As The Red Mile's 2015 Grand Circuit came to a conclusion, the historic Round Barn was bathed in Evening's waning light. It has been witness to many a magnificent battle since it was built in 1880 and now, thanks to the efforts and support of numerous great horse people, it stands to host a lot more.
The Grand "Old Man"... the Ron Burke trained/Yannick Gingras driven nine-year-old gelding FOILED AGAIN [Dragon Again - In A Safe Place by Artsplace] is led back to the barn after being beat just THREE lengths won by JK ENDOFANERA [Brett Miller] in 1:48.3m.
The lifetime winner of over $7.1 million paced his mile in 1:49.1...
The 136 Breeders Crown Horses and their Houses in the Sky
We've all heard the hype about not buying "a late foal" BUT let's look at Saturday's Breeders Crown from Canada...
Saturday October 24th @ 6:30pm EST
Signs of the Time... So you're armed with all the times and stats, the breeding, the conformation, the work regimentation, the feed, the drivers, the trainers, even the caretakers BUT you still want that "edge" when you go to the Sales: the foaling dates of the Breeders Crown Winners!
We'll go even one step further for you...
here's their days and the Lucky celebrities as well...
There are five [5] Starters foaled in the January with the earliest being Nvestment Bluechip on the 19th, the birthdate of both Edgar Allen Poe [1809] and Robert E. Lee [1807]
Fifteen [15] Starters arrived in February of which Bee A Magician shares the 1st with Clark Gable..."frankly my Dear, I don't give a damn!"
March produced thirty three [33] foals including Pinkman on the 20th and Mister [Fred] Rogers in 1928... a really nice neighborhood!
It was April Love as the highest number [44] of Starters arrived. Bax of Life appearance on April 16th was also Charlie Chaplin [1889] ... now there's a fella who could throw some steps in!
The warmth of May heralded in twentynine [29] of tonight's Stars as Wakizashi Hanover was foaled on May 1st. Sharing his spotlight is Miss Kate Smith born in 1907... who reminds us "it ain't over `til it's over." No, that was Yogi Berra who said that... also born in May [the 12th]...
And the last but not least of our Cavalcade of Stars were the two [2] the started their careers in June, the lastest of which is Spider Man Hanover on the 12th. That happens to be the foaling date of Jim Nabors in 1930. He would rise to fame as Gomer Pyle... GOLLLLLEEEE!
Howard Beissinger's homebred 1971 Hambletonian winner that he shod his entire 3-year-old Championship Season.
In 1792 with the formation of the 15th State of Kentucky, the upper half became known as The Northwest Territories.
Campaigning at the Grand old tracks such asNarragansett Park, Lincoln Downs, and Spencer Fairgrounds it was rumored that she could cold-pack one with the best of them. Often racing up to six horses with one set of harness and one set of hopples she was never late for a post parade and was usually the very first one off the grounds when the night was done.
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT!
So Mr. Neville... of all the thousands upon thousands of horses you have shod during your 60 plus years of piloting the anvil which horse was the best mannered, best gaited, and the easiest horse to work with?
Rumor has it that they were REALLY surprised when they found that the Restrooms were usually out of order!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!
In an effort to delve deeper into the “magical sign” we contacted the legendary “Gypsy Rose” from Wooon-socket, Rhode Island. Gypsy Rose is not an exotic dancer – although some say she could have been one in her younger days - nor is she an actual gypsy who is an expert on the zodiac signs. She is a well-traveled horse lady who dominated the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Fair Circuit years ago… many years ago when there actually was a Massachusetts/Rhode Island Fair Circuit, so to speak.
THE 2015 K'TAKTER FUTURITY
Jimmy Takter leads his FIVE Kentucky Futurity three-year-olds through their final warm-ups before the race.
The Farms around Lexington...
are beyond description... we'll let the pictures tell the tale.
