"Today Is The 21st Day Of May In The Year Of Our Lord 2012."

It Is Now Post Time.
We're Off..Vacation Day, yep, the Simple ones first of the year..What was that Phil?? Yeah, the first vacation day of the year for you..I wasn't talkin about me...they listen too everything I say..Anyway, yeah I am sneaking out today..Phil will probably sneak out with me..The critters are in some jail in Manahawkin, they said down by Long Bitch Island..I'll get them out later..
Onto Horse Racing today, yesterday, and tomorrow...OK,,we have a shot at the Triple Crown so once again, Simple is still 1/2 right in his prediction, still have a shot at the Triple Crown, just wrong horse..ain't bad right. gag..First thing that Dave, says to me is, Union Rags will win the Belmont..He better fuckin not..he don't deserve it..I tell you what if that happens, I may never ever make another prediction...
OK a little history for some of our visitors that may not be familiar with horse racing and its Triple Crown..
Number 1 there are three races involved, thus Triple hahah..sorry...
The horses are all three years old...all horses birthdays are the same, January 1...So some of these three year olds can actually be 21/2 year olds, these three races are a true test of speed, stamina, luck...yeah gotta add that freakin luck in there for many reasons..
The first race for the Triple Crown is The Kentucky Derby, It is run on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, and is the most prestigious race in all of Horse Racing, the distance is a mile and a quarter...Now, mind you, none of these horses has ever run a mile and a quarter before..It is a very difficult race to handicap, maybe the most difficult, and is usually a huge payday...
The second race is The Preakness. It is run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, at Pimlico Race Track in downtown Baltimore Maryland.. The distance is one mile and /3/16, so they now shorten up the run...
The third race is The Belmont Stakes, and it is run three weeks after the Preakness at Belmont Race Track in Elmont, N.Y... The distance is one mile and a half..As you see this is the longest, and deadliest of the three, This is the one that either makes or breaks the Triple Crown..Many horse have come into the Belmont having won the The Kentucky Derby and The Preakness, only to leave New York, with just those two great wins, but not The Triple Crown...
Only Eleven, yep just eleven horses in the Sport Of Kings have ever won a Triple Crown.. That is amazing...
Before I give you these eleven great horses let me tell you a little story about me and my Dad..
He is the one that got me interested in horse racing as he always had them on TV and would make everybody in the house including kids put a quarter up and pick a number out of a hat and whoever had the winning horses number pocketed the change..As I got older my friends and myself always liked horse racing the excitement, the day out the trips to different tracks, we have been to many across the country..I don't think there are ten in the country that Phil The Thrill hasn't been too..I also bought and ran race horses back in the eighties, it was great, lots of fun..maybe even like to buy one again someday..I digress...Anyway when I got home from the service me and my Dad, attended Garden State Race Track at least twice a month, and he was always talking about the great horses and jockeys, and I guess it was about 1970 Kentucky Derby time and he makes a statement that The Triple Crown of Horse Racing is the hardest thing to do in sports.. I said, why you say that?? He said well it is 1970, and the last time a horse won the Triple Crown was 1948.. That was Citation...That was 22 years ago..and before him, there were only 7 horses in all of history that won it..and sure enough, nobody won it in 1970, 1971, 1972 and the years drug on, but on the Horizon, loomed a Horse for all time..we didn't know it yet, but my Dad had not yet seen the greatest, because in 1970, this horse was just being born....People that were really into racing knew that as a two year this horse lost his first race at Aqueduct, but he really had a rough ride..and had an excuse for finishing second..no big deal..Then he won his next five races in a row, before getting disqualified in the Champagne Stakes for interfering with another horse..  Then in the Spring of 1973, Meadow Stable, Lucien Laurin, and Ronny Turcotte, introduced this stud by the name of SECRETARIAT, to the world.....he was over 16 hands high, and that is awfully big for a race horse.., and now a three year old and ready to start his quest to being THE GREATEST RACE HORSE OF ALL TIMES...The Kentucky Derby and Horse Racing History were ready for this breakout race, and racing history was about to be shattered...SECRETARIAT broke dead last but circled the field and won...In the interim, he not only won, but did what no race horse before or after has ever done, he ran a mile and a quarter in under 2  minutes....Amazing...He put too sleep the old Kentucky myth that the Kentucky Derby was the most exciting two minutes of your life with your clothes on....Here comes the Preakness, and once again he broke dead last, and once again circled the field from last to first to win...There was a big mix up at the time the race was run in, and it was only decided later by film that he broke the record for a mile and 3/16 by 3/5 of a second.....My Dad is now on board baby,,but still skeptical of a horse winning this Triple Crown Trophy...Well SECRETARIAT, laid his fears to rest, not only did he win the Belmont Stakes, he crushed it,  he took command at the top of the stretch and proceeded to run it out to a  31 LENGTH victory, setting a mile and a half record time of 2:24 flat...There was a crowd of about 70,000 people and everyone of them were standing. I still get the chills thinking about it and now writing about it, it is the single most exciting moment that I have ever seen in sports and too witness it with my father and friends was truly special..
So, as this post progresses, Secretariat is now a Triple Crown winner the year is 1973.. Well 1974, 1975,1976, pass by The Triple Crown Races without too much fanfare, as everyone knows what happened in 1973 will  never happen again.., but Horse Racing being the most unpredictable of the sciences (yep, it is a science).. Wouldn't  you know that in 1977, a Great and Huge Black Stallion by the name of SEATTLE SLEW, comes off his two year old season and into the Kentucky Derby undefeated...and what does he do..Wins the Triple Crown... AMAZING...He was one of the greatest race horses of all time, and I would say Seattle Slew, Bold Ruler, and Northern Dancer were the three greatest studs of all times....1978 arrives and you got it onto the scene for the Triple Crown Races comes two horses that once again will never be seen...AFFIRMED AND ALLYDAR.... Yes AFFIRMED WON THE TRIPLE CROWN...AND ALLYDAR FINISHED SECOND BY A NOSTRIL EVERY FUCKIN RACE..  They were the three greatest Triple Crown Races I have ever witnessed once again with my Dad and my friends...Well to end this on a rather Simple moment, after SECRETARIAT  1973,, SEATTLE SLEW 1977, AND AFFIRMED 1978,,, I am down Peck's with my Dad, and boldly blurt out, what the fuck is so hard about this? He says so hard about what.?.You know winning this Triple Crown in Horse Racing? It just happened three times int the last six years.......He just smiled and downed his Rolling Rock..............1978 till the present day...NO TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS!!!...REST IN PEACE BIG E...BRING ONE IN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION...LOVE YA AND THANKS FOR MY INTRODUCTION INTO THE SCIENCE OF HORSE RACING....!!!!I'll Have Another...Let's see if he gets capital letters after the Belmont.....Would be kind of appropriate to maybe have a rolling rock ready that day........