Can California Chrome end the Triple Crown drought? Or is Wicked Strong wicked enough for an upset?
Did you know Chrome wears a bandage to help him breathe? Maybe he’ll be the spokeshorse for “Breathe Right”!
Me and 19 million other people will be watching!
Go for the Chrome? Go Rosie!
Stop at the Trading Post for a treat!
Track: Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
Distance: 1 1/2 miles
TV: NBC (4:30 p.m.)
Post time: 6:52 p.m. ET
(Horses will leave for the walk to the paddock at 6:13 and the post parade will start at 6:39)
2014 Belmont Stakes Entries
Horses for 2014 Belmont Stakes Post Horse Jockey Trainer ML Odds
1 Medal Count Robby Albarado Dale L. Romans 20-1
2 California Chrome Victor Espinoza Art Sherman 3-5
3 Matterhorn Joe Bravo Todd Pletcher 30-1
4 Commanding Curve Shaun Bridgmohan Dallas Stewart 15-1
5 Ride On Curlin John Velazquez Billy Gowan 12-1
6 Matuszak Mike Smith Bill Mott 30-1
7 Samraat Jose Ortiz Rick Violette 20-1
8 Commissioner Javier Castellano Todd Pletcher 20-1
9 Wicked Strong Rajiv Maragh Jimmy Jerkens 6-1
10 General a Rod Rosie Napravnik Mike Maker 20-1
11 Tonalist Joel Rosario Christophe Clement 8-1
Message Body:
Dear Mr. Farley,
My name is Mr. Dan Range and I co- teach 4th grade vocabulary with Mrs. Garcia
in the Gadsden Elementary school district. We are located in San Luis, Arizona.
During our class time for the last month Mrs. Garcia and I have been reading
your fathers book “The Black Stallion” to the students as a read aloud. We just
finished this morning and the students have some questions that they would like
to ask of you in regards to your father’s book.
1. How did your father develop the character of Alec. Was he based on people he
knew in school or was there a particular family member that resembled his
personality.
2. Is the “Black Stallion based on actual events”
3. What made you and you brother decide to continue your father’s legacy in
regards to writing and literacy?
The students enjoyed the story of the Black stallion, so much so that we are
going to show the movie on Friday. Thank you for your commitment to literacy and
for writing and preserving such great American literature. The students look
forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mr. Range and Mrs. Garcia
Arizona Deserts 4th grade class.
Dear Mr. Range, Mrs Garcia and students,
My dad started writing” the Black Stallion” on his parent’s kitchen table when he was only a bit older than your students, sixteen. He had never owned a pony or a horse but had the opportunity to work with his Uncle Bill at a farm in upstate NY. There was plenty of work and many tall tales about horses of all kinds from his uncle. One that was repeated often was about Uncle Bill’s experience in World War 1;
Bill served as a veterinarian in the Army Equestrian Corps, there were many horses used in battles at that time. If you have seen the movie “War Horse” it shows the pain and tragedy of that war, and Uncle Bill’s job was to keep the horses sound and fit.
One evening a cry went up that the base camp was being attacked and Bill jumped out of his tent to see a lone man on a huge black horse charging toward him, bomb in hand!! Bill knew that if the solider managed to throw the bomb many of his friends would die and he had to do something NOW. He raised his pistol and fired without hesitation. The shot killed the rider instantly, before he had a moment to react, and he and his bomb fell to the ground harmlessly. Uncle Bill had saved the camp, his friends and officers, he was a hero!
The Captain of the base was so impressed by Bill’s swift action he asked him what he wanted as a reward. Uncle Bill knew exactly what he wanted – that Huge Black Stallion!
From then on the German horse and Bill were inseparable – traveling all over Europe as war raged and, like Alexander The Great’s horse Bucephalus, he saved Uncle Bill’s life more than once. Finally the war finished and it was time to go home. Like thousands of other soldiers Bill made his way to France where he was to board a ship back to America. When he arrived he soon learned there was no room for his most important possession, his horse. He had to make a painful decision – his family or his stallion.
Bill found a farmer in a nearby town who would take his beautiful black stallion and with tears in his eyes he left Black with the farmer, promising to return soon.
It was years later before Bill could get the money to go back but that big horse was a treasure he wasn’t going to lose! His big stallion became the sire of many fine race horses for Uncle Bill, who treated him with love and care for the rest of his life.