Pluggy’s Favorites Parlay:
the first five races at Woodbine tonight…
Race 1 #6 D ONE
Race 2 #3 PURE COUNTRY
Race 3 #5 SOUTHWIND FRANK
Race 4 #1 DIVINE CAROLINE
Race 5 #5 HAUGHTY
PERSHING 3, 1:58m $965,768
THREE DIAMONDS p3, 1:53.1m $735,759
ARNDON 3, 1:54m $272,023
SPEED IN ACTION 4, 1:57m $334,519
TYLER B p3, 1:55.1m $687,388
TARPORT HAP p4, 1:56.3f $688,664
DELMONICA HANOVER 6, 1:59.2m $832,925
HAPPY MOTORING p3, 1:56.2m $538,495
SILENT MAJORITY p3, 1:56.3m $362,369
SMOG p3, 1:58.4h $234,536
MISTLETOE SHALEE p 4, 1:56.1m $502,510
SMOKIN YANKEE 3, 1:58q $445,953
BONEFISH 3, 1:58.1m $309,375
SONSAM p3, 1:53.2m $820,104
KEYSTONE ORE p3, 1:55.2m $563,072
IDEAL SOCIETY p2, 1:55.3m $237,130
ALBATROSS p4, 1:54.3f $1,201,470
SUPER BOWL 3, 1:56.2m $601,006
ANNIECROMBIE p5, 1:52.3m $1,414,477
NEVELE PRIDE 4, T1:54.4m $873,350
FANCY CROWN 3, 1:53.4m $911,965
Oh, Gypsy Rose…don't let us down: Which sign showed most in
The Breeders Crown?
The sky’s the Limit, for Aries great
He dominates the night with 38!
Donerail, Kentucky was named after the town in County Cork in Ireland called Doneraile which means Fort on the Hill. Its neighboring town is Buttevant [Church of the Summits.] The horse race known as the Steeplechase originated in 1752 between the church steeples of the two towns which is a distance of about four miles.
As Chief say when Pluggy take leaky canoe out in middle of river: "You're on your own after that!"
The Results are in...
Without a moment's hesitation he replied...
Speedy Crown
The Red Mile October 10th 2015 Lexington, Kentucky
And the worst one to work with?
That will be a story for another time...
While The National Road began in nearby Cumberland, Maryland in 1811, the restaurant was originally a produce stand that started in 1916. The Inn was constructed in 1920 but the road was often too steep a grade for some of the era automobiles to make.
A plaque reads that in the 1920's and 1930's "how surprised the travelers were when they reached the summit and found a hotel and gasoline station atop!"
The views are fantastic...
They say that Patrick Henry [1736-1799] - a prominent landowner/horse breeder/tobacco grower in Southern Virginia who was to become the first Governor of the new Commonwealth of Virginia in 1776 - was not only a Staunch Patriot in the American cause but a very generous man.
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT!
In June of 1775 three frontiersmen from Pennsylvania stopped by a nearby spring and while there they received word of the Minutemen's victory over the British in Massachusetts. They named their encampment “Lexington” in honor of that town.
It became a small fort in Kentucke [Delaware/Lanape for “Place of the Meadows”] to protect themselves from the hostile Natives and would evolve from a wild western frontier town into the “Athens of the West” where its calcium-rich grasses contribute to some of the World’s finest horses of any breed.
A hundred years later in September of 1875 the Lexington Trots and The Red Mile hosted the first meeting.
The Kentucky Futurity for three-year-old trotters has
been held since 1893.
In Dean Hoffman’s 2005 article “Shoer to the Stars” it was written that all the great horses he had shod were “too many to list.” That statement is correct so here is just a partial list of the horses that visited his shop throughout the years whose offspring figure so prominently in harness racing even to this day:
But Henry's generosity went back even further than that... it was told that on the eve of his rousing speech to the Continental Congress in Richmond in 1776, he held a birthday party for his precocious ten-year-old niece.
As a surprise gift he offered her a choice of her favorite horses and he had brought into the elegant ballroom two of his prized trotting mares: Lady Liberty and Miss Elizabeth Lee.
"But," he added to the wide-eyed child, "you can also have..." and from behind a curtain came
His Royal Majesty,a rather flea-bitten old mule that everyone called... ‘Roy.’"
Her face fell flat.
"Which one of them shall it be?" laughed Henry.
The little girl pouted and then stamped her foot as she held her fist high.
In a clear loud voice she called out: "Give me Liberty or give me Beth!"
The crowd roared.
Patrick Henry paused with a thoughtful smile and then said "That has a rather nice ring to it!"
The following day...
