Unless of course, the horse is named Barbaro. Today at The Preakness, the newest Triple Crown favorite pulled a Franklin Delano Roosevelt: it came up lame. The sound you hear is the gambling community (and Louie the Lock) simultaneously jumping off of bridges.
Personally, I smirked at the news. Not because I wanted to see Barbaro get hurt, but because the Philly media – which is so starved for a champion in this town - has tried to claim the horse as their own; even though Barbaro has a thrice-removed link to Chester County, which is closer to Delaware than Philadelphia. I think the horse’s father’s brother’s uncle’s sister’s neighbor’s dog’s cousin’s owner lives in Chester County. It was quickly careening out of control, like the Smarty Jones fever last year. For the record, Smarty Jones was based in Bensalem – a suburb of Philly – and not the city itself. Not that the media cared. Since when do facts get in the way of a good story?
At this rate, it is quite possible that we will never see a Triple Crown winner.
I love horses and seeing them race, but that was heartbreaking to see him try to keep his leg off the ground. I hope all the high tech things that were mentioned can save him.
ReplyDeleteThe city should have acknowledged the Philadelphia Stars. Then the city would have only been winless since 1985.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned to a friend a couple years back that our soccer team, the Philadelphia Kix were the league champs. To which he replied "We have a soccer team?"
Go someone.