Go figure...

What does it say that Google's logo today honors Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, and not Abraham Lincoln's?

He's On FIRE!!

Photo courtesy of www.bloodhorse.com

This is my newest hero, Friesan Fire, by A.P Indy out of Bollinger x Dehere, who just bounded home in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course in Louisiana on Saturday. This victory comes on the heels of a win in the LeComte Stakes in December. Another Larry Jones trainee, and co-owned by Fox Hill Farms/Vinery Stables, Friesan Fire, ridden masterfully by Gabriel Saez, put away the favorite, Giant Oak, in fine fashion and is second on my list for the Kentucky Derby, right after Old Fashioned, who I posted about last week. Friesan Fire will be pointed toward the Louisiana Derby next.

On the filly side, is this gray beauty -

Photo courtesy www.bloodhorse.com

Stardom Bound bounded to a decisive victory in the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Under the supurb guidance of Mike Smith, with essentially a hand ride and a couple of shoulder taps with the whip, Stardom Bound (Tapit, out of My White Corvette x Tarr Road) rated, saving ground, and sprang into action in the stretch, gobbling up opponents like Thanksgiving dinner. This pretty, powerful filly is the winner of the Breeder's Cup Juvenile Fillies and is the 2008 Juvenile Filly of the Year. The Las Virgenes was Stardom Bound's fourth Grade-1 stakes win in a row, following on the heels of her amazing Breeder's Cup performance. According to her owners, IEAH Stables (owners of last year's KY Derby/Preakness winner Big Brown), Stardom Bound will be pointed toward the Santa Anita Derby in April, to run against the boys.

This is such an exciting year to be following 3-year-olds! Along with the aforementioned, there is a host of other talented horses, including Pioneer of the Nile, who just pulled off an impressive win in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (Gr. 2) at Santa Anita; Midshipman and Vineyard Haven, who will be tearing up tracks in Dubai soon; The Pamplemousse, who cruised to victory in the San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita in January; Square Eddie, Brother Keith, Haynesfield, Hello Broadway, Capt. Candyman Can, Beethoven, Big Drama - I could go on and on. But my eyes are squarely on Old Fashioned and Friesan Fire, and Stardom Bound if she goes to the Derby - if not, then the Kentucky Oaks for her. Next weekend is the Southwest Stakes - GO OLD FASHIONED!!

What Office Supply Are You?

Let me try this...

You Are a Post-it

You have a good memory. You're memory is so good, in fact, that it can be down right annoying at times. You don't mean to nag, but you like to remind people what they're supposed to be doing. You may be a bit of a pest, but you're awfully cute. So no one minds it all too much when you pop up. You would make a good manger, salesperson or attorney. You can cram a lot of info into that head of yours.

What Office Supply Are You?

Pittsburgh STEALERS

I posted this to another board, but I thought I'd put it here too, and elaborate a little, for you all to ruminate on:

I sure hate to complain, but it seems that every time I've seen the Steelers in a playoff game or a Super Bowl, the calls ALWAYS go in their favor. They started off the game snapping the ball about 10 seconds after the play clock expired - no call. Roethlesberger dumps the ball getting sacked - no intentional grounding call - in fact, a "roughing the passer" call against the Cards after he intentionally grounds the ball. Harrison pounds an opposing player during a kickoff for no reason whatsoever, and while there was a penalty, he should have been ejected. Their last touchdown was very questionable, and I don't think the guy had both feet down. Even the 100-yard interception runback was suspicous, and hubby and I think the guy went out of bounds about 5 yards or so before the endzone. I also think that the personal foul against the Cardinal who they say "ran over" the holder was unfair - he had too much momentum to stop, it wasn't intentional. It was just a way to give the Steelers a "do-over."

I hate to say "sour grapes," because neither of these was "my" team, but can we just get a fair game? That's all I ask. I mean, the refs should have just come out in white and yellow jerseys and yellow pants. And could there have been any more Steeler-worship from the announcers? "I think a guy makes a play like that, you have to call it a touchdown!" Uh.. no, John Madden, it's not a touchdown unless he actually gets into the endzone. (which he did, but that's beside the point, and the play was under review when he made the comment).

The same phenomenon happened during the Super Bowl game against the Seattle Seahawks. Now, the Seahawks had their issues, and probably wouldn't have won anyway, but just like yesterday, the most outlandish calls were made against them. Hubby commented yesterday that the Cardinals defense was probably scared to touch any Steeler because they might get a penalty called against them. No calls against the Steelers in the second half, until about 4 minutes left to play - and a kajillion yards worth of Cardinals penalties. Some of them were pretty blatant, but there was blatant stuff going on with the Steelers too, that never got called - see examples above. I think the true penalty was "Excessive Cardinalness" and "Too many Cardinal points on the scoreboard." It had to be pretty disheartening for them. Yet they still came back from well behind and came >< that close to winning. Bless their hearts.

The halftime show sucked, in my opinion. Springsteen wheezed like a 60-year-old, two-pack-a-day asthmatic. Maybe he should have spent some time warming up his voice this week, rather than railing against WalMart for their employment practices. Brucie, I bet you weren't complaining when you were raking in royalties for your "WalMart Exclusive" greatest hits CD. And what did he say at the end of the performance? "I'm going to DISNEYLAND!!" Bruce - you're in FLORIDA - that would be DISNEY WORLD.

