Lucky Me

- One of my favorite bands these days is The National, a Brooklyn-based band that records for Beggars Banquet; I'm anxiously looking forward to their upcoming release, Boxer, due on May 22. Particularly sublime is their 2003 release Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, which is stuck on my Ipod playlist these days. I was listening to one of the songs while walking home from work yesterday, and the lyrics went:

You own me.
There's nothing you can do.
You own me.

Lucky you.

I felt as if it was Highland Cat singing to me, mockingly. Indeed, I'd just received the latest cash call to support my 5% share of the horse, and it ain't pretty. The $6,000 earned from the particularly paltry purse offered in the bottom basement maiden claimer he won on February 22 barely seemed to make a dent in the expenses that pile up day after day. And it's been a seemingly endless string of checks I've been required to write.

The cute grey gelding is now scheduled to return to action tomorrow, Sunday, in the same kind of perfect spot that was washed off the turf last week - a $35,000 claimer for non-winners of two lifetime on the grass. Of course, as luck would have it, he's stuck out in ten post in a mile race, which doesn't help his cause. Not a great field, but there are a couple of horses who look imposing, especially Taken Not Given, a Contessa entry who earned some nice Beyers on grass last year.

And also, as luck would have it, though he finally gets a weekend start, I have Game 3 of the Rangers-Sabres series, with my blue-shirted heroes looking to rebound from a devastating Game 2 loss last night, in which they blew a 2-1 lead after two of the most perfect defensive periods I've seen them play in 30+ years of Ranger watching. Hopefully, both they and Highland Cat will make for a lucky me on Sunday.