Thursday, June 18, 2015

California Chrome v American Pharoah

Let us discuss the ins and outs of all it means to be moderately bred. Not moderately bread, that would be Wonder. Wonders never cease, however, as too does talk of California Chrome and now his full sister, Hope's Love, never friggin' cease. Let's further muddle up this post with mention that the dust has settled in regards to our Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. You know what? Let's begin to unravel from there...

Horse Racing has not changed one bit of a single iota with its first Triple Crown King in 37 years. This is a very good thing. The keen accomplishment remains for the keen fans, only. Thankfully, the media never grabbed onto the American Pharoah story, thus it did not inundate the pony playing game with newly minted demanding half-hearted and ill educated fans. See: Boxing. Further see: Mayweather v Pacquiao.

Those type of fans still are securely glommed to the moderately bred California Chrome. Moderately bred -- so why should I then care for his full sister, Hope's Love? Answer: I shouldn't. CC came along at a time when the talent pool was low enough that diving into it would inevitably end in a wheelchair/feeding tube scenario. Imagine if he did win the Triple Crown! Our game would forever be lost.

(Meanwhile, that horse with a million fans has just recently been pulled from the Royal Ascot. Feh. His sister, though, this Hope's Love -- already has fans in the same manner as does Jeb Bush. They are of the hand-me-down and also vastly ill-informed variety.

Hope's Love is at the same time coming off a June 13th debut at Golden Gate Fields in which she broke awkwardly, was outrun early, and hesitated to run up the rail. In other words, her fans loved it, and can't wait to see her run in the Derby. Or the oaks. Or the Indy 500. Whichever fits best for this marvelous specimen. The Glue Factory Stakes, methinks. )

It's time now, we horse fans with a slightly deeper understanding of our Sport of Kings, give ourselves a pat on our collective back. It was truly great to see AP run the Belmont stretch. I felt my dad standing next to me, screaming at my TV. A brilliant point in time, tucked deep in our pockets as we travel on.

While others are stuck in the muck of a moderately bred horse and now, another. Perhaps an ill-fated PPV followed by the disgust of a taken rube, is in order.

Thankfully, they remain sealed off. Cauterized successfully, from the true lifeblood of the game.