Nicanor's Anticipated Debut

Photo courtesy of www.bloodhorse.com

The much-anticipated debut of Nicanor, Barbaro's baby brother, was a bust yesterday at Gulfstream Park. Nicanor stumbled coming out of the gate and "grabbed a quarter" (caught his front hoof with his back hoof, cutting the heel). He managed to fight his way from last to 5th, 3 lengths off the leader, then was pulled back "under wraps" by his jockey, Edgar Prado. He finished 10th out of 12. They are calling it a "slight" injury, so hopefully he will heal up okay and be back on the track soon. But even the slightest notion of Derby dreams are most likely not in his future.

To top it off, Rockland, Smarty Jones' most promising 3-year-old, finished a disappointing 8th in the Holy Bull Stakes, so it's not likely that Smarty will be represented in this year's Kentucky Derby, unless Rockland does something spectacular in his next race, or unless one of the as-yet-unraced 3-year-olds really makes a splash. Two are in the same race today - Smart-n-Snazzy, and Artisan - at Gulfstream, and Run Smart One will run at Turfway Park today, if there is racing - that is in Kentucky, for those who don't know, which bore the brunt of the ice storm this past week.

Good luck to all, and come home safe!!

A post about NOT stitching :(

This post will be about NOT cross stitching. I am swamped (as well as dazed and confused) by Organic Chemistry. Somehow I managed to pull off an 80% on the first quiz, but it was graded on the curve. THANK GOD for the curve! Believe me, I've never said that before in my life! Sometimes I question my sanity (actually, daily) about the decision to go back to school.


Anyway, this class, and the other one I'm taking, Complimentary and Alternative Healthcare, have me very busy and I haven't been able to stitch anything. I knew it was coming, though, so I stitched quite a bit over Christmas vacation. Here is my latest finish:

This is a Heritage Stitchcraft piece of Valerie Pfeiffer's "The Blues," one of the "Trios" series. I did this for my cousin Vicki, who lives in Idaho. She saw the piece I did for my sister Joyce, "Sitting Pretty"

and decided she wanted one of her own. I had these two, plus "Three's a Crowd," with baby robins. She decided she wanted the bluejays, so I whipped that one up pretty quickly. An unusual thing about this series is the use of half-height stitches. If you are interested in doing them - and who wouldn't be - use linen or evenweave because of this. Basically, it is up 1 and over 2. Check out the ends of the branches that stick out, and you will see these stitches.

Well, back to OrgaChem - Needle... Floss... Charts... I sure miss you! :(

Call Me Old Fashioned...

.... Okay, don't call ME Old Fashioned - Call HIM Old Fashioned, because that's his name:

This is a Rick Porter-owned, Larry Jones-trained Unbridled's Song colt out of Collect Call x Meadowlake. I don't know enough about pedigrees and such to comment on that, but I do know that Old Fashioned wired the Remsen Stakes (GII) in November to win going away. He is now undefeated after 3 starts and will start again in the Southwest Stakes on February 16. Old Fashioned tops many a handicapper's list for possible Kentucky Derby contenders.

The Derby field is very exciting this year. This is the first year I've been following the 2-year-olds (3-year-olds, as of January 1, 2009). Last year, I picked War Pass because he was very impressve in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. War Pass came out blazing in 2008, but disappointed in his major prep races and ended up with an injury before the Derby. He retired without racing again. So I was pretty much without a horse to follow, and then Big Brown passed the Derby field like they were standing still, from the 20-post no less, and then second-place filly Eight Belles broke down after the wire and had to be euthanized, and that took the wind out the Triple Crown sails really. Big Brown again dominated in the Preakness, but didn't read the memo that he needed to win ALL THREE races, including the Belmont, to take the Triple Crown. Actually, he was pulled up by his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, for reasons still unknown, but really was out of gas before the stretch.

This year's 3-year-olds are very exciting. The field is impossible to narrow as of now, but the Southwest Stakes will tell if it will include Old Fashioned. For Rick and Larry's sakes, I really hope he makes the field. To find out more about Old Fashioned and to watch his races, check out this link:

http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/racing-information/contenders/old-fashioned

Maybe my next post will be about cross stitch! :)

The Beginning of a New Blogging Era

I decided to start a new blog. My old one was pretty boring... and ... this one probably will be too! :) I've developed, or should I say REdeveloped, an interest in horse racing, and with the Kentucky Derby around the corner, I want to post about that, as well as my stitching - thus the name change. I've also started Weight Watchers, and I would like to post about my successes and failures in that arena, in the hopes that you will help me celebrate my successes and encourage me when I fail. And I will fail. I will also probably complain about school, because this semester I am taking Organic Chemistry, and it will kill me before May. I'm sure of it. Just the first week has been hell.

At any rate, this is just a start. I will try to keep this updated, at least moreso than the last one. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon! I will try to have pictures up of my stuff, but if I don't, then you can (almost) always see what I've been working on at http://community.webshots.com/user/pokeysd

Oh yeah, I'll also be posting about genealogy! And politics! (Maybe)