Jewels of the Triple Crown

horse racing, triple crown, , , , , , , , ,

With all the well-merited excitement over American Pharoah’s [sic] being the first horse to cop a Triple Crown in 37 years, I thought people might like to know a little about the eleven colts who preceded him in attaining this difficult feat. First, you might like to know that the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes were not officially dubbed the Triple Crown by the Thoroughbred Racing Association until 1950, after Citation (Big Cy) swept them in 1948. In the first quarter of the twentieth-century, they came to be considered the most important races for three-year-olds (the only age allowed to run in them). Then, in the mid-1930s, Charles Hatton of the Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form referred to them, unofficially, as the Triple Crown of stakes for three-year-olds when Omaha swept them (Chew 74, Drager 3). So let’s take a look at the first triple crown champ, Sir Barton.

Sir Barton SirBarton1

Sir Barton (foaled 1916), a striking chestnut with a white blaze, scored the Triple in 1919. Owned by Canadian J.K.L. Ross, the colt was quite a character. No Kelso who would eat ice cream sundaes from children’s hands, he was more likely to eat the children. As Marvin Drager writes, Sir Barton, “ignored horses, despised humans, and hated pets” (19). Drager posits that Sir Barton’s bad attitude might have stemmed from having had tootsies so tender that he had to be shod with piano felt between his feet and his horse shoes (12, 19). But that orneriness translated to gameness on the track. Even more interesting, Sir Barton was not only the first triple crown winner, but the first maiden to take the Derby. The term “maiden” in horse racing has nothing to do with being demure or virginal. It just means the horse has not yet won a race.
With the Derby, Sir Barton made up for lost time. His owner put him in the race as a “rabbit” for his stable mate, Billy Kelly––a rabbit being a fast horse who sets a killer early pace to make sure any front-runners are too exhausted to withstand a late rush from a come-from-behind runner. Jockey Johnny Loftus let Sir Barton have his head, then let him keep it in the drive to the finish, where Sir Barton scored by five lengths.SirBarton2 The colt proved what a tough cookie he was by coming back four days later to crush the Preakness field by four lengths (And people think the races are too close together, today!). Then he sealed the deal by taking the Belmont Stakes by five. Only two other horses dared face him that day. The racing chart amusingly states that for a 1/4 of a mile Sir Barton “indulged Natural Bridge with the lead over the Belmont course” (qtd. Drager 18). Cold, man. Barton proceeded to finish out the season with a total of eight wins in thirteen starts, over the best of stakes company (Drager 14-18, Lauder 8, 18, 39; Robertson 234-35). Not bad for a cranky Canadian “tenderfoot.”
The next year, 1920, turned out to be the best and worst of times for Sir Barton. He came home first in numerous stakes and handicaps, carrying impressively high weight (129, 132, 133, 134 lbs.) and defeated 1918 Derby winner and beloved handicapper Exterminator (Old Bones), as well as fine stakes horses such as Wildair, The Porter, and Mad Hatter. Mad Hatter provides us with an interesting transition, since his sire (Fair Play) also fathered Sir Barton’s equine version of Kryptonite: Man O’ War. Now you might have to be of a certain age to know who Man O’ War is, but the truth is that the original “Big Red” was the yardstick against which all great racers were measured––until 1974, when another chestnut colt with a star and stripe on his face copped his nick name and the triple crown. There are still people who see the first Red as the best––I’m one of them. In fact, Man O’ War would undoubtedly have been a member of the Triple Crown club but that his owner (Samuel Riddle) believed that the first Saturday in May was too early to run a young three-year-old 1 1/4 miles––but I drift wide in the stretch (digress). These two met and this time it was Man O’ War’s turn to briefly “indulge.” Then he crushed Sir Barton with an unsurpassable surge of speed in track record time for a pot of $80,000 dollars––not hay in 1920 (Drager 26-27, Robertson 242).
Sir Barton raced three more times after this, and though he performed creditably, he still didn’t win (Robertson 242, Drager 28). With nothing left to prove, he was retired, and did fairly well for himself at stud in Virginia. At seventeen, “he was turned over to an U.S. Remount Station.” Eventually, he finished out his days comfortably on a ranch in Wyoming (Drager 28). He doesn’t look so cranky in this picture. Maybe his tootsies weren’t sore from running hard, any more.SirBarton3

 

 

Sources: The Kentucky Derby: The First Hundred Years (Peter Chew); The Most Glorious Crown (Marvin Drager); The Triple Crown (Bill Lauder) The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America (Willaim H. P. Roberston).
Photographs:  Sir Barton 1 (Roberston), Sir Barton winning the Derby (Draber), Sir Barton grazing (Drager).

Adventures on the Cumberland Rail Trail

birds, Rail Trails, turtles, , ,
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Sunday’s ride at the Cumberland, RI rail trail was wonderful. The path is rimmed by trees and shrubs, “reducing all that’s made to a green thought in a green shade.” Except, that description leaves out the rollDSCN1874 of the Blackstone River on one side and the lazy calm of the canal on the other. Wild life abounds as you zip along a well-paved route, with just enough hills to work off a few calories, but not enough to leave you prostrate. And then, what chugs up, must glide down! All eighteen miles of round trip!

Anyway, back to the critters! We saw this fellow lazing in the sun in all his turtlely glory. Look at those luxuriously stretched out hind tootsies! Pretty big for a painted turtle, eh? DSCN1859Apparently, there are also quite few snappers in the river and the canal––but none of them threatened us. Do you think we could escape if one charged?

