Superfectablog v3.0 » Icelandic Horses http://superfectablog.com Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:38:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Weekend Preview http://superfectablog.com/2008/07/weekend-preview.html http://superfectablog.com/2008/07/weekend-preview.html#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:50:00 +0000 admin http://superfectablog.lisagrimm.com/?p=458 The Man O’ War should be well worth watching; Curlin has quite a task ahead of him. Red Rocks, Better Talk Now and Grand Couturier are all strong contenders, and I keep expecting Sudan to figure it out at some point. This race might be a little short for Better Talk Now, but [...]]]> The Man O’ War should be well worth watching; Curlin has quite a task ahead of him. Red Rocks, Better Talk Now and Grand Couturier are all strong contenders, and I keep expecting Sudan to figure it out at some point. This race might be a little short for Better Talk Now, but it’s always great to see the old guy. Here’s hoping for a strong effort from Curlin.

While Unbridled Belle is a deserving favorite in the Del Cap (especially after her runaway victory in the race last year), I like Hystericalady to upset her. I’m intrigued by Santa Teresita, given the fact that she’s faced Zenyatta, but as this is her first time on conventional dirt, I’m not a believer – yet.

The weekend’s activities are not confined to this coast; at Hollywood Park, Colonel John is coming back in the Swaps, as are Tres Borrachos and Nownownow. It will be useful to see how they have progressed since the Derby trail.

There’s action at Arlington this weekend as well – Tizdejavu is back in the American Derby, and Cosmonaut is aiming for a hat-trick in the Arlington Handicap. He’s always been just a shade below the top turf runners in his generation, but he is well-placed in this race — it’s obviously one he relishes. It would be nice to see him make a mark for himself, rather than to continue to be better known for his former trainer’s cobra-venom hijinks. He’s now with Carlos Martin, a third-generation trainer based in New York who was the horse’s first trainer, so it’s something of a return home.

Finally, make sure you check out the article in the NY Times today on racing in Mongolia; those of you familiar with my arcane interest in genetic and archaeological connections between Mongolian horses and Icelandic horses will not be surprised by this recommendation, even if it’s not referenced in the story — it’s still a good read.

See you Sunday at Delaware Park!

]]> http://superfectablog.com/2008/07/weekend-preview.html/feed 2 Where Alph, The Sacred River, Ran http://superfectablog.com/2007/11/where-alph-the-sacred-river-ran.html http://superfectablog.com/2007/11/where-alph-the-sacred-river-ran.html#comments Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:42:00 +0000 admin http://superfectablog.lisagrimm.com/?p=311 As some other TBA bloggers have noted, there was a lovely New York Times article on Karakorum Racing over the weekend. I’ve never loved the way they name their horses (Karakorum Insert-Name-Here) and would be excited to see them named after Silk Road archaeological sites (or even after bits of Coleridge – wouldn’t Stately [...]]]> As some other TBA bloggers have noted, there was a lovely New York Times article on Karakorum Racing over the weekend. I’ve never loved the way they name their horses (Karakorum Insert-Name-Here) and would be excited to see them named after Silk Road archaeological sites (or even after bits of Coleridge – wouldn’t Stately Pleasure be a great name? I will concede that Stately Pleasure Dome is probably taking it a bit far and that most Americans would think of the film or the Broadway musical of the film before the poem or the city in question, alas), but I suppose subtlety isn’t the point of branding. Nevertheless, I’ve always admired the fact that they named their stable after a traditional horse culture and will spare you my ruminations on the interesting genetic links between Mongolian and Icelandic horses.

But getting back on topic, it would seem that thoroughbred partnerships are all the rage; Karakorum is quite an affordable proposition (about $500 and a $29 monthly fee) by most standards. Of course, if you have deeper pockets, you have other options:

In other news, it’s time to start thinking Derby trail again later this week and The Green Monkey is trying the turf on Wednesday. Brass Hat is back in action over the long Thanksgiving weekend too — it’s always nice to see him. Garrett Gomez will be undertaking quite an adventure for Thanksgiving — he’s riding the aforementioned Green Monkey at Hollywood Park, then heading to Churchill Downs, on to Keeneland, Hollywood Park again and finally on to Aqueduct before heading back to Hollywood Park. He’s a busy man. Would you fly across the country for The Green Monkey?

]]> http://superfectablog.com/2007/11/where-alph-the-sacred-river-ran.html/feed 0 Comments http://superfectablog.com/2006/12/comments.html http://superfectablog.com/2006/12/comments.html#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:41:00 +0000 admin http://superfectablog.lisagrimm.com/?p=109 The comments area at Tim Woolley Racing is going to be disabled in the near future; I’m very impressed that the stalwart Alex Brown has managed to keep up with it for so long, and it’s nice he’s going to continue to offer updates.

Back in the day when I worked at a dot-com-that-shall-remain-nameless (hint: it [...]]]> The comments area at Tim Woolley Racing is going to be disabled in the near future; I’m very impressed that the stalwart Alex Brown has managed to keep up with it for so long, and it’s nice he’s going to continue to offer updates.

Back in the day when I worked at a dot-com-that-shall-remain-nameless (hint: it was aimed at women and it had a dot-com in the name) we had constant ‘community’ nightmares. While in theory we selected message board leaders from said ‘community,’ in reality many of us had fake username and profiles which we’d be told to use to ‘seed’ the boards to get discussions going.

We were always amused when the ‘community leaders’ threatened to ban us for ‘inappropriate’ topics (usually ones management had deemed the flavor of the month and insisted we post), since in reality we were the ones removing anything potentially litigation-friendly (and, later as the site dumbed down, anything vaguely interesting or contentious at all) — and of course we got paid for the effort.

We had occasional stalkers, odd threats of violence and later insane censorship as things got particularly ugly while the economy sped toward oblivion. We had threats of utterly pretend lawsuits and not infrequently the real deal — when those happened, I’d have the CEO on my phone demanding that I expunge the offending post or article.

At least I never felt personally threatened since my colleague in the cube outside my office always brought his battle axe to work — not a terribly uncommon thing in Silicon Valley back then. (Although to be fair little was uncommon then — we took a morning off to electrocute a talking Jar Jar Binks toy one day with the full suppport of our managers). In short, keeping a community site (or something that becomes one) going is no picnic no matter how friendly the majority of users are — especially one you didn’t have a massive staff to deal with day-to-day.

In Barbaro Hat Fund news, they are only making 400 (and we’ve already reserved a good chunk of those here at work)…get your order in now! I’ll be getting one instead of bidding on the cool Barbaro statue offered in the SCAVMA auction this evening, since staying out late at night rather interferes with day care pick-ups.

I found this rather interesting — there’s now something of a ‘Mongolia-Bluegrass alliance‘ which will help build a racetrack in Ulan Bator. I have a great interest in Mongolian horses (particularly for their genetic links to Icelandic horses) and wonder if that’s who will be racing at the proposed track.

Closer to home, does the new law allowing free drinks in the casinos get me a free beer at the track?

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