thought

Deep thought

by DougJ|  May 16, 20096:25 pm| 26 Comments

This post is in: Sports

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First a gelding, now a filly…what does that say about the state of American masculinity?

(More seriously, who will be the first commentator to compare Rachel Alexandra to Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama or something like that? You know it’s going to happen.)

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Previous Post: « Preakness Open Thread
Next Post: The Wingularity Is Nigh »

Reader Interactions

26Comments

  1. 1.

    KG

    May 16, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    How much you think the offspring of Mine that Bird and Rachel Alexandra will go for?

    I blame DougJ getting the horse’s name wrong in the original post for this edit

  2. 2.

    DougJ

    May 16, 2009 at 6:28 pm

    How much you think the offspring of Mine that Bird and Rachel Alexander will go for?

    Quite a lot, given that Mine that Bird is a gelding.

  3. 3.

    The Confessor

    May 16, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    I thought that I saw a “fluff” news piece before last year’s Kentucky Derby where Hillary Clinton put her money on Eight Belles to win.

  4. 4.

    KG

    May 16, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    @ DougJ: how the fuck did I miss that small point?

  5. 5.

    Little Dreamer

    May 16, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    @The Confessor:

    You did, and that’s the only reason why anyone brought it up. I saw it too.

  6. 6.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    May 16, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    Rachel’s new and vaguely creepy owner is already talking about breeding her to Curlen, who still has his balls and “likes the ladies”.

  7. 7.

    JenJen

    May 16, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Dear Lazy Media: Let’s not relive Big Brown vs. Eight Belles, shall we? I was always hoping the horsey Hillary metaphor died that tragic day.

  8. 8.

    The Confessor

    May 16, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    On a more serious note (for me), what kind of future does an “it” that has proven to be a capable racer have in store for it? My impression is that the money once a stallion’s racing days are over is made via prostitution, which is obviously out of the question for a horse that has had its balls amputated. (Note that the incorrect terminology is intentional; I’m just like that.)

  9. 9.

    KG

    May 16, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    @8: geldings tend to run for 15 years or so, from what I understand.

  10. 10.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    May 16, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    If the gelding has been a big winner, or its owner has some real affection for it, he gets a well-deserved retirement. Some, like Kelso, turn out to have other talents.

    Unlike all too many of today’s top racehorses, Kelso did not ignite racing in his second and third year only to disappear to a stud farm. This great gelding competed for eight seasons, from 1959 to 1966. As his career raced on, so did his popularity. Huge crowds flocked to see him. Kelso competed on fourteen tracks, won in six states, smashed any amount of records, won an unprecedented number of awards, and eventually became as beloved a horse as any who ever lived. … As a gelding Kelso could not be retired to stud. Instead, he went on to a second career as a hunter and a show jumper. In 1967, he was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

    I don’t think they build horses like that any more.

    A gelding with less star power may get sold as a hack (riding horse, not journalist), but too many surplus racehorses, geldings and others, end up at slaughterhouses.

  11. 11.

    TexasMike

    May 16, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Longtime lurker with a mission and a question.

    Match Race after the Belmont. What do you think?

    Also, has any jockey won the triple crown on different horses. (jockeys triple crown)?

    OK that was 2 questions.

  12. 12.

    The Confessor

    May 16, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    @11: If you’re talking about in the same year, then the answer is certainly “no”. Borel was the first jockey to even change horses after a win in the Derby.

  13. 13.

    TexasMike

    May 16, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    Thanks, I did not know that. Didn’t watch the pre race coverage either.

  14. 14.

    Nicole

    May 16, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Barring injury, Mine That Bird will probably run until he’s six or seven. If he doesn’t have a second career I’m sure the Kentucky Horse Park will take him. They have Funny Cide.

    I am a bad theater goer, posting before the play starts.

  15. 15.

