Today is always one of the best days of the year. The men in my family came over for another viewing of The Breeders Cup. This event now incorporates two days of racing. Friday is for the ladies, Saturday is for the Men. So, we men watched six hours of horse racing from Santa Anita, where it was a nice 92 degrees with no fires locally.

Didn't bet this year, as I really had watched very little racing since the Triple Crown and hardly read anything this week. But the juices got flowing while watching some races a few weeks ago and I suggested we put the big TV to work today. The broadcast was split between ABC and ESPN. My God, ABC's bass was working terribly. I could not figure out if this was a Channel 5 problem, an ABC problem, or a Time Warner Cable issue. Anyhow, the sound was incredibly bad and I could not wait for 3:30 to come around to see the rest of the races on ESPN. The sound issue went away, thank goodness, on ESPN. But that sound issue remained a problem throughout the Michigan-Michigan State and Ohio State-Penn State games on ABC, so I have no idea who was at the switch.

Since the racing was from Santa Anita, we get Trevor Denman and his "Away they go." calls. he did a much better job this year. And even without wagering, you get to see the most unique venue for a race in the States. And that is the turf course at Santa Anita where they employ the hill. When they start the race on TV, you don't even think you're watching a race from the same course. It's almost like "over the river and through the woods" racing. They used it for one race today, a 6-1/2 furlong sprint on the grass, where Richard Migliore, "The Mig", won on Desert Code:

Breeders Cup Turf Sprint



Later on, of course, they asked Frankie Dettori, a European jockey, about the difference between American grass and European grass, where I always get to reply: "I'd say it's less harsh." Oh, we said many jokes today.

Here's Frankie leaping after one of his two wins:



























You know, in his younger days, Dettori used to really get up in the air on these, where it could be legitimately called a flying dismount. Looking at this picture, it looks goofy, as if he tripped getting out of the saddle or something. Hopefully, it's the camera angle. I fear it is age creeping in, however.

Since it was near Hollywood, we saw: Kurt Russell, Dennis Hopper, Turtle, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Bo Derek (still gettin' it done, BTW), Ahnold, Gary Player, Stacy Kiebler, the All-Star Buglers (with "Bohemian Rhapsody" before a call to the post) to name a few.

But we had lots of fun this year and hope to attend Churchill two years from now. Hell, it's back in Santa Anita next year and hey, let's think about that one, while we're at it.

Meal of Links

Halloween candy is purchased. Here is the list:

Butterfinger
100 Grand
Milky Way
Dark Chocolate 3 Musketeers with Mint
Snickers

Speaking of Halloween. Try your hand at Cat Bowling.

Sarah Palin is a "diva". That quote comes from the McCain camp, incidentally.

Check out O'Reilly's Electoral Map. Hahahahahahahahaha!

Unlimited solar power. Wouldn't that be nice. Somehow cheap and easy to implement sounds good, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Exercise Yard

This is what makes boxing so interesting, you never know. ShoBox had a fight on last night with a finish that looked very fishy.

The ref explains himself.



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