A horse, a horse -- my kingdom for a horse!

The Iowa Festival of Racing has come and gone, and still, I haven't made up my mind about Prairie Meadows. Numerous visits to the track, on race days big (KY Derby day, the Iowa Festival of Racing featuring the G2 Cornhusker) and small (a rainy stakes-free Friday night), have sparked neither enthusiasm nor venom here at the Quinella Castle. I'm still trying to find the best words to describe Prairie Meadows, and all I'm coming up with is: well, it's ... ok.

First impressions are that it's a prettier track than Mountaineer. No one needs to carry in their own lawn chairs as Mountaineer regulars do, for here in Iowa, rows and rows of benches cover the apron. Tricked up with red benches and crisp white paddock fences, one senses echoes of Saratoga, but a Saratoga without trees or hills -- or a turf course.



When racing actually begins, however, you come to realize that, as elsewhere in Iowa, there's no slope here. Watching the race outdoors is tough, even from the deck area, where a viewer seated at one of the tables is unable to see the field around either turn. Pretty much, if you're outside, you'll miss much of the action, unless you point your eyes towards the Jumbotron, because the apron is flat, flat, flat. (Iowans seem to believe that their state has contours throughout. "Iowa is not flat. Now, Nebraska, Nebraska is flat!" they tell me. However as a transplant from the hills of Western Pennsylvania, I beg to differ.)

I might also note that if I wanted to watch a race on a screen -- I'd stay home.

That said, what I'm finding I miss most is, of all things, a horse. Perhaps you know what I mean: that horse you cheer for, whether the odds are 30-1 or 4-5. That horse you tell your friends about, even though it's never mentioned in those articles in the Daily Racing Form or Thoroughbred Times. That horse like Lady Grace or Chelsea's Grey Boy or Punk -- former Mountaineer runners all -- who somehow surfaces on your radar and makes you smile every time you see its name in the entries.

That horse who lands in your Virtual Stable -- and your heart -- and never quite leaves.

So far, I've not found such a horse at Prairie Meadows. Which is rather surprising, considering how much local media coverage Prairie Meadows receives. Dan Johnson at the Des Moines Register posts picks for every race, and there is periodic coverage in the Register of leading trainers like Lynn Chleborad (who at one point, was claiming horses on a credit card) and owners like Dennis Albaugh and Jason Loutsch (who spent a cool quarter of a million to breed Miss Macy Sue to A.P.Indy.)

Despite the bounty of media buzz, I've yet to find that special horse who captures my imagination and won't let go.

Meanwhile, this past weekend at Mountaineer, two Quinella Castle favorites returned to the WV track. Beautiful Venue, who set a Mountaineer record for 1 mile 70 yards on turf in 2007 was back in Mountaineer's Firecracker Stakes. Her last victory was a surprise win over Equispace favorite, La Chica Rica, in a Mountaineer allowance.

Periodically, Beautiful Venue ventures south to Keeneland where she generally seems to run hard but falters in the stretch. She's never been completely embarrassed in Bluegrass country, though I've yet to see her win at Lexington. Nonetheless, she always looks pretty in the post parade.

(The proof: this photo of Beautiful Venue waiting to load in the 2007 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland. Facing the likes of Vacare, Precious Kitten, and Lady of Venice, she went off at 99-1, finishing 6 of 9, and beating Ermine in the process.)

This weekend, she faced Lindelaan, a Christophe Clement trainee, who beat her last time out in the Decoration Day stakes at Mountaineer. Third place finisher in the Decoration Day, Si Si Mon Amie, returned as well to go off as the 1-1 post-time favorite.

Though the final time for the race was 1:39, we paid little attention to the clock once Beautiful Venue, ridden by Rex Stokes, caught Hungry Tigress in the stretch and -- finished first by nearly two lengths.

Later in the first running of the Dale Baird Memorial Stakes, our beloved Bernie Blue returned to the dirt after a sad outing on Presque Isle's Tapeta surface. Favorite Trust or Bust was getting all the publicity, entering the race on a five-race win streak, but with a nine pound advantage, one could hope that 7-yo Bernie might make it back to the winner's circle one more time, right?