This is the way the story was told to me.
I believe this family tale and Dad’s wish to be an adventurer created Alec Ramsay. Often as my father would run on the beach, he was a track runner in school, and I would wonder who he was – Alec or the Black? He seemed to be both of them at different times but his fascination with horses of all types and that special feeling of connection between human and animal was a constant. Dad didn’t want sad stories about horses, books like “Black Beauty” and later “King of the Wind”, he wanted exciting adventure and wild horses! The Black Stallion gave him the ability to meet people in all walks of life from jockeys and trainers to presidents, kings and movie stars. He was able to ride the Black Stallion around the world doing what he like best – having adventures and writing about horses.
You never know where your dreams might take you!
I grew up with my dad’s closest friend, the Black Stallion, and he was a real part of the family. Dad was able to own a few horses later in life but that special mystery horse was the BIG brother of the family. When I was just out of college I started working on the Black Stallion films as a photographer (attached pix). That was an fantastic adventure that took me from the race tracks of California to the Sahara desert in Africa. I worked with many exciting people and saw magic come to life – like the rainbow scenes at the end of the Black Stallion film.
We started our literacy program with family friend Mark Miller and Al-Marah Arabians. Mark was best friends with my sister Pam and she is the inspiration for the books “Black Stallion and the Girl” and “Black Stallion Legend”.
Mark had a wonderful horse theater, Arabian Nights, in Orlando, Florida and I always hoped we could do something together. Horse Tales started as a small idea that used my dad’s books and his horses to tell a story that made reading fun. It was hard at the beginning but after the first year we knew we couldn’t stop – too many teachers and students enjoyed the program. We’ve now had over a million students participate in ten states and three countries.
Today is the second jewel in the Triple Crown today so save a few minutes this afternoon to see the excitement.
Is it going to be California history with California Chrome? Is he going to pull an Orb and fade in the race books? Or ala Big Brown keep us hoping for that special horse of the year that he can do it all in the next three weeks? Or will it be Rosie’s day?
Where: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland
When: Saturday, May 17 at 6:18 p.m. ET
Watch: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra
2014 Preakness Stakes Field
Entries for Preakness Stakes 2014 Post Horse Jockey Trainer Odds
1 Dynamic Impact Miguel Mena Mark E. Casse 12-1
2 General a Rod Javier Castellano Mike Maker 15-1
3 California Chrome Victor Espinoza Art Sherman 3-5
4 Ring Weekend Alan Garcia H. Graham Motion 20-1
5 Bayern Rosie Napravnik Bob Baffert 10-1
6 Ria Antonia Calvin Borel Tom Amoss 30-1
7 Kid Cruz Julian Pimentel Linda Rice 20-1
8 Social Inclusion Luis Contreras Manny Azpurua 5-1
9 Pablo Del Monte Jeffrey Sanchez Wesley A. Ward 20-1
10 Ride on Curlin Joel Rosario William Gowan 10-1 Betting / The Basics:
Win:
Selecting the winner of the race. Your horse must win in order for you to cash a ticket.
Place:
If your horse wins or comes in second you cash a ticket, but you get only the place payout.
Show:
If your horse comes in first, second or third you cash a ticket, but you get only the show payout.
WPS:
Stands for “win, place, show”, also known as “across the board”. This places a win, place and show bet on your selection, which is three wagers. I like to think of this as an “ease of use” wager. If your horse wins you get the win, place AND show payout. You’d say “$2 across the board on #3″ to place this wager.
Exotic Bets – Single Race
Exacta:
Selecting the first and second place finishers in exact order.
Quinella:
Selecting the first and second place finishers in either order (if you select #7 & #9 you cash a ticket as long as both finish first and second).
Trifecta:
Selecting the first, second and third place finishers in exact order.
Superfecta:
Selecting the first, second, third and forth place finishers in exact order.
Box:
For any of the single race exotics you can “box” your wager. This means that any of your selections can finish in any order depending on the wager. For example an exacta box is similar to quinella in that as long as your selections run one and two you cash a ticket. A two horse exacta box is two wagers and therefore costs double the money. Accordingly and to your benefit, it pays more than the quinella. A $2 exacta box of two horses is $4. A $1 trifecta box of three horses is $6. You can box as many horses as you like, but it can get pricey!