R 1 $324,350 OPEN MARE TROT # 6 D ONE [D. MILLER] 1:54.2 $2.90
R 2 $778,440 2 YR OLD FILLY PACE #3 PURE COUNTRY [B.MILLER] 1:51.4 $2.30
R 3 $778,440 2 YR OLD C & G PACE #5 SOUTHWIND FRANK [Y.GINGRAS] 1:54.2 $2.20
R 4 $648,700 3 YR OLD FILLY PACE #1 DIVINE CAROLINE [D.MILLER] 1:51 $3.30
R 5 $778,440 2 YR OLD FILLY TROT #4 ALL THE TIME [Y.GINGRAS] 1:56.2 $4.50
R 6 $648,700 3 YR OLD FILLY TROT #3 WILD HONEY [J.CAMPBELL] 1:54.3 $5.20
R 7 $778,440 2 YR OLD C & G PACE #6 BOSTON RED ROCKS [T. TETRICK] 1:51.3 $38.90
R 8 $648,700 3 YR OLD C & G TROT #5 THE BANK [D.MILLER] 1:54.3 $30.50
R 9 $689,244 3 YR OLD C & G PACE #4 FREAKY FEET PETE [TR TETRICK] 1:50 $4.70
R 10 $324,350 OPEN MARE PACE #1 COLORS A VIRGIN [D.MILLER] 1:53.3 $15.00
R 11 $689,244 OPEN TROT #6 CREATINE [J.TAKTER] 1:52.4 $7.00
R 12 $518,960 OPEN PACE #3 ALWAYS BE MIKI [D. MILLER] 1:49.3 $2.80
MJB GOT FAITH 2, 1:57.2f the undefeated Ohio Champion two-year-old trotting gelding has gone 5 for 5 with earnings of $192,500.
A Tale of Patrick Henry of Virginia.
I'd put a disclaimer in here but why bother... incidentally: DO NOT try this at home!
D ONE - 4/29 - WILLIE NELSON, JERRY SEINFELD, MICHELLE PPHIFFER
PURE COUNTRY - 2/10 - ROBERT WAGNER, JOHN CALIPARI, JIMMY DURANTE
SOUTHWIND FRANK - 3/10 - CHUCK NORRIS, CARRIE UNDERWOOD, SHARON STONE
DIVINE CAROLINE - 5/03 - BING CROSBY, SUGAR RAY ROBINSON, JAMES BROWN
ALL THE TIME - 1/25 - ALICIA KEYS, VIRGINIA WOOLF, ROBERT BURNS
WILD HONEY - 4/19 - JANE MANSFIELD, ASHLEY JUDD, ELIOT NESS
BOSTON RED ROCKS - 4/26 - WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, CAROL BURNETT, I.M. PEI
THE BANK - 3/02 - DR. SEUSS, DESI ARNAZ, JON BON JOVI
FREAKY FEET PETE - 5/31 - CLINT EASTWOOD, BROOKE SHIELDS, JOE NAMATH
COLORS A VIRGIN - 4/12 - DAVID LETTERMAN, VINCE GILL, DAVID CASSIDY
CREATINE - 5/27 - HENRY KISSINGER, CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, HUBERT HUMPHREY
ALWAYS BE MIKI - 5/10 - FRED ASTAIRE, BONO, DAVID O. SELZNICK
So... the best percentage month? May with 4 winners from 29 starters.
The NIGHT of
THE STARS!
Most of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains that was acquired by the British/Americans after their victory in the French and Indian War [1754-1763] became part of Virginia.
At the end of the American Revolution in 1783 it was all called Virginia including Kentuke County.
WESTERN HANOVER p3, 1:50.4m $2,541,647
TROUBLEMAKER p2, T1:54m $1,112,103
LIFE SIGN p3, 1:50.3m $1,912,454
ARTSPLACE p4, 1:49.2m $3,085,083
LEAH ALMAHURST p3, 1:52.3m $1,053,201
ABERCROMBIE p4, 1:53m $984,391
DRAGON AGAIN p5, 1:48.3S $2,343,428
ALBERT ALBERT p3, 1:52.1m $1,237,070
HOT HITTER p3, 1:54f $963,574
GRANDPA JIM 7, 1:58.4m $501,051
ARMBRO RANGER p3, 1:56f $516,476
LINDY'S PRIDE 3, 1:57.3m $396,209
CHEWY GROSS p5, 1:49.3f $972,264
RAYSON HANOVER p3, 1:50.4m $802,803
HIT PARADE p2, 1:53.4m $806,303
OVERCOMER 4, 1:57.f $405,822
ROSES ARE RED p3, 1:56.3h $389,366
CHIOLA HANOVER 3, 1:57.4q $684,958
ARMBRO FLING 3, 1:55.3m $1,334,936
SPEEDY CROWN 3, 1:57.1m $545,495
RAMBLING WILLIE p7, 1:54.3f $2,038,219
One of his Land Grants that he awarded in the new territory of Kentucky County was a 9,000 acre piece of prime countryside just north of the area to become Lexington was to his brother-in-law, William Christian [1743-1786]
In 1892 400 acres of it would be bought by Lamon Harkness [1850-1915] and would eventually expand to 5,000 acres in Donerail, KY. It would be named Walnut Hall Farm and become harness racing’s leading nursery of champions for the first half of the twentieth century.
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