One could hope, indeed. Trust or Bust faltered at the top of the stretch behind front-running Run Brother Ron, and Bernie Blue drew off to win by 4 lengths, earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, and topping a $153 exacta with longshot Wise Answer.

Lovely victories both -- all the more sweet because these longtime runners seem like old friends. Victories we savored here at the Quinella Castle, though both are relatively lacking in news value. It seems that there is joy to be had in the seemingly insignificant, and tracks might consider highlighting this value periodically. While the industry media do a fine job of following the stories of the superhorses, news about these hard-knocking runners is sorely lacking. Racinos especially might consider telling the tales of the unsung veterans going to post at their tracks. After all, they have websites -- and surely the story of a favorite local runner can be as interesting as the description of a slot machine?

Racinos like Mountaineer, Prairie Meadows, Presque Isle, and likely a host of other tracks, have long had this mysterious "night racing" that Churchill Downs has so recently discovered. While the industry now cheers this startling innovation, trackgoers who frequent these smaller venues can smile to themselves, having long ago learned the joys of sunset on the rail. The beer tastes better after dark, the wins are sweeter, and the world beyond the track lights drifts away. Troubles of the day are gone, blown away by cool evening breezes -- and yes, by the hopes pinned on a familiar name in the 9th.

While it's nice to see large crowds visiting the track in the evening, I'm hoping the next big thing in horse racing might just be ... the horse!

The crowd for the 2009 Cornhusker Handicap

Royale Michele goes to the post

Royale Michele, once a Mountaineer regular, now a G-2 winner, goes to the post in the Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct today on Saturday. Secret Gypsy and Zada Belle look like the ones to beat, but homesick as I am, I can't help it: Go Michele!! Here's hoping she makes it 5 in a row.

(You can find past performances for the race at Todd Pletcher's site: look for Awesome Ashley or Distorted Passion to find the Ultimate PPs from Brisnet.)

Royalty on the move

As many readers know, in late November, the Quinella Castle packed up the ole bookmobile and moved to Iowa. There's been a lot of adapting going on 'round here, and a few expected periodic bouts of homesickness when we yearn to see familiar faces -- or a hill on the horizon.

What has been unexpected is just how much we miss good old Mountaineer, our one-time local track. As we've spent the past few months hunkering down under wicked prairie winds and the weight (wait?) of dark days at our new local track, Prairie Meadows, I've found myself:

• watching Mountaineer replays on Calracing, just to hear Peter Berry's lovely Australian intonations echo off the West Virginia hills.


• visiting the Prairie Meadows OTB just to watch the fabulous team of Mountaineer simulcast hosts Mark Patterson and Nancy McMichaels share insights into each and every race at the Mountain. (In my admittedly unscientific observations, Nancy hits at least one trifecta a night, and Mark's explanations of his selections are truly educational.)


• anxiously following the HANA rankings in hopes that Mountaineer might fare better than I expect. Sadly my guy Mountie didn't make the top 20. I'm not surprised, what with Mountie's rather high takeout and pedestrian wagering options, but golly, a girl can hope.

Now that I'm a Mountaineer ex-pat of sorts, I find my virtual stable full of horses that, like me, visited Mountaineer a time or two before galloping off to challenges far from the West Virginia Panhandle. So it was that this weekend, while others discussed Chocolate Candy and Evita Argentina, my attention was focused on Royale Michele, winner of Mountaineer's New Year's Eve Stakes, who shipped off to Maryland and won the Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park.

Formerly trained by Todd Pletcher, Royale Michele landed at Mountaineer and the barn of Matthew Kintz last fall, where the four year old filly clicked off three wins in a row for her new trainer. With no stakes on the Mountaineer schedule until May, and the usual trials of wild and not so wonderful West Virginia winters, Kintz chose to ship to Laurel early enough for a Feb 6 work on the track.

“We were having difficulty training at home with the weather there and I’m glad we came down early,” Kintz said. “I’m very pleased with the way she worked, very pleased with the condition of the racetrack.” (Bloodhorse)

Afterwards, Kintz remarked:

"Geovany [Garcia] rode her race as we discussed it. I thought the race might unfold that way and she ran a phenomenal race." (Bloodhorse)

Some might disagree by noting that Royale Michele's race was not so much phenomenal as fortunate. Some might observe that but for an awkward start by favorite Seventh Street -- who reared in the gate and trailed the field until gamely closing in the stretch for second -- Royale Michele would not be a GII winner.

