Just came across a link on Equidaily to an article on sun-sentinel.com about the rescue of the horse Freedom’s Flight, a descendant of Secretariat. It’s a heart-warming story of the rescue of the horse from almost certain slaughter. Once rescued it was discovered that he is a former a race horse and has Secretariat and Seattle Slew in his pedigree. Now, his new owner is lobbying him for a role in the upcoming movie of Secretariat. He does certainly look like Secretariat in coloring. That lovely chestnut with the white blaze and socks. Though he may not be a “dead ringer” he certainly brings the great horse to mind. We hope he gets the role!

Like the recent story in the New York Times about the rescue of Tour of the Cat, this story also brings more publicity to the problem of abused and abandoned horses. The industry can do more to ensure that these horses (and all horses) are treated humanely throughout their lives.

The end of the 9th race at  Saratoga on Saturday’s  was a real blanket finish. Here is a picture of  co-favorite Grassy # 9 (with a masterful ride by Ramon Dominguez) winning by a nose over Cherokee Speed, Good Prospect, Rock in Bage and Yankee Empire

Take a look at our new video and share it with all your friends.

We are hightailing it up to Saratoga this morning, trying to make it through the traffic window between AM rush hour and when the mid-day construction begins. We’ll be loaded up with books and yours truly will be handicapping the form while trying not to get car-reading headache.  If you haven’t heard already we’ll be at the Borders in Saratoga Springs (395 Broadway)  signing copies of Off to a Flying Start on Thursday 8/13 from 7-9pm. We’ll be giving out  handicapper extraordinaire NickBorg’s  late pick 3 and pick 4 for Friday’s card, so please join of us. Afterward,we may even retire here. Thanks go out to everyone who has read the book or commented on this blog, we are having blast on this horse language/ publishing journey.

For those of you wondering about the use of “hightailing it” – the idiom means to go as fast as possible, especially when leaving. The expression is a reference to the raised  tail of a rabbit or deer that is running off. Another commentor has layed out the phrases’s horse connection here

Quality Road set the track record on Monday at Saratoga for 6-1/2 furlong sprint in 1:13 and 2/5. This led me to think about the different uses of the phrase “track record.” In this case, Quality Road’s spectacular achievement in this one race means he now holds the track record. But, when you hear track record in everyday speech most often people are referring to a set of accomplishments or lack there of.  For instance, you’d have to look into a potential contractor’s track record of finishing work on schedule or coming in under budget before hiring them.  Your track record at a given endeavor tells whether you are well suited to the task at hand or not. Of course, track records can be deceiving. Just look at Bernie Madoff’s cooked books and the fallout from that as the prime example.

Raring To Go

When we say raring to go, we mean we are very eager to begin something, as in we are raring to get going on our vacation. The phrase uses raring, but originally was rearing, and refers to a horse up on its back legs when it wants to get moving. This idiom dates back to the early 1900s.