Happy New Year

- The agreement to keep Aqueduct open until January 23 means that the last remaining piece of my equine empire, Just Zip It, will go postward in the 9th race should she not be scratched due to the expected sloppy track. I think I own like 1.85% of this horse, which translates to a few hairs on her tail probably. It's her first start since her debut some 13 months ago, when she closed from far behind to get second. To be honest, that race, a 50K state-bred maiden claimer, has not come back very strong. However, she did close quite well; Formulator has her final furlong and a half as 11.79 and 5.43 seconds respectively, and that's pretty good. You see her six works on the tab, and she had two prior going back to Nov 1. So it's a pretty solid string of works, and that quick work on Dec 5 was out of the gate.

Trainer Bill Turner is not a big layoff guy, but he does have one 180+ winner this year. And that winner happened to be Highland Cat, the only time he ever won while I still owned a piece through Castle Village, and I wasn't there. Highland Cat is also running on New Year's Day, in the 9th at Calder, a 16K claimer on the grass. Or scheduled to go on the grass. I have to admit that I bet him the last time he ran, not knowing that the race had been taken off; I felt like an idiot. This looks like a really tough spot, and he has a bad post. Dutrow has two dropdowns breaking from inside posts. He's reported to be doing quite well though, and I think he's a better horse on the grass, so I'll probably put a few bucks on him (though I'll check to see if it's on the turf first).

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take the rest of the year off from blogging. Here's wishing all of you a peaceful and healthy New Year, and thank all of you once again for reading. If you happen to be at the Big A tomorrow, check me out in the winner's circle after the 9th (he says hopefully).

And now, a brief musical interlude, and I'll see you again in 2008!



Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene (dedicated to my 2,000 or so fellow degenerates at the Big A)



Husker Du - Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely (dedicated to Joe Bruno)



Pavement - Cut Your Hair



The National - Lit Up



Low - Hatchet (dedicated to Eliot Spitzer and Joe Bruno)



Cracker - Teen Angst (..what the world needs now are some true words of wisdom, like la la la la la la la la la)



Elvis Costello and the Attractions - What's So Funny Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? (dedicated to all of us) (Peace.)