But you'll not hear that sort of talk here, where I'm finding it rather comforting to quote Matthew Kintz, whose name graces so many of my old Mountaineer programs. Nope, here at the Castle, we'll simply delight in Royale Michele's victory in a contest where she ran her race while far from home ... as we try to do the same.

Punk rocks on at Mountaineer

Recently I attended the American Library Association’s annual conference in Washington DC. And then I dropped off the face of the blogging world, as I am apparently the only person on earth who can attend a library conference and get hurt. All I’ll say is: 1 glass of absurdly overpriced chardonnay + 1 absurdly high curb cut in D.C. = 1 bruised and battered librarian + $500 worth of chiropractic treatments. Typing hurts. Standing hurts. Sitting hurts. Sleeping hurts. Even reading hurts.

But the Quinella Queen is nothing if not intrepid. So on Saturday, after consuming an odd remedy involving a bottle of sparkling zinfandel and some pineapple juice,* I agreed with the King that a trip to the track was just what the doctor ordered. OK, actually it’s what I would have ordered if I were a doctor.

Despite our late start, we made it to Mountaineer before the first race, though we weren’t early enough to get our favorite table. Still, we had time to handicap the first race, a $5000 Maiden Claimer. These can be sad affairs at Mountaineer, and this appeared to be the case on Saturday. The lineup included Six Pants, an unraced 7-year old horse (not gelding!) who scratched, Hope’s Trail, who received a –0 Beyer in his last two races, and Sandy’s K.O., whose 28 Beyer was stellar for the group.

Also entered was Punk, a 10-year old gelding with 68 starts -- and, yes, still a maiden. I made a mental note to mention this to Valerie, the blogger at Foolish Pleasure, whose search for the oldest current maiden has uncovered 69-time loser, Four Acres. Punk’s record was a tad better than that of Four Acres, with 12 second place finishes and 10 thirds. And based on that record, I even threw some money on a place bet on old Punk, who went off as the fourth favorite in a nine horse field. What the heck, it was the first race.

A minute later, I found out that “Punk” is a fun word to yell, especially when a perpetual maiden is making his move in the stretch right in front of you -- and you know he has second. And when he pounds ahead of the leader right before the wire, "Punk" can become a shocking, exhilarating word to say after the phrase, “And the winner is…”

Punk
B. g 1997
Uncas Chief - Pretty Two (Plugged Nickle)
69 starts, 1 win, 12 places, 10 shows

Thanks, Punk, for paying for the beer on Saturday. It was just what the doctor ordered.

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* This was, sadly, one of our poorer entries in The Quest for a Quinella Quocktail. Don’t try this at home.

The poetry of the past performance lines

The King and I are off to Belmont today; we're taking a long route that should get us to the Big Sandy for the first race on Saturday. Belmont is where I discovered racing. It's where I cashed my very first ticket -- a quinella, of course -- with Madonna Lily and Judy Soda.

And it's where Ruffian is buried.

On Saturday, ABC will air Ruffian, having reached some sort of agreement with Frank Whiteley and Jacinto Vasquez, who filed suit to have the station show a disclaimer indicating that the movie is a fictionalized version of true events and that the depictions of trainer Whiteley and jockey Vasquez have not been approved by them.

Nonetheless, viewers will tune in, and DRF's Jay Hovdey reports they'll be treated to "an agonizingly accurate re-creation of the impact and subsequent compound fracture, not to mention a graphic depiction of the injury's immediate aftermath, courtesy of some inspired horse wrangling." (DRF+)

I'd suggest those who aren't fond of "agonizingly accurate" breakdowns pick up a book instead. Ruffian: A Racetrack Romance by William Nack, published by ESPN last month in connection with the film, is a quick read that captures the filly's charisma with lush prose, as when Nack enumerates some of his memories:

"I saw the way she came to the paddock for the Astoria, so clearly up to no good, moving into the walking ring as through a lobby bar, like some willowy hooker on the make, that black satin dress pulled tight around her full and nearly perfect derriere. And I saw her brilliant final quarter in the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga that cloudy August afternoon, echoes from the ancient reaches of her pedigree, and heard and felt the electric exuberance of the clubhouse crowds, all those fancy breeders and owners, as it crackled like a blue spark up and down the rows of iron girders and box seats."

