One to Go, and Other Things
My life (and LiveJournal) were on hold for a little while there since school went through the roof in crazy factor, but I'm mostly back now, I think. Anyways, I've got a million things to rant about, and I haven't done any good ranting in some time. So, today on the menu: exams, summer plans, Big Brown's Preakness chances, the Eight Belles scandal (or lack thereof - and also Chelokee), and more on Curlin because... duh.
Right, then. Exams. During school time, I wrote an exam in each French, English and Humanities, and now I'm done the exam-week nonsense of Calculus II and Chemistry NYA. Tuesday's Physics NYB exam is coming faster than a freight train, but it seems like it can't come fast enough. Crazy, huh? We dread exams, and the days until summer vacation just crawl along. Kind of a weird paradox. Anyhow, today's chem exam was supremely, gloriously, mercifully easy. The only thing I wasn't sure about wasn't even on the damned thing, so I was freaking thrilled. Plus my teacher gave us all Kit-Kats. =3 'Cause she's that cool. Calculus, on the other hand, was a nightmare. It was disgustingly hard - I even talked to the people I know in the Honours Science program, and they were freaking out about how hard it was. So, uh... as long as I got above 48% on the exam, I passed the course (probably above average, too XD), and that's all I can ask. (Yes, I did do that particular calculation... but come on, who doesn't?) And basically my R-score is salvaged by Humanities and English (98 and 97 averages, respectively) anyway.
So now I'm just waiting for stupid physics to roll around. I'll be just fine, I think, since my physics average currently stands higher than both chem and cal. Plus they give us all the equations. After that's over, it's SUMMERTIME and the living is frickin' easy.
AND during the summer, I've got big things planned. Well, not that big, but big deals for moi, because they could include a trip to Saratoga Race Course for the Whitney Handicap (=DDDDDDDDDD) and possibly Kentucky to visit my family and, of course, the millions of horse farms around there including the Kentucky Horse Park (CIGAR FTW!).
Liek W00T.
Now on to the horse-rant bit of the journal. C=
Tomorrow Big Brown will go off as the overwhelming favourite to keep his record unblemished and win the Preakness Stakes. His morning line odds are 1-2, for goodness sake. Not 2-1. 1-2. And Behindatthebar (third choice and considered one of the biggest upset chances, as he did win the Lexington Stakes last time out) just got scratched after a bruise was discovered in his foot. Earlier in the week, Recapturetheglory - who far outperformed my expectations for him in the Kentucky Derby by finishing a very, very impressive fifth, and who Steph can't quite get over using as the butt of YOUR MOM jokes for whatever reason - and Harlem Rocker - a brilliant young Canadian-bred who's bypassing the Preakness in favour of the Canadian Triple Crown - were declared out of the race.
Just to give the uninformed a vague idea of the vastly overmatched field... the 8-1 second choice, Gayego? He finished 17th of 20 in the Kentucky Derby.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WHAT? Is this supposed to intimidate the horse who, according to certain speed figures, ran the fastest Kentucky Derby in history? Honestly, unless one of the longshots is Curlin reincarnate and Big Brown bounces to the moon... nobody's got a shot at derailing this Triple Crown candidate until he moves into New York.
That's right, until he moves into New York. Because, damn, am I ever looking forward to the apparent match race between Big Brown and Casino Drive, the Japanese invader and half-sibling to the past two Belmont winners. Yup, that's right. He's a half to both Jazil and Rags to Riches, and if he wins the Belmont, he'll become his dam's third straight Belmont champ. Actually, I believe he's 3/4 to Jazil. *shrug* WHATEVS, it's still cool.
In other, less cheerful news, most of you probably know about the pair of injuries that occured on the Kentucky Oaks and Derby days. On the Oaks undercard, the brilliant up-and-comer Chelokee dislocated one of his ankles and was driven off the track in an equine ambulance. He's stable now, and his chances for survival and a stud career appear to be good, but it sure as Hell gave Michael Matz, the trainer of both the ill-fated Barbaro and Chelokee, one heckuva heart attack.
