He hasn't endorsed. Rumor locally is that he hasn't endorsed yet because polling shows an endorsement by him might hurt his preferred candidate in the NC primary. I've no idea of the ultimate source of such things.
Democrat Barack Obama expanded his fragile lead in delegates over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday, picking up at least seven delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention. Half the 14 delegates allocated to John Edwards on the basis of caucus night projections switched Saturday and Obama got most, if not all, of them.
1: Apparently lines were crazy across the state. As of yesterday, 340,000 NCians had voted early. I'm curious to see what the final total is. In 2000, the entire primary only drew 545,000.
Oh golly, people. So HRC said she wanted folks to bet on the filly in the Derby. Well, Eight Belles, the filly, ran the race of her life and managed to finish second -- second to Big Brown. Eight Belles, however, collapsed immediately after crossing the finish and was euthanized. Christ.
OMG. Don't bet on the ponies for metaphors, HRC.
Yikes. I'd heard about the collapse and euthanasia, but holy shit, man.
5:I always bet show or place anyway.
And that, Hillary Clinton, is just one of the many reasons that analogies are banned.
Is there some reason horse racing continues to exist?
11: On animal cruelty grounds? Or because you hate short guys?
After this, plus the Barbaro episode, I'm beginning to feel that horse racing entails some serious animal abuse and should perhaps be outlawed.
Right after we outlaw boxing, meat, and french fries.
That's different. I like boxing, meat and french fries.
Those horses knew what the risks were when they were foaled.
It's okay. They signed a contract.
There was one race awhile back when a horse's leg broke all the way through while it was running and you could see it flapping as the horse fell.
I went to the Derby Museum in Louisville. They do a lot about horses that have died while running---not as tragic excesses of the barbarism of the sport, but as martyrs to it. "He just loved to run so much, he ran until his heart burst!" How romantic!
I grew up few blocks from Santa Anita (the track from Seabiscuit). It's fun to go early and have breakfast and watch morning workouts.
Haters! Barbaro would never have wanted us to take this lesson from his tragic death!
It's hard on the jockeys too. I heard a heartbreaker of a story last year about a 30-something guy dead of a heart attack because of the extreme measure he took to try to make weight.
I wish steeplechase was popular in the U.S. That's where the real fun is.
My first true love was from Louisville. The first time she took me home to meet her parents (an awesome story in itself -- and no, don't even bother asking) was for Derby weekend. It was monumentally boring. Except when it was scary and racist. All in all, not worth doing again. But your mileage may vary. Oh, two horses died that weekend as well, though neither in the Derby.
I live in Northern Maryland... steeplechase is actually ridiculously popular around here. That might have something to do with being smack in the middle of the densest concentration of horse farms in the country.
"Eventing" seems to be where the most riders are getting killed nowadays. Apparently another one has been seriously injured just since that article.
my mom used to ride a race horse when she were 6-11 y/o, she had great memories about it
i would have been riding too, perhaps, if i was raised in the countryside
poor horses, of course
Wait, where's Sir Kraab? The big social event for, you know, society types where we grew up was/is something known as "The Hunt," which was a faux fox hunt. But Monmouth Co. NJ has its own pretty serious horse country.
Kids as young as four years old race in Mongolia.
"Horses are important in Mongol culture", as one book helpfully explained.
yep, though four may be too young, usually 6-7 up to 12 yo are OK, after that kids are too heavy for riders
I'm pretty sure a Mongolian pony would kick the ass of an American thoroughbred. Maybe not in a race, but certainly in a brawl.
The Mongolian horse was extremely tough and durable but not especially big or fast.
how fast is fast, i'm sure they are fast enough and our races are like 30 km one way irrc so it's a really grand race, i doubt other horses will survive that long distances
All I know is that the Mongolian horse conquered most of Asia, whereas American horses apparently have glass ankles.
My first true love was from Louisville.
Me too! My best memory of derby is f.t.l.'s dad helping us hide bourbon to sneak into Churchill Downs. We made a false bottom for the cooler, and strapped flasks toour legs.
Though we were too poor to buy the expensive mint juleps at the track, we were sitting in a box that f.t.l's mom got through her work. So there we were, among all the rich folks... unstrapping flasks from our legs. The dapper old gentleman in the seersucker suit who shared the box with us didn't bat an eye.
That reminds me, I saw seersucker shorts for sale the other day. Can this be for real? Who wears these things?
iirc, would, sigh
but i watched some horse racing clips, it feels good
like as if you get a lot of high spirit
40: I had a pair the summer after 8th grade.