The book is as much about Nack as Ruffian, and I don't think that the subtitle, "A Racetrack Romance," is an accident; it sounds like he fell for that filly big time. Whether his memories are technically accurate or not doesn't seem to matter; it's clear that the emotion is true.

Of course, to me, the most moving description of Ruffian is undoubtly factual: row after row of 1's, and then, those final, heartbreaking dashes:

The final foal - at Mountaineer

A comment from Michael reminded me that Mountaineer was recently graced by Maggie Slew, the last foal to be sired by Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Michael's been a fan of Maggie for some time, so it is with a twinge of sadness that I offer these photos of her in what's been called "the ugliest paddock on earth." She had post position 9 in the Decoration Day Handicap (Race 3 on 5/28):

Above, you can see the satellite dishes that send the simulcast out to OTBs everywhere. Below, you can see the face of the 2006 Indiana Horse of the Year:


Maggie Slew went off as the favorite in the $75,000 mile turf race. It was her first outing on grass, and it looked to me as if she didn't really like the surface. She finished last in a field of 11. At least she's been the star of an Eclipse award-winning documentary.

Derby runner at Mountaineer

While the world seems full of commentary about a Kentucky Derby winner who's not running in the Belmont Stakes, last Monday the crowd at Mountaineer got to see a Derby winner make his turf debut in Mountaineer's Memorial Day Handicap.

OK, so it was the winner of the Tampa Derby. And the Ohio Derby. That's a G2 - bigger than anything run at Mountaineer; heck, even the wild and wonderful West Virginia Derby is only a G-3!

Of course the Quinella Castle contingent was on hand to cheer for the big-name horse, Deputy Glitters.


Deputy Glitters' connections tapped solid local jockey Scott Spieth for the 1-mile turf race. Even with my camera's snazzy telephoto lens, I couldn't make out what the trainer advised Spieth to do. (In fact, I couldn't even tell if this is Greg Fox, as the magnification seems to mainly magnify my unsteady hand on the shutter.)


While I wouldn't say the fifty or so folks at the paddock seemed unimpressed by him, the crowd was more familiar with Cherokee Prince, winner of last year's Independence Day Stakes at Mountaineer, sending the Prince off as the 2-1 favorite.

I, of course, found this a perfect opportunity to pull out my copy of Pedigree Handicapping by Lauren Stich. Though I yearn to be a true pedigree handicapper, because it appeals to my sentimental, family saga-reading side, in reality, I just don't have a handle on how sires, dams, lineage, stamina, and class all add up.

And apparently even Stich, whose pedigree columns frequently grace the pages of the Daily Racing Form can't help me.

Perhaps it is the lack of an index that makes this book hard for me to use. The entire section devoted to handicapping for 2-year old speed is organized by lineage: Mr. Prospector line, In Reality line, and the Bold Ruler line. An index of horses would guide me to Glitterman in the Bold Ruler line a lot faster than scanning page after page of sires and their offspring. But I suppose these are the kind of things that horseplayers with a lot more experience than me would know.

I was hopeful, though, that Chapter 4, "The Hidden Turf Factor" would come into play in the Mountaineer turf stakes races. Stich writes: "Pedigree handicapping encompasses a wide array of betting angles, but the most lucrative -- by far -- is what I call the hidden turf factor." Basically, a hidden turf sire is one who never raced on turf but was bred to love the grass. As the list of hidden turf sires is organized by stallion, I had no trouble at all learning that both Deputy Glitters' sire, Deputy Commander, and his damsire, Glitterman, are "hidden turf sires." So, of course, I expected Deputy Glitters to do pretty well on the grass, especially at the $75,000 ungraded stakes level.

As the chart says: "Deputy Glitters stalked the pace evenly to the half, abruptly flattened out on the far turn." The race was won by 7-year old Puppeteer. Deputy Glitters finished 9th out of 10 horses in the field. Sigh. I suppose there's something about distance I should know.