And then, as the Kentucky Derby field was galloping out, Eight Belles, fresh from her game second-place finish, collapsed when both her front legs broke underneath her. There were 150,000 people in the crowd that day and millions more watching on NBC as she was euthanized on the track. Naturally, everybody went completely berzerk and people who have no idea what they're talking about starting pointing fingers, and yelling at each other like idiots.
Let's get some things straight right now, you PETA morons:
1. Gabriel Saez should not be suspended for over-using the whip, because he didn't. Yes, he used the whip in deep stretch when it was clear there was no way he was catching Big Brown for the win. You want to know why? Watch replays of all of Belles' races: she consistently drifts dangerously towards the rail. Now, which is worse? A few strokes of the whip, or a nice impaling courtesy of pointy bits on the rail? That's what I thought.
2. Larry Jones is the last trainer on the face of the planet who would use drugs. Just because Eight Belles was a big horse doesn't mean she was on steroids, and like I said, Jones is one of the best horsemen in the business. When he heard he was being accused of doping up his filly, he went straight to the officials and requested that a drug test be included in the necropsy. Good on you, man. Shame on you, everyone else.
3. Not every animal-related accident (and that's what this was, you twats) is your business. Stop jumping into other people's tragedies and begging for coins, because it's not attractive. Actually, it's downright insulting. Do your research and inform yourselves before using these occurences to your advantage - the NTRA has a charity dedicated specifically to equine health and safety, the Jockey Club has a committee just for figuring out new ways to make the sport safer, big names like Curlin's owner Jess Jackson are already lobbying for radical changes such as making the Triple Crown for four-year-olds, and synthetic tracks are getting installed left and right. So shut up, your demands are not brand-new concepts, geniuses.
4. I'm sure there's more I could rant about on this particular issue. But I'll shut up now.
Okay, 'nother mood change. Although I'm still ranting and raving, just not about death and such horrible things. CURLIN! W00t. Yes. Awesome.
On Derby Day, Curlin literally walked the red carpet at Churchill Downs as 150,000 fans watched and applauded. To me, it looked as though racing's newest hero had been born, and he couldn't have looked better with his ears twitching and eyes bright. He probably thought he was there to run, the big gorgeous boy. I can only imagine his comical disappointment when he was led back to his stall.
In any case, what I want to address right now is an apparently perennial general comparison that keeps getting drawn between Secretariat and Curlin. More specifically, I want to address the freak-out defensive Big Red fans that can't stop themselves from throwing themselves at those who dare draw the comparison with such brilliant commentary as "I canot believe you are callig Curlin "The Next Big Red"!! I dont EVER recall the great Secretariat being beaten by a filly!!" Okay, number one, I do have to point out exactly how the words "cannot" and "calling" were spelled, not to mention the total disregard for the rules of punctuation, because I'm anal that way. BUT moving on.
Just before the Triple Crown last year, I read a blog. It was the first place I ever came across the comparison between the great Secretariat and the relatively unknown Curlin, and you should have read the comments. Man, did the guy ever take some heat for that little opinion! And then he equaled the race record in the Preakness and delivered one of the wildest Belmont stretch runs in history in tandem with Rags to Riches. Of course, that race also spawned such criticism as our stunningly deep-minded friend I quoted up there can supply... but let's not forget that Secretariat was also beaten by a nobody horse named Onion during his legendary career, for goodness' sake.
But that's not my point. My point stands thus: the people bold enough to make the connection between the two giant, beautiful horses are growing in number and in audacity, and the arguments against it grow weaker with every race... Hell, every workout Curlin runs. And his next big pow-wow is going down on June 14th in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Funny thing: they've got four weeks, and the Churchill stewards are having the hardest time rustling up a field for the race. Everybody's fleeing the scene all at once, and Suddenly the Pimlico Special became very popular indeed. Speaking of which, GO GRASSHOPPER GO! Ooh, ooh, and Temporary Saint to fill the exacta. I've got such a soft spot for him.... I'm gonna go watch it soon. =D
Queenie.... OUT.
