A Horse Goes National

In an interesting quest (as mentioned below) Somebeachsomewhere is currently being promoted by racing to be "Male Athlete of the Year" in Canada, to follow Secretariat who earned the nod in 1973. This took a turn today as "The National", the nations nightly newscast is airing a piece on the horse, and on the quest this evening.

I am sure someone from Standardbred Canada will post the piece on youtube, so when it is up, we'll post it here.

To add your name to the petition, no matter where you are from, click the cute Panderosa colt to the right.

"Younger can't race against older alert!" as we spoke about below, Chancey Lady, a three year old filly, just beat older Open mares at Chester in a track record 150.3; at 4-5.

Give a Man a Horse; He Will Race It. Unless it is Sick.

Two Sunday notes: 1) Check this out. We have been racing horses for centuries and it shows. It's what we do. These guys are probably racing for 40 bucks and a pitcher of beer.

2) Somebeachsomewhere is sick and scratched from tomorrows Matron at Dover. What a shame. I heard Dover was planning some good things and would have had a great crowd for him.

Note: Do you want to know what those thoroughbred folks are thinking when they watch harness? Well Valerie will tell you :)

Questions

I am reading Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch. Early on I had a chuckle at the passage that relayed a neat fact from the publication of the day: In 1910 out of 50,000 horses, 500 showed a profit for their owners.

My question: In the 2000's when did a switch go off and suddenly we are expected to make money as horse owners? It is all I read about with this ADW nonsense. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I have had horses since I was a kid. I know that this is not a business to make money in. You know that, I know that, we all should know that. It is a hobby business that vets, feed men, trainers, drivers/jockeys and others make money at. We don't and never will. Why within the last few years did this delusion start? When were we all expected to trip over hundred dollar bills on the way to the fridge for a snack? Who started this rumour?

I read the excellent post at HANA today. It compares the postage stamp business in something like 1840 in England. It cleverly shows a parallel to racing. Great read.

My question: Why when we look at the racing business can we always to relate it to a different business that fixed itself a century in a half ago?

By the way, I bought a Horseplayers Association hat at their online store. I am thinking of buying the boxer shorts, but I don't want to scare gaggles of women and children, so I will probably go with a baseball shirt.