Although, I didn't place any bets this this year, my Dad and I had our annual ritual of watching the Breeders Cup today. All the focus was on the quest of Zenyatta to finish her career at an unbelievable 20-0. That race was the Classic and it actually lived up to the hype.

In typical fashion, ABC took the first two hours of coverage until 3:30, when ESPN would take over. Except for one thing. Michigan couldn't stop Illinois and vice versa, so we had to watch 3 overtimes to determine that Big Ten football winner. Then 22 minutes later, it was the Juvies almost finishing their post parade before they switched. Geez, horse racing always gets the shaft. I remember once the Travers, the Summer Derby, getting shuffled around because a Little League World Series game was rain-delayed. WTF? Maybe it's the dearth of non-US companies paying the freight of advertising of this event. Except for Sentient Jet, it was Fly Emirates and Grey Goose all day. Where is Budweiser?

Anyhow, there was some excitement before the big race, but not a whole lot. No jockey fights today! And, really, how hard is it to break up a jockey fight?

The Juvie Turf was won by Pluck. That was good, because I got to say, "Oh, Pluck!" after the win. They had to euthanize Rough Sailing after she slid into the first turn.

In the Sprint, it was one of those rare ones, when it was over early. Big Drama rolled wire-to-wire in that one. Give it up for the old master, D. Wayne Lukas. He got a winner of a claiming race last out into a second-place finish.

The BC Turf Sprint



I liked Bridgetown in the Turf Sprint and thought he had it in the bag. Central City on the hedge to his inside moved toward him a bit, and he got all discombobulated. Chamberlain Bridge picked up the pieces.

The BC Juvenile



My Dad picked Uncle Mo in the Juvenile. Look out. This is your early Derby favorite. Just an awesome move to win it. Notice how far the top 2 finishers are from the rest of the field. Stay Thirsty was also in this one.

Next up was the Mile. Goldikova won that race for the third time in a row. That's never been done before.

The Turf Mile had the longest shot of the day, Dakota Phone, hitting the board.

The BC Turf



The Turf was kind of a weird race. Not many greats here and no one wanted the lead. So, it was basically Champ Pegasus and Dangerous Midge going out for a ride. They were 1-2 the whole way, with Dangerous Midge and Frankie Dettori moving up to get the win late for a nice $172 exacta. This race was won at the 1:15 mark. Watch Rosario on Champ Pegasus give a peek behind him. That signalled to me that he realized he was sitting on a pokey pace and that he had a lot of horse and might win on the lead. Note how Dettori pushes the pace down the backstretch and both Champ Pegasus and Dangerous Midge start to separate from the field. Just a terrific tactical race from two of the longer shots in the field. That's why they call it gambling.

The BC Classic



Watching the coverage, it was definitely The Zenyatta Hour of Power. My God, Steve Cyphers was assigned Barry Bonds duty and had to watch her all day. Where she stood around and ate grass for the most part. My Dad wondering if we would get updates if she took a shit. So, it's very easy to get cynical about her.

As for the race, we were both all over Blame. Zenyatta had so many strikes against her. A better field than last year's Classic. She hadn't raced east hardly at all. She ran mostly on synthetic surfaces. And her running style of laying back and just getting to the wire at the end is tough to do, but she does it all the time. You have to figure some time, somewhere, some horse will beat her. Today, we thought it was Blame's turn.

And, as it turned out, we were right. But the charge of Zenyatta coming like a train at the wire and not getting the win this time just sucked the air, not just out of the room or Churchill Downs, but the whole world of racing. I can't tell you how many times in horse racing over the past several years (or couple of decades), when the Triple Crown is on the line or horses with huge winning streaks like Cigar are reaching for history, they all seem to fail.

Even a cynic like me, after that ending in the Classic, decided it would have been not only a good thing, but a great thing, if she had won. And it sure would have made a helluva movie.

Now she'll have to perhaps settle for just being the best filly ever. And, in today's world, probably disappear faster then you can say her name.

Recaps are here.

Meal of Links

Hitch firmly believes there needs to be cancer etiquette. "So I get straight to the point and say what the odds are. The swiftest way of doing this is to note that the thing about Stage Four is that there is no such thing as Stage Five."

Growth and trends of online spending. It's the way to go.

Response to LeBron James Ad



I'm sure we all did this today. Turn back your clocks and change smoke alarm batteries. Actually, I did my battery thing last week. And, obviously have synchronized my time devices already.

Berkeley Breathed talks about everything. Hard to believe it's been 21 years since "Bloom County" ended.

Studying Mexican Coke. This is now starting to show up at Giant Eagle for one dolla. Love that bottle.

I know I shouldn't have, but when David Cross stumbled upon the deaf tour of the House of Parliament in the season finale of "Todd Margaret", I loved it. One guy actually threw a shoe at him. I believe the line was, "Sir, these people are deaf, not retarded."

Exercise Yard

Windy says the Hornets showed the NBA the blueprint for beating the Heat. I'll be at the Cavs-Nets game on Wednesday. (Hat tip to Paul)

Visitor

33 Across: 16-time Gold Glove winning pitcher Jim (4 letters) Answer: Kaat