Right, then. Exams. During school time, I wrote an exam in each French, English and Humanities, and now I'm done the exam-week nonsense of Calculus II and Chemistry NYA. Tuesday's Physics NYB exam is coming faster than a freight train, but it seems like it can't come fast enough. Crazy, huh? We dread exams, and the days until summer vacation just crawl along. Kind of a weird paradox. Anyhow, today's chem exam was supremely, gloriously, mercifully easy. The only thing I wasn't sure about wasn't even on the damned thing, so I was freaking thrilled. Plus my teacher gave us all Kit-Kats. =3 'Cause she's that cool. Calculus, on the other hand, was a nightmare. It was disgustingly hard - I even talked to the people I know in the Honours Science program, and they were freaking out about how hard it was. So, uh... as long as I got above 48% on the exam, I passed the course (probably above average, too XD), and that's all I can ask. (Yes, I did do that particular calculation... but come on, who doesn't?) And basically my R-score is salvaged by Humanities and English (98 and 97 averages, respectively) anyway.
So now I'm just waiting for stupid physics to roll around. I'll be just fine, I think, since my physics average currently stands higher than both chem and cal. Plus they give us all the equations. After that's over, it's SUMMERTIME and the living is frickin' easy.
AND during the summer, I've got big things planned. Well, not that big, but big deals for moi, because they could include a trip to Saratoga Race Course for the Whitney Handicap (=DDDDDDDDDD) and possibly Kentucky to visit my family and, of course, the millions of horse farms around there including the Kentucky Horse Park (CIGAR FTW!).
Liek W00T.
Now on to the horse-rant bit of the journal. C=
Tomorrow Big Brown will go off as the overwhelming favourite to keep his record unblemished and win the Preakness Stakes. His morning line odds are 1-2, for goodness sake. Not 2-1. 1-2. And Behindatthebar (third choice and considered one of the biggest upset chances, as he did win the Lexington Stakes last time out) just got scratched after a bruise was discovered in his foot. Earlier in the week, Recapturetheglory - who far outperformed my expectations for him in the Kentucky Derby by finishing a very, very impressive fifth, and who Steph can't quite get over using as the butt of YOUR MOM jokes for whatever reason - and Harlem Rocker - a brilliant young Canadian-bred who's bypassing the Preakness in favour of the Canadian Triple Crown - were declared out of the race.
Just to give the uninformed a vague idea of the vastly overmatched field... the 8-1 second choice, Gayego? He finished 17th of 20 in the Kentucky Derby.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WHAT? Is this supposed to intimidate the horse who, according to certain speed figures, ran the fastest Kentucky Derby in history? Honestly, unless one of the longshots is Curlin reincarnate and Big Brown bounces to the moon... nobody's got a shot at derailing this Triple Crown candidate until he moves into New York.
That's right, until he moves into New York. Because, damn, am I ever looking forward to the apparent match race between Big Brown and Casino Drive, the Japanese invader and half-sibling to the past two Belmont winners. Yup, that's right. He's a half to both Jazil and Rags to Riches, and if he wins the Belmont, he'll become his dam's third straight Belmont champ. Actually, I believe he's 3/4 to Jazil. *shrug* WHATEVS, it's still cool.
In other, less cheerful news, most of you probably know about the pair of injuries that occured on the Kentucky Oaks and Derby days. On the Oaks undercard, the brilliant up-and-comer Chelokee dislocated one of his ankles and was driven off the track in an equine ambulance. He's stable now, and his chances for survival and a stud career appear to be good, but it sure as Hell gave Michael Matz, the trainer of both the ill-fated Barbaro and Chelokee, one heckuva heart attack.
