Affirmed - The last Triple Crown Winner

In 1978 Affirmed and Alydar dueled each other for the Triple Crown. They went head to head down to the wire in The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont.
Affirmed is to date the last horse to win Horse Racing's Triple Crown. Several have won 2 of 3 but none have yet to win all 3 again.
The Belmont Stakes was the greatest duel ever seen in horse racing and it was over the longest track in the Triple Crown.

Seattle Slew

The 1977 Kentucky Derby was won by the undefeated Seattle Slew. He would go on to win the Triple crown, the 10th horse to do so since 1919 and the only undefeated Triple Crown winner.

2010 Kentucky Derby Lineup

Yesterday was the draw for starting positions for the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby.

here is how they will start and their jockey. #1 will be the inside post and #20 will come from the outside.

1. Lookin At Lucky (Garrett Gomez)
2. Ice Box (Jose Lezcano)
3. Noble’s Promise (Willie Martinez)
4. Super Saver (Calvin Borel)
5. Line of David (Rafael Bejarano)
6. Stately Victor (Alan Garcia)
7. American Lion (David Flores)
8. Dean’s Kitten (Robby Albarado)
9. Make Music for Me (Joel Rosario)
10. Paddy O’Prado (Kent Desormeaux)
11. Devil May Care (John Velazquez)
12. Conveyance (Martin Garcia)
13. Jackson Bend (Mike Smith)
14. Mission Impazible (Rajiv Maragh)
15. Discreetly Mine (Javier Castellano)
16. Awesome Act (Julien Leparoux)
17. Dublin (Terry Thompson)
18. Backtalk (Miguel Mena)
19. Homeboykris (Ramon Dominguez)
20. Sidney’s Candy (Joe Talamo)

In Case You Missed It (Animal Edition)

Saw this today at the Daily Mail website. Its like Marlin Perkins and Wild Kingdom but without the editing.
2 of the most dangerous animals in Africa go head to head, its not a good outcome so be warned.

Water Buffalo and Lions see who is King of the Jungle.

Secretariat returns to Derby in movie form

Secretariat returns to Derby in movie form - KansasCity.com

With the derby just a couple of days away I thought it would be interesting to read about the new movie project from ESPN about Secretariat.
I hope they do him justice because he was one of a kind, a true superhorse that after his death the autopsy showed that he had a heart twice the size of a normal horse. It should have been a early end due to that but it was probably what made him superior to all other horses, he was a living, breathing locomotive.

Big Red indeed.

New #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller List

This week we have new #1 books on both the Fiction and Non Fiction list.


Topping the fiction list with her 16th #1 bestseller is Mary Higgins Clark with The Shadow of Your Smile. M H Clark returns to the top after having topped the chart in April of last year with Just Take My Heart which spent one week at #1.

The new #1 on the Non Fiction list is not a surprise considering all the hoopla surrounding it in the weeks leading up to the release of Oprah by Kitty Kelley.
This is Kitty Kelley's first #1 bestseller since October of 2004 when she hit the top with The Family : The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty.

2000 Kentucky Derby

The favorite of the 2000 Kentucky Derby was a japanese owned thoroughbred called Fusaichi Pegasus and it had been 20 years since the favorite had won the Derby. The last favorite was Spectacular Bid in 1979.
He came on in the final stretch to break the jinx of the favorite.

In Case You Missed It (Weekend Edition)

"Avatar" made its entry into the DVD world this week to record numbers.

Utah once again to use the firing squad to carry out an execution.

Meth will make you do just about anything....EWWWWW

Your mugshot round up from The Smoking Gun

The last of the "Idaho Cavemen" has passed at age 94.

The Pittsburgh Pirates make history and not in a good way. And it was all for the enjoyment of the 50 fans who bothered to show up.

2006 Kentucky Derby

Today we look at the 2006 Run for the Roses and the undefeated and popular champion Barbaro. Coming into the race Barbaro was the second favorite at 6-1 odds and by the time he was done, Barbaro had won the Kentucky Derby by 6 and half lengths and became on the 6th undefeated Derby champion.
That was the largest margin of victory in the Derby since 1946 and Assault (who won the triple crown). Sadly the wildly popular horse was struck down with a broken leg during the running of the Preakness Stakes that year and never recovered.

In Case You Missed It for April 21st 2010

In an overlooked news story yesterday we found out that accused serial killer and all around NUTJOB Charles Manson is allegedly a father. A man in California who had been adopted very young, decided to track down his birth parents and maybe find a little of his heritage.
What happened next should be a movie of the week next year if not a bestselling book.

He found his birth mother and she provided evidence that his father is Charles Manson.

Read on a and be prepared to go WHAT??!?!?
and
in the NYPost

38th Academy Awards

Today in 1966 the 38th annual Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Santa Monica Civic Center with Bob Hope handling the hosting duties and broadcast by ABC television. It was honoring the films of 1965.
The Best Picture winner was "The Sound of Music" with Robert Wise, the producer and director won the Best Director award, however it shared the big winner of the night title with the highly acclaimed "Dr Zhivago", both winning 5 awards on 10 nominations each.
There were 2 Julie's battling it out for Best Actress with with Julie Christie winning for her role in "Darling". and Julie Andrews, who won the award in 1965, settled for best picture.

New #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller List - Fiction

This week is another first timer to the top spot. This week's new #1 Fiction Bestseller is "Changes" by Jim Butcher. This is book 12 of the Dresden Files series which is about a wizard detective in Chicago.