There was also plenty of feathered fauna to enjoy, too. We could hear all kinds of delighted, playful, trilling and teasing from catbirds, red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, and cardinals. Isn’t spring bird song grand? DSCN1854We also caught sight of this lovely swan, whom one trail-stroller informed us was part of a pair that was brooding a clutch of eggs on an island in the river. And here is proof that the fishermen on the river aren’t all of the homo sapiens DSCN1876variety. I’m sorry I missed my pal the Green Heron, but who can complain about seeing a Great Blue?

The Cumberland trail is just a lovely, relaxing, happy rail trail to cruise. Look at how much fun the other Dr. Yang is having!

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5/27/15

The Marvelous Mr. Rains

Film Actors, , , , , , ,

claudeWhom do I see as the finest actor of the twentieth century? Claude Rains. Who else? Some of the younger folk, or just people who aren’t movie connoisseurs, will probably say, “Who?!” Well, if you’ve seen Casablanca, you’ll recognize Mr. Rains as the smoothly sardonic Captain Renault. You know, the fellow at the center of the following oft paraphrased exchange:

Renault: “I’m shocked, shocked to discover gambling going on here.”

Breathless employee: “You’re winnings, sir.”

Renault, “Thank you.”

And back to blowing the whistle on his raid, without missing a beat.

Rains could play it all, and all with that gravel-wrapped-in-velvet voice, thanks to being gassed in WWI trenches (an attack that “bestowed” similar satisfying tones on Ronald Colman). He could be magnificently dastardly as the villain of swashbucklers when going up against Errol Flynn in The Prince and the Pauper and The Sea Hawk. On the other hand, Rains could also play it quietly calculating, icily superior as a disguised Nazi in Sealed Cargo, an amorally inventive mystery radio host in The Unsuspected, or a hard-dealing man of [shady] business in Rope of Sand or Lisbon. And no one could go grandiosely maniacal like Mr. Rains does in The Invisible Man and Crime without Passion. cr67smYet he could easily, and convincingly, switch gears to give us the tender and eccentric fathers of the Four Daughters films or White Banners. Still, this playing is layered. In Mr. Sceffington, he projected such quiet ferocity within his refusal to lose his daughter to his divorcing wife, that Bette Davis, playing the object of that hostility, reports he genuinely frightened her! Then again, in this movie and in The Passionate Friends, he gave his powerful captains of industry humanity by revealing a capacity for deep passion, tenderness, and forgiveness. Finally, he could play a wise man who could out-Yoda Yoda, with more wit and a far better grasp of syntax. Dr. Jacquith deftly guides Charlotte Vale to emotional stability and maturity in Now, Voyager through humor, penetrating insight, and shrewd devil’s advocacy. We see him providing similar help in This Love of Ours and Moontide, although the latter in a rather scruffy guise. Unfortunately, even Claude’s reasonable, thoughtful Sir John Talbot could not save his son Larry from going all werewolf about Universal Studio’s version of ye olde English village in The Wolf Man.

 Though some of Rains’s very early roles have a tendency to an over-the-top quality typical of early sound films, the main quality that you do see in his playing is honesty, genuineness. He plays with the type of sincerity that you expect from a Spencer Tracy, a Vic Morrow, or a Vincent D’Ofrio. There are two good biographies of Rains. The one by David J. Skal and Jessica Rains (the actor’s daughter and an actress, herself) is Claude Rains: An Actor’s Voice. The other is by John T. Soister and JoAnna Wioskowski, Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference to His Work in Film, Stage, Radio, Television and Recordings. 6cd7_1

Image 1, from The Hurrell Style, John Day Company, 1976; Image 2, source unknown; Image 3, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1943.  No copyright infringement intended.  Reproduction of photographs for fan site purposes only.  Contact me at this site for removal if your rights have been infringed.

birdsSpring? Really?

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This week has been gorgeous! ––the weather, the birds and their spring songs, the flowers (and, unfortunately, their pollen!). snowglories1I think, I hope, that spring is really here. I got my hopes up when one of my favorite flowers burst into view a few weeks ago, the Early Snow Glory. I love this purple/blue star with its snow center and lively slender yellow stamens. This year, they’ve migrated all over my yard. Beautiful.  The hyacinths, grape hyacinths, and daffodils have all blossomed, with lilac and pink hyacinths just now drooping their flowers.    But now the Bleeding Hearts are taking over.DSCN1800

The birds are wonderful to see, too. The Gold Finches have transformed from winter olive-drab to brilliant yellow.DSCN1742 The house finch couple, the male looking as if he had been “dipped in strawberry syrup” (Peterson’s), are showing up far more often. A more romantic pair are the cardinals; the scarlet male tenderly (really) feeding his olive Mrs.––or Ms. DSCN1727

The Red-Winged Blackbird whistles his presence then bares the startling orange and yellow of his epaulets. Best of all is our pair of male

Rosebreasted Grosbeaks. Their black hood, the flash and flicker of black and white patterns on their fluttering tails and wings, and the liquid pink on their chests are a visual delight.DSCN1718

Maybe last year’s Baltimore Oriole will return?  I think I’ve heard his song, sometimes, in the trees behind my house.

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Oh yes, the humans aren’t the only ones in our house who enjoy bird watching.

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Blog

cats, writing

 Here is a link to a blog entry on my writing process.  Just click on the title, not the picture. Please respond, in a friendly way of course.  Rosalind and Natasha don’t like mean people! Just click on the titles to get my latest post.  Thrilling, isn’t it! I hope you enjoy!

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