don't hate

The creative department at T Street finally kicked out something to plug into the banner. I've consistently slashed their budget since the launch (we might be down to half a six pack at this point), so I really can't complain about the turnaround. We'll tinker around with it, maybe try to get the writing a bit more prominent. The silks are otherwise set - it's the yellow and blue that streak around ovals up and down the east coast. Sure, "streak" is perhaps a bit generous, but the fillies read the blog from time to time and they get sensitive when I get on them too much.

Speaking of sensitive, a reader ("the" reader, I should say), passed along that maybe I was being too hard on Fortuna. I mean, I never say anything to her face, of course, (it's strictly carrots, mints and the occasional pep talk), but she's clearly figured out that she gets fed each morning regardless of her performance in the afternoons. Now, maybe that makes her a genius, but I lean more toward ungrateful. She reminds me of a guinea pig, Sid (pictured), that's been staying at my in-laws' place up in Maine the last few times we've visited. Every morning, without fail, that little guy is up at, like, 6:00am wailing, "YEEP! YEEP!" until someone breaks down and feeds the guy. Five minutes after someone has thrown heaps of alfafa at him, he's back with the YEEPs. Can he be serious? Just like Fortuna, Sid doesn't get the very basic quid pro quo at work: we feed you and then you keep quiet, or in the filly's case, at least pretend to try. I could get all psycho-silly on the effect of reinforcement and that sort of thing, but I feel myself moving closer to tears and don't want to lose it. I need to keep what's left of my dignity intact.

Continuing with the soft theme, how about the Grade One Ruffian stakes at Belmont on Saturday? The $300,000 race drew five fillies (write-up here). One of them, Ginger Punch, comes off a phony Beyer figure at Saratoga (remember the fuss over Lawyer Ron's fig?), but will still take serious action at the windows. I've got to think that Take D'Tour holds the pace edge at 1m 1/16, so the question becomes whether one of the others can benefit from a protracted pace battle (Rahy's Appeal maybe?). Anyway, the point for bringing it up is just to highlight that only FIVE fillies are in for the Grade One. Ummm, maybe we should go buy some decent fillies and see if we can pick up a Grade One placing? Done and done. If she's still to the good, we've got Mass Romantic penciled in for this race next year and Veiled Reference scheduled for the Gazelle in October 2008. Slightly delusional, yes, but the most brilliant plans always are.