Mark the date! I was WRONG!

So. I cheerfully admit that I was proven wrong today, when Big Brown lived up to all the hype his trainer has said about him and won the Kentucky Derby. I didn't think he could do it, considering he had three strikes against him; he had only had three starts, he was coming from the 20th post, and he was the favorite. But, he ran a really excellent, picture-perfect race. He broke clean, made his way over, laid in fifth or sixth the entire race, accelerated REALLY beautifully there at the end, and won easily. He looked fresh and looked like he could have easily run another race right then. He was feeling good enough to unseat his jockey. I have never been so happy to be proven wrong, because he really ran a very nice race.
Is he the Triple Crown winner we've been waiting for? I've got no comment on that. He looks good, and I believe he could last the length of the Belmont. But he's also got a history of quarter cracks and if one of those pops up, he's out. I think the real make-it-or-break-it point though is going to be the start. If he gets a clean start and doesn't get bumped around, he'll be okay, but I think he's very much an outside-running horse, and if he gets stuck towards the middle, it could be bad. Either way, as happy as I am to be proven wrong, I really, really wish I was wrong...you just know that people will be breeding a ton of mares to him, which means we're going to have a whole bunch of new little Thoroughbreds with bad feet.
But, poor Eight Belles...I feel so sorry for her and her connections. She ran an amazing race and was another example of me being proven wrong...only to be so severely hurt, AFTER it was over. That's just devastating, and it casts a pall on the whole day. When the news came that she was hurt, my mom looked at me and said, "How can you want to be part of something where stuff like that happens?" My response was simply "Because I want to breed horses so stuff like that doesn't happen."
That's my philosophy of horse breeding, right there. Horses need to be bred for soundness, speed, and stamina, but in the last couple decades they've only been breeding for speed. When I have a breeding program, I'm going to look to bring the other two back into it.
In other news, my thoughts and prayers are also with Chelokee, a wonderful racehorse in his own right. Chelokee was injured the other day and the headlines are calling for a 50/50 chance. He's a GIII winner, a four-year-old, and he won the Barbaro Stakes last year...an especially sentimental win, as he is a Michael Matz trainee, the trainer of Barbaro. Best wishes to him and his connections.
I promised Emily I'd watch a TV show with her, so that's all for now.