39: My first experience of a mint julip was that Derby weekend. I was unaware of the ingredients and assumed I was about to drink something like an Orange Julius: minty and creamy. Not so much, as it turned out. Also, yes, lots of seersucker. At least for the Oaks, when we sat in a box. For the Derby itself we sat in the infield. Because it was "more fun that way." My ass.
Mint Juleps are freakin' delicious. Seersucker, despite all the obvious negatives, has been taunting me from afar, lately.
I have been searching high and low for a good seersucker dress or a-line skirt this season, with no luck at all.
something like an Orange Julius: minty and creamy.
Blargh! Thank goodness that they are what they are, instead.
In my experiences, the people in the boxes have often been just as drunk as the people in the infield. Just, you know, with nicer clothes, and actual chairs to sit in.
I dunno. Maybe a mint julep slushee would be the world's best thing.
Okay, 47 really wasn't me. "Experiences"? No. Not me.
Besides, my ftl was from outside Phnom Penh.
I know, quite definitely, that it wouldn't be the world's best thing to me.
49: well, they aren't dissimilar to slushees, except that all the water is replaced with delicious, delicious bourbon.
Oh, I didn't say -- or even imply, I don't think -- that I was disappointed by the mint julip facts on the ground rather than the mint julip of my imagination. I was, actually, quite pleased. And soon after that, quite drunk.
Also Cazayoux seems to have won. Or so says my friend who just e-mailed from Baton Rouge. I say again, it really, really sucks to be a Republican right now.
If you want something very tasty, you should make mint julep sorbet and soak peaches in it.
Last year I was surprised* and pleased to discover Hunter Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" available online at an official derby site (since abandoned, but the content is still there complete with disclaimer and content warning). Worth a read if you haven't (and aren't put off by HST when he is over the top), it preceded Vegas (his first work with Steadman) and was informed by his being a native of Louisville.
*Unsurprisingly, it is not very flattering to the Derby. Here is the ending ("supposedly" after they hear about Kent St. (which was that weekend) and he maces Steadman):
The journalist rams the big car through traffic and into a spot in front of the terminal, then he reaches over to open the door on the passenger's side and shoves the Englishman out, snarling: "Bug off, you worthless faggot! You twisted pigfucker! [Crazed laughter.] If I weren't sick I'd kick your ass all the way to Bowling Green--you scumsucking foreign geek. Mace is too good for you...We can do without your kind in Kentucky."
I know that it means that I'm juvenile, but that makes me laugh.
I have no clue what you all are talking about, but I approve of bourbon. Derby have long since been relegated, and horse-fighting is very illegal, so I will assume you are all drunk/fantasists. There's no need to involve the police.
I dunno. Maybe a mint julep slushee would be the world's best thing.
I impulsively purchased an ice shaving machine last year and made mint juleps with the shaved ice, a bottle of makers mark, and spearmint from the garden. That was the only mint julep I ever drank that wasn't a waste of good bourbon.
I heard on the radio that all of the derby horses this year were descended from one famous bloodline, known for its speed but also for its fragility. The horse that broke its leg last year (?) was also one of these descendants.
Inbreeding.
As of yesterday, 340,000 NCians had voted early.
Yeah, I went by our early voting spot by the farmer's market today, and the line was much longer than I usually face in day-of polling. Of course, I haven't voted in a presidential year here yet.
I heard on the radio that all of the derby horses this year were descended from one famous bloodline, known for its speed but also for its fragility.
My recollection, from childhood, is that all thoroughbreds trace back to one of three horses, and one in particular.
The creaminess of the original misapprehended julep was of course the truly offputting thought.
1. I had heard that Edwards' reluctance to endorse was because he didn't want to wind up backing the loser.
If that's not political courage, I don't know what is.
Wait, where's Sir Kraab? The big social event for, you know, society types where we grew up was/is something known as "The Hunt," which was a faux fox hunt. But Monmouth Co. NJ has its own pretty serious horse country.
I wasn't tuned into what the society types were up to. At that point, I doubt I knew there were society types in Middletown.
Shortly before leaving hs, I was palling with a bunch of Rumson boys. At one of their houses I made it clear that I was not so carefully raised when I expressed my shock that his 20-yr-old sister was married -- there was a fancy portrait of her in a poofy white dress right there on the piano. (Hint: not a wedding picture. Who knew?)
1. I had heard that Edwards' reluctance to endorse was because he didn't want to wind up backing the loser.
I'd buy that. The experiences of 2004 would certainly have made me gun-shy. Edwards only ran once for Senator and his opponent in that race could have been beaten by a cactus.