Key:
Used with exactas, trifectas and superfectas, you select a single horse to win (the key) and other horses to come in second, third and fourth depending on the wager.
Wheel:
A wheel is similar to a key, just with more horses and potentially variations in the how you position the horses. With this type of wager you’d select more than one horse in the top spot, essentially “wheeling” horses “up and down” – or placing a horse in more than one position in your wagers.
For example, you could have a trifecta that looks like this: 2,5 / 2,5,7 / 1,7,9. In this case you would need #2 or #5 to win, either of those two or #7 to come in second and #1, #7 or #9 to show. If you place a $1 wager in this configuration would cost you $18 (2 horses in first position x 3 horses in second position x 3 horses in third position).
Exotic Bets – Multiple Race
Daily Double:
Selecting the winner in two consecutive races.
Pick 3:
Selecting the winner in three consecutive races.
Pick 4:
Selecting the winner in four consecutive races.
Pick 6:
Selecting the winner in six consecutive races.
2014 Kentucky Derby: Post Positions and Odds
Post Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Odds
1 Vicar’s In Trouble Rosie Napravnik Mike Maker 25-1
2 Harry’s Holiday Corey Lanerie Mike Maker 50-1
3 Uncle Sigh Irad Ortiz Jr. Gary Contessa 35-1
4 Danza Joe Bravo Todd Pletcher 8-1
5 California Chrome Victor Espinoza Art Sherman 21-10
6 Samraat Jose Ortiz Rick Violette Jr. 16-1
7 We Miss Artie Javier Castellano Todd Pletcher 33-1
8 General A Rod Joel Rosario Mike Maker 18-1
9 Vinceremos Joe Rocco Jr. Todd Pletcher 50-1
10 Wildcat Red Luis Saez Jose Garoffalo 18-1
SCRATCHED Hoppertunity
11 Dance With Fate Corey Nakatani Peter Eurton 14-1
12 Chitu Martin Garcia Bob Baffert 22-1
13 Medal Count Robby Albarado Dale Romans 22-1
14 Tapiture Ricardo Santana Jr. Steve Asmussen 20-1
15 Intense Holiday John Velazquez Todd Pletcher 12-1
16 Commanding Curve Shaun Bridgmohan Dallas Stewart 33-1
17 Candy Boy Gary Stevens John Sadler 18-1
18 Ride on Curlin Calvin Borel William G. Gowan 18-1
19 Wicked Strong Rajiv Maragh James A. Jerkens 8-1
SCRATCHED Pablo Del Monte
Mickey Rooney passed away yesterday, a sad loss to the entire entertainment world. Mickey started at two years old and was still making movies this year at 93! His legacy will endure as history has already shown. His performance as Henry Dailey, with Kelly Reno as Alec Ramsay, in Carroll Ballard’s classic “The Black Stallion” for MGM /UA brought an Oscar nomination for Mickey, many yeas after he was a an MGM contract actor. His work when he was the young heartthrob for the studio only brought him a marriage to young Ava Gardner – every inch a classic at 5 foot three!
I had the pleasure and honor to ride to the set every day with Mickey and heard a lot of his wonderful stories as the miles swept by. Sometimes those rides were the highlight of my day … and that’s saying something as those were exciting days. To see him perform, a true entertainer, singer, dancer & actor was a treat not to be forgotten. He had boundless energy that shows in every frame of film.
After his work on “Black Stallion” in 1979 Mickey went on to Broadway with Ann Miller and “Sugar Babies”, a tribute to his song and dance Vaudeville roots. It was a hit running for over three years with rave reviews and awards.
In 1988 we had the pleasure to team up with Mr. Rooney again with the TV show “Adventures of the Black Stallion” for a three year series. Mickey continued his role as Henry Dailey with Richard Cox as Alec.
Here’s a great article on Mickey – good or bad boy – he was a REAL original;
Mickey Rooney Was the Last Old Hollywood Star Standing
He was an astonishing actor, a galvanized entertainer and a star who could never diminish his own glory (though he tried). He was Puck and Baby Face Nelson—only in America. But it is not enough to say that we have lost an actor, a vaudevillian, an artist, and a national treasure. It is the force that is gone, and the sense of that force as part of our history. We know what it is to admit that there is no one left alive who fought in the trenches of the Great War. Soon there will be no one left who existed in a Nazi concentration camp. So Mickey Rooney was the last male left alive who had been a true star and a phenomenon in the 1930s, when Hollywood believed it ran the show and had established the idea of some spunky, brilliant kids doing it. After all, the show was hardly a thing for which one could expect adult participation.