    CatStaff

    May 16, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    @TexasMike: Please no, I’m begging you, no match race. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen to watch Ruffian break down in her match with Foolish Pleasure, and subsequently have to be destroyed. She, like Rachel Alexandra, was something special.

    Match races put extra strain on the participants, because there’s little strategy involved. They just go balls (or ovaries) to the wall for the entire distance. And racehorses nowadays aren’t built with the bone that they used to have.

    Just please no. I couldn’t handle another Ruffian.

  16. 16.

    Terri

    May 16, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    I don’t believe they allow match races anymore because of Ruffian.

  17. 17.

    Glen

    May 16, 2009 at 8:37 pm

    I’m not a horse-racing fan, but I saw a clip via the Rachel Maddow Show (who developed an understandable interest in her, uh, namesake) a few days ago.

    Oh my god! Winning by twenty lengths or something like that? She’s not a filly, she’s a force of nature.

  18. 18.

    Andy K

    May 16, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    @Glen:

    If she wins by 20+ lengths at the Belmont, I’ll consider her worthy of mention alongside of Secretariat. Until that happens, though, I’ll consider her a very good 3 year old thoroughbred, and an excellent filly. Call me jaded.

  19. 19.

    Jen R

    May 16, 2009 at 9:47 pm

    Another thing that geldings sometimes do after they retire is work as stable ponies. Those are the horses you see accompanying the runners to the starting gate, though they have other jobs too. I think Best Pal did that for years — he liked the atmosphere at the racetrack.

    @Terri: match races do still exist, and I’ve even seen match races of fillies vs. colts (Soviet Problem won a couple of them), but yeah, nobody’s going to go for a “Derby winner vs. top filly” type race ever again. This is one superstitious sport — there are plenty of people who still believe that running fillies against colts hurts their reproductive prospects.

  20. 20.

    Nicole

    May 16, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    My uncle was a mounted police officer and one of his horses was a former race horse. I don’t know what his racing name was, but they called him “Seven” because the star on his forehead was in the shape of a number 7. Seven was a good police horse, but my uncle remembers the troop being sent to Penn National for some kind of presentation on the track. Seven was well into his 20s and hadn’t seen a race in at least 15 years but my uncle said the second they got out on the track Seven’s eyes opened wide and his nostrils flared up and it was all my uncle could do to hold him back- he was still ready to run six furlongs!

    The stable where I learned to ride had a few former racers, too. One of them was so gentle he was a beginner’s horse. Not all former racers can be retrained, but those that can often become very nice horses for private owners.

  21. 21.

    blondie

    May 17, 2009 at 9:31 am

    I think Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird are both good for racing – RA is exciting to watch and has the potential to attract casual fans this season, while MTB could boost the sport for years if he keeps running. One of the (many) problems racing faces as a business is that every year it has to start building loyalty all over again with each new crop of 3-year-olds. Think about how football/baseball/basketball fans would respond if each year they had to learn about all the players on the teams they follow, and they couldn’t even go back to individuals’ performances on previous teams. They’d throw up their hands in disgust and walk away.

  22. 22.

    pdbuttons

    May 18, 2009 at 2:41 am

    how about pray-jean?
    just a boy toy dressed lean
    who is being mean?

  23. 23.

    pdbuttons

    May 18, 2009 at 2:54 am

    balloons don’t have juice
    they helium fly away
    then comes ur excuse

  24. 24.

    pdbuttons

    May 18, 2009 at 3:00 am

    i’m going 4 bobby orr

    farrah fawcett said
    after her lawyer was dead
    more money to spread

  25. 25.

    pdbuttons

    May 18, 2009 at 3:02 am

    iffn’ u don’t know me/
    everytime time i try to…say sumtin
    on a site
    mmm/ and every time i time time get three whack-a doo’s
    in a row i say..
    bobby orr

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Reagan years: A contrarian’s view « Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub says:
    June 4, 2009 at 2:32 am

    […] Is the Wingularity nigh? […]

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