And, I'll give Deputy Glitters credit: he ran in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes last year. Didn't do too well, but he did run, unlike some horses I could name.

Shine on, Bright One

Here at the Castle, we use our Derby glasses a lot. I'm rather fond of using them for gin and tonics, while the King prefers one for his whiskey, neat. Sometimes, I'll fill one up with diet Dr. Pepper; it tastes better encased in the names of some winning three-year-olds. Heck, I even use 'em for low-fat vanilla soymilk now and then.

Oh, be still, hearts of julep glass collectors. I'm talking about momentos from the big race in these parts, the West Virginia Derby. Though my glasses aren't worth a hill of beans on ebay, for me, they are valuable reminders of a fine summer day's racing. Holding one, scanning through the names of the 28 colts, 7 geldings, and 3 fillies whose names grace my little souvenir, I'm suddenly at a picnic table near the finish line, winning ticket in my hand. Little matter that there's no Triple Crown winner listed here; these horses came to this small market track -- and ran for us. The least I can do is read their names now and then, and wonder what they're doing now. Sir Shackleton, the 2004 winner is at stud after earning more than a million on the track. Real Dandy, the 2005 winner, recently won the $50,000 Curribot at Sunland.

And last year's winner, Bright One? Over the weekend, he ran in the $225,000 Richter Scale Breeders' Cup Sprint Championship Handicap:

Breaking well for regular rider John Velazquez, Half Ours led for most of the opening quarter mile before settling into second on the outside of Bright One, who set a fast pace under pressure of :21 3/5 and :43 3/5. Half Ours took over at the head of the lane and opened a clear advantage inside the eighth pole as his pace rivals Bright One, Mach Ride and Diabolical gave way....

Bright One, who finished fourth, broke down and was vanned off following the race. According to the Daily Racing Form, Bright One broke the sesamoid bone in his left foreleg and had to be euthanized. --bloodhorse.com

Oh.

So, now, as I sit here sipping watered down Jameson's in my Derby glass, I'm remembering how fine Bright One looked in the paddock last August.(See for yourself at The $2 Window.) I'm remembering how lively and festive our little old West Virginny track felt that day. I'm remembering how sweet it was to watch him lead wire-to-wire.

And I'm finding it terribly sad that he died before his name was engraved on a glass.

Here's to you, Bright One. Thanks for the memories.

Out to pasture

Despite the frequent observations that horse racing seems trapped in tradition, forever looking backward to glory days of yore, it's been my experience that horse racing enthusiasts are far more focused on the future -- the next race in twenty minutes, the next meet, the next Breeders' Cup.

But just for a moment, dear horseplayers, let's pause and reflect as one of the great ones passes by.

Personal Ensign was put out to pasture this week. Of course, she hasn't raced since 1988, when she retired from the track undefeated. Her string of thirteen victories -- eight of them G1s -- was the longest unbeaten winning streak in the U.S. since Colin in 1908. She even took on the boys in the Whitney and beat the mighty Gulch.



She capped off her racing career with one of the most thrilling finishes in Breeder's Cup history, nipping Winning Colors by a nose in the 1988 Distaff. Descriptions of the race show up in Perry Lefko's history of the Breeders' Cup, Thoroughbred Racing's Greatest Day, as well as Mary Simon's Racing Through the Century and Personal Ensign by Bill Heller. And there's a fine retelling online at Thoroughbred Champions.

But for true excitement, I recommend leaving the stacks (gasp!) and visiting the NTRA archives to watch the video replay of the finish.

After retiring from racing, Personal Ensign had a successful career in breeding as well, spawning a Breeders' Cup dynasty of sorts with first My Flag, then My Flag's daughter, Storm Flag Flying, winning the BC Juvenile Fillies. She was named Broodmare of the Year in 1996.

And now, at 22, she's been put out to pasture at Claiborne Farms, where she'll reportedly hang out with a group of other pensioned mares in an equine Red Hat Society that includes Korveya, Narrate, and Arabian Dancer.

So a toast to one of the best, Personal Ensign. May she enjoy a perfect retirement after a perfect career.