And then, as the Kentucky Derby field was galloping out, Eight Belles, fresh from her game second-place finish, collapsed when both her front legs broke underneath her. There were 150,000 people in the crowd that day and millions more watching on NBC as she was euthanized on the track. Naturally, everybody went completely berzerk and people who have no idea what they're talking about starting pointing fingers, and yelling at each other like idiots.
Let's get some things straight right now, you PETA morons:
1. Gabriel Saez should not be suspended for over-using the whip, because he didn't. Yes, he used the whip in deep stretch when it was clear there was no way he was catching Big Brown for the win. You want to know why? Watch replays of all of Belles' races: she consistently drifts dangerously towards the rail. Now, which is worse? A few strokes of the whip, or a nice impaling courtesy of pointy bits on the rail? That's what I thought.
2. Larry Jones is the last trainer on the face of the planet who would use drugs. Just because Eight Belles was a big horse doesn't mean she was on steroids, and like I said, Jones is one of the best horsemen in the business. When he heard he was being accused of doping up his filly, he went straight to the officials and requested that a drug test be included in the necropsy. Good on you, man. Shame on you, everyone else.
3. Not every animal-related accident (and that's what this was, you twats) is your business. Stop jumping into other people's tragedies and begging for coins, because it's not attractive. Actually, it's downright insulting. Do your research and inform yourselves before using these occurences to your advantage - the NTRA has a charity dedicated specifically to equine health and safety, the Jockey Club has a committee just for figuring out new ways to make the sport safer, big names like Curlin's owner Jess Jackson are already lobbying for radical changes such as making the Triple Crown for four-year-olds, and synthetic tracks are getting installed left and right. So shut up, your demands are not brand-new concepts, geniuses.
4. I'm sure there's more I could rant about on this particular issue. But I'll shut up now.
Okay, 'nother mood change. Although I'm still ranting and raving, just not about death and such horrible things. CURLIN! W00t. Yes. Awesome.
On Derby Day, Curlin literally walked the red carpet at Churchill Downs as 150,000 fans watched and applauded. To me, it looked as though racing's newest hero had been born, and he couldn't have looked better with his ears twitching and eyes bright. He probably thought he was there to run, the big gorgeous boy. I can only imagine his comical disappointment when he was led back to his stall.
In any case, what I want to address right now is an apparently perennial general comparison that keeps getting drawn between Secretariat and Curlin. More specifically, I want to address the freak-out defensive Big Red fans that can't stop themselves from throwing themselves at those who dare draw the comparison with such brilliant commentary as "I canot believe you are callig Curlin "The Next Big Red"!! I dont EVER recall the great Secretariat being beaten by a filly!!" Okay, number one, I do have to point out exactly how the words "cannot" and "calling" were spelled, not to mention the total disregard for the rules of punctuation, because I'm anal that way. BUT moving on.
Just before the Triple Crown last year, I read a blog. It was the first place I ever came across the comparison between the great Secretariat and the relatively unknown Curlin, and you should have read the comments. Man, did the guy ever take some heat for that little opinion! And then he equaled the race record in the Preakness and delivered one of the wildest Belmont stretch runs in history in tandem with Rags to Riches. Of course, that race also spawned such criticism as our stunningly deep-minded friend I quoted up there can supply... but let's not forget that Secretariat was also beaten by a nobody horse named Onion during his legendary career, for goodness' sake.
But that's not my point. My point stands thus: the people bold enough to make the connection between the two giant, beautiful horses are growing in number and in audacity, and the arguments against it grow weaker with every race... Hell, every workout Curlin runs. And his next big pow-wow is going down on June 14th in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Funny thing: they've got four weeks, and the Churchill stewards are having the hardest time rustling up a field for the race. Everybody's fleeing the scene all at once, and Suddenly the Pimlico Special became very popular indeed. Speaking of which, GO GRASSHOPPER GO! Ooh, ooh, and Temporary Saint to fill the exacta. I've got such a soft spot for him.... I'm gonna go watch it soon. =D
Queenie.... OUT.