Archive for 2007

May 19, 2007 – Carl Nafzger, trainer of Street Sense, after the Preakness: “My horse ran great. I got outran. That’s horse racing. If you can’t enjoy watching a $5,000 claimer give you 110 percent, you shouldn’t be in the horse business.”

May 18, 2007 – “Charmin and Sheets” by Bill Nack appears on bloodhorse.com. It’s a true story about horses needing fitness to win the Derby and the fallacy of “time between races” being the key to successful Thoroughbred management.

May 18, 2007 – Kenny Mayne during the Black-Eyed Susan telecast on ESPN: “Now we’re gonna go to places Byron King is afraid to go: Panty Raid.”

May 16, 2007 – TVG’s Todd Shrupp just called the Angels, “The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the U.S.A.” One of his better efforts.

May 15, 2007 – Dr. Steve Buttgenbach passed away today. A classy, intelligent and wonderful man, Steve served as veterinarian for Allez France when she won the Prix l’Arc de Triomphe in 1974. Later on, he was veterinarian to my small stable. One of my fondest memories of training horses was spending the early summer […]

May 6, 2007 – My nephew Sean talking about a Derby trainer during a dinner at Malone’s: “…couldn’t train a dog to piss on a fireplace.” Me: “Do you mean a fireplug?”

May 5, 2007 – Reportedly, “Everybody Hates Chris” star Tichina Arnold lost a hundred bucks betting on a bad tip from Michael Jordan in the sixth race on Derby day. Arnold gave the hoops star such grief, he handed her one of his $1,000 win tickets on the Kentucky Derby.

May 4, 2007 – Overheard in a Louisville bar: Kent Desormeaux when asked if he liked Polytrack. “It’s the best thing since toasted bread.” Ten minutes later: Keith Desormeaux asks his brother, “Did you mean sliced bread?”

May 3, 2007 – Fox Sports posted a story this morning with a link, “Derby breakdown: Who’ll get the roses?” with the headline “Breaking down the Kentucky Derby field”. Who is the idiot sports editor who let them use the words “breakdown” and “breaking down” in a Derby story that didn’t contain a tragedy?

May 1, 2007 – Trainer Jamie Sanders was quoted in the Blood-Horse as saying she had a feeling Cobalt Blue would not run in the Derby, but was glad to hear of the final decision. “I kinda knew two days ago, but I’m relieved it’s official,” she said. “Doug O’Neill is a really nice person. […]