Yucatan: Mountaineer winner's Cinderella story

On WV Derby Day, I paid scant attention to Yucatan, a five-year-old Favorite Trick gelding, who won Mountaineer's $125,000 Harvey Arneault Memorial Breeders’ Cup Stakes. His performance in the prep race for the stakes (an allowance on July 18) looked pretty dismal, and even though I suspected the favorite Gaff would disappoint in the 6f race, I looked instead to P. Kerney and Wild Tale for my exacta. (As usual, my picks came in 2nd and 3rd.)

It’s a shame that the Lexington Herald-Leader didn’t publish “Discarded gelding blooms into retirement fund” before the race, because it’s the kind of article that would have led me to root for him to win.

Turns out that Yucatan was sold to a 73-year-old blacksmith and his wife for $1,500 and the cancellation of his shoeing bill. The couple, LeRoy and Sandie Simon, lost everything in a house fire two years ago. Last year, they got Yucatan – and now, they have a three-times stakes winner who’s been in the money 13 times in 21 starts with earnings of more than $300,000.

That must have been some shoeing bill. Maybe glass slippers?

(By the way, you can visit The $2 Window for a photo of Yucatan winning the Harvey Arneault Memorial Breeders' Cup.)

Unsung heroes

Avid readers (yes, all 7 of you**) may recall that my first summer at the track was full of enthusiasm for a $10,000 claimer at Mountaineer who went on a win streak. In the end, my beloved Lady Grace won 5 in a row, her only 2005 loss coming in September to Tempus Fugit in the Summer Finale Stakes. It was an enchanting streak for the 8 year old mare with 11 lifetime wins, made all the more sweet because I first bet her when she was 12-1!

Thus, I read the recent Thoroughbred Times article about the five North American runners who won 9 races each in 2005 with great interest, knowing that these horses must have dedicated fans, too. Les Crime, El Keko, This Man's Darling, Morine's Victory, and Painter's Creek are highlighted in an article that starts by noting that most fans would be hard-pressed to recognize these names.

Yet I did know about El Keko. Why? Because Thistledown, a track I have never visited or bet, has a wonderfully newsy website. After noting the Thistledown roadsign on a holiday trip to Ohio, I checked out the website and was delighted to discover that it is substantially more informative than the web offerings I'm accustomed to from Mountaineer. (Go ahead, visit the Mountaineer site, I'll wait. Count how many horses you see on this site. One. One unnamed horse. Oh, and before you go, turn down the volume on your speakers! The jazzy, casino music can be jarring. While you're there, try finding out who won the West Virginia Senate President's Breeders' Cup Stakes on August 14. It can't be done.)

Thistledown, admittedly, is not a slots palace, so there is only one product for the site to market. Still, for a relatively small track, its website has a lot to offer. Not the least of which is a Year in Review sort of article highlighting the past racing season. It includes a section by track announcer Matt Hook, who announced his Hooky Awards - a sort of Eclipse Award limited to Thistledown. It was here that I first read about El Keko, who had 7 of his 9 wins at Thistledown. Hook really liked him and awarded him the coveted "Grand Hooky" of 2005.

Since there's a decent amount of cross-over between Mountaineer and Thistledown (Top Thistledown jockey Scott Spieth is currently 2nd on Mountaineer's list, and Jeff Radosevich tops the trainer list at both tracks), I had a reason to read through the Thistledown news. But shouldn't all tracks be doing something like this? They've all got websites; why not use it to interest new visitors in the horses and people, as well as the gambling? For tracks that are not covered in DRF, let alone the local newspaper, why not have an informative website and e-mail newsletter subscriptions? How much could it cost?

In all fairness to my home track, Mountaineer's website does offer a great live audio/video feed (courtesy of youbet.com) when the horses are running. And the track commentators, Mark Patterson and Nancy McMichael, are entertaining as well as informative. But the horses only run four nights a week. What about when an unwitting visitor stumbles across their site on a Wednesday afternoon? There's not much there that couldn't be found (and without that annoying music!) at Equibase. Why not celebrate the local heroes every once in a while?

So let's all lift a martini, or better, a gin-and-tonic to El Keko, This Man's Darling, Morine's Victory, Painter's Creek and Les Crime - 2005's unsung winners.


