Big Brown

Anyone who knows us fairly well knows that E is a huge horse racing fan.  When we found out that the baby was due mid-May, the one concern was that it would come on the first Saturday of May (if it came early).  The first Saturday of May is fairly sacred around here.  So sacred, in fact, that two years ago when we were in Idaho for a wedding on the first Saturday of May, we had to find the local track and spent time there the night before the wedding,  the morning of,  and the evening after - thankfully to cash in winning bets.

The good news is the baby held off as we had hoped.  The bad news is neither of us picked the winner of the Kentucky Derby.  But with E's Derby record and my miniscule racing record, that really wasn't much of a surprise.  Here he is, though, Big Brown.

(Photo courtesy of The New York Times, online.)

We're pretty impressed with this guy and just waiting to hear the talk of a Triple Crown contender.  Of course they talk every year... but this could be it.  And depending on how he does in two weeks at the Preakness (a day that is a bit less sacred around here - let's just say that if I end up in the hospital on Preakness Day, I don't think E will leave me there for an hour to run to Borgata, lol).  It's also looking like if he does win the Preakness, we'll be figuring out some way to get to Belmont.  Originally we were looking at skipping it this year, for obvious reasons (it's on June 7)... but for the chance to witness a Triple Crown win I think we'll figure something out.  

Unfortunately the day ended with tragedy, the one female horse in the race had to be put down at the end of it.  Eight Belles finished second, a very impressive feat considering females are usually relegated to their own race the day before.  But immediately after she broke both front ankles and had to be euthanized.  It was terribly sad.  It's still incredible to me that there is absolutely nothing that can be done in a situation like that.  But horse physiology dictates a horse must stand, they can't lie down for long periods of time, and need to bear weight on all four legs fairly evenly.  Even one lame leg can cause too much stress and eventually hoof diseases and other medical problems in the other legs.  It is unfortunately more humane to put a horse to sleep than to force it to endure the pain, especially of two broken ankles.