Preakness Blues

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the friendly commenter who doesn't appreciate horse racing (imagine being called a moron on your own blog!) I must say I am completely bummed. I was rooting for Brother Derek in today's Preakness with the thought that if Barbaro won I could still be happy with possible Triple Crown thoughts. Unfortunately, neither was meant to be. Brother Derek, in Daily Racing Form speak, "failed to fire" (it's hard to beat the Form for concise, sensical writing) and poor Barbaro broke his ankle in two places after a fractious post parade and a surprising false start (the magnets that hold the starting gate closed are pretty strong-a horse has to hit it hard to get out before the start) .

Now as any racing fan knows (and the Pimlico entertainment guy somewhat callously said in the Winner's Circle) it happens. You can't have all that rushing power going so fast without some element of danger. I am hard pressed to think of any other sport where the ambulance follows the participants around as they compete. Any breakdown is bad and tragic for the connections (I clearly remember the first I witnessed-High Crest was his name) but it always seems worse when it happens in the big races. When you have lots of people watching who don't normally it feels worse because the showcase is ruined.

I hope that Barbaro is able to recover and that any people possibly put off by today's events give racing another try. I can assure you that's the exception, not the rule.