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** I know this because of a stat counter; Alan has a great post about these over at Left at the Gate.

Another reason to think about cable

With all the speculation on Saturday's San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita, the Risen Star Stakes at Louisiana Downs, and the birth of the first foal from Smarty Jones, I almost missed this article in Thoroughbred Times: ESPN to produce Ruffian movie. The movie's slated for airing in June 2007 in conjunction with the Belmont Stakes coverage.

I never saw Ruffian run, but by all reports she was a something special. She generally blew the doors off of her competion, setting records in 5 of her 10 complete races, winning all 10, often by substantial margins. In her 11th start, a match race with the colt Foolish Pleasure, she broke a leg and, despite heroic efforts to save her, had to be euthanized. Obvioiusly, there's something about her brief but dazzling career that captures the heart of many a racing fan --and a few writers.

While Ruffian: Born to Run by Jane Schwartz tells the grand filly's tale with drama (and a bit of anthromorphism), I prefer the writing in Ruffian: Thoroughbred Legends 13 by Milton Toby.

And one of the best descriptions, though only a few pages in length, can be found in Racing Through the Century by Mary Simon, a fabulous, coffee table-sized book offering an overview of American racing in the 20th century.

And now Ruffian has inspired poetry. I haven't read The Licorice Daughter: My Year with Ruffian by Lyn Lifshin yet, so I certainly can't comment on the book, but there are excerpts of the poems in an article from the Lexington Herald-Leader on the author's website at www.lynlifshin.com, if you're curious. I gotta admit, poetry might be the best way to talk about such a charismatic filly.

Of course, film may just be the best medium for bringing Ruffian's compelling story to the mainstream. I've never seen an ESPN movie, so I don't know what quality to expect, but as I sit here in my new Ruffian raglan, I'm thinking ... maybe I should get cable before 2007.

A match made in heaven...

It's the 50th anniversary of the famed 1955 match race between Nashua and Swaps, and bloodhorse.com marks the day with excerpts from Nashua: Thoroughbred Legends #8 and Swaps: Thoroughbred Legends #14. Though Swaps beat Nashua in the Kentucky Derby that year, Nashua took the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Match races were still fairly popular in the '5os, and the classic elements of well-bred Easterner (Nashua) vs. upstart Westerner (Swaps) had the public clamoring for the match.

Both were great horses, with Nashua named Horse of the Year for 1955 and Swaps, Horse of the Year for 1956. Both set or equaled nine track records. Both earned some pretty big bucks. Both are in the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame.

One might say they were "well-matched." And they only raced each other twice: the Kentucky Derby and the match race.

Surely, if you want to know who won the match race, you'll go visit Bloodhorse or the Louisville Courier-Journal to find the answer.

Yes, it's that wily librarian trick of pointing you to the resources, but empowering you by letting you use them yourselves. We're good that way.

Champions - for a year

While sipping a gin and tonic from my brand-new WV Derby souvenir glass, my thoughts have turned to the fleeting nature of fame and success. The glass lists all of the previous WV Derby winners. While the 2004 winner, Sir Shacklton, just recently came in 3rd in the Whitney at Saratoga, most of the other past winners are a mystery to me. What kind of careers have they had since their day in the sun in West Virginia?

Such musings have deepened my appreciation of the book
Champions: The Lives, Times, and Past Performances of the 2oth Century's Greatest Thoroughbreds, published by DRF Press in 2000. The editors of the Daily Racing Form present a decade-by-decade overview of thoroughbred racing complete with photos -- and past performance records for hundreds of champion horses, in alphabetical order. All of the "big names" of the 1900's are here: Triple Crown winners, Breeder's Cup winners, and crowd favorites. They're all here: Kelso, John Henry, Whirlaway, Man O'War, Seabiscuit, Affirmed, Personal Ensign (with only wins to her record!), and Lady's Secret. Their lives reduced to numbers, yes, but oh, what numbers they are.

Though the connective essays are well-written, for me, the most moving part of the book was page 278. There was the brief, fiery career of Ruffian, possibly the greatest filly ever, laid out in simple black-and-white. And across the page, on 279, is the lengthy and impressive career of Secretariat.

I lift my shiny new Derby glass to two of the best.