Joseph Yule Jr. was ninety-three at the end; he had been five-feet-two once; and there had been eight wives and nine children, many of whom may have tottered away from the experience in exhaustion and disbelief. He was not easygoing, and not restrained by reality or fact. In the late ’30s, when he was the number 3 champion at the box office (following Clark Gable and Shirley Temple), he let it be known that Mickey Mouse had been named after him. Walt Disney did not recall it that way, but why would anyone attend to his rather grim, clerical manner when the wide eyes and the wider imagination of the Mick were on offer? Years after the death of Judy Garland, Rooney looked back on their screen association. He said their love affair—which had never been an affair—was intense beyond description. It meant, he said, in 1992, that Judy was not really or exactly or simply dead. She lived on in him. Such talk is easily taken as show business hyperbole, and by 1992 that had become an alien language. But the truth is that Mick meant it. He believed. Stranger things had happened—notably the way he was Andy Hardy in fourteen films at MGM, as well as Judy’s partner in films where the couple put on a show, climaxing in Babes in Arms, which was one of the biggest box-office hits of 1939, even bigger than The Wizard ofOz.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Mickey Rooney and Ava Gardner in 1942.
The story of how MGM and its father figure, Louis B. Mayer, tried to keep Mickey and Judy kids forever and out of trouble would make an astonishing movie. There is only one drawback to the plan: No one now can match or understand the ferocious acting-out dynamic of all three parties. Mayer may have hoped that the vast sexual energy in both kids might be married off, but Mickey became a serial marrier. He started with Ava Gardner, who was nowhere near a star yet and was four inches taller than he was. He moved on to Martha Vickers, who is Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep, the nymph who tries to sit down in Bogart’s lap while he’s still standing up. The mere idea of Mickey and Martha together (1949-52) tends to eclipse the nuclear testing that was so popular at that time. I know, that’s excessive and vulgar, but we are talking about Mickey Rooney.
Anyone would have anticipated that the Mick would burn out. By about 1950, the generation of child stars he had grown up with were looking for careers in stockbroking and settled marriages. Judy was cracking up, but Shirley Temple, Freddie Bartholomew, Deanna Durbin and Jackie Cooper were all facing up to reality. Rooney went broke—god knows what happened to his money. He should have subsided, or come to a bad end. He never stopped. Only a few years ago, I was driving in rural Oregon and came to a settlement, with a casino and dinner theatre, and there he was doing one of his shows.
That view of his undying thunderstorm could be amused and patronizing, so let me just say to those who hardly knew him and who lack the time to track down everything he did—he has 340 credits on IMDb—try these (going back in time):
Express Newspapers/Getty Images
Rooney in 1971.
Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion is a film that never fails with audiences. One reason why is that after the lyrical stuff on the island with the horse and the boy, the story moves on to horse-racing where Mick is the trainer who teaches the boy to be a jockey on the Black for the big race. It is one of the finest tributes to education in American cinema.
In 1957, for the big screen, he was the lead in Don Siegel’s Baby Face Nelson—brilliant, hilarious, demonic; and in the same year, on the small screen, directed by John Frankenheimer from a Rod Serling script, he did The Comedian for Playhouse 90—monstrous, inspired, terrifying.
Last, let it be first. In the Max Reinhart film of A MidsummerNight’s Dream, made at Warner Brothers in 1936, he was Puck. Many years ago, an English critic said of that performance, “Rooney seems inhuman, he moves like mist or water, his body is burnished by the extraordinary light, and his gurgling laugh is ghostly and enchanting.” Let that stand.
One co-star in the Dream was Olivia de Havilland, and she is still alive and (I hope) very well (she is the last female star from that era). I’m not sure if they met during the filming, but it’s pretty and tempting to picture the two of them together—Mickey sixteen, Olivia nineteen—with her offering him advice to calm down, behave and think of his career, while knowing that he was not going to do one damn thing she told him.
We’ll all miss you Mr. Rooney – but we’ll see you at the movies.
Tim, Kelly, Carroll, Doug, Caleb, Fred, Tom … and all your Black Stallion friends!
