Jamie

“Who decided that all Thoroughbreds would share a January 1 birthday?”

(Note: Applies to all Northern Hemisphere Thoroughbreds; Southern Hemisphere Thoroughbreds share a birth date of August 1)

Time for a brief history lesson…

The British turf traditions were brought over from England with the colonists and continued on well after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783. One of those traditions was recognizing May Day (May 1) as the birth date for racing Thoroughbreds. Racing didn’t really take place during the winter or spring in England, and it had been decided in the mid-1700’s that May 1 would be a universal birth date for Thoroughbreds.

However, racing was changing in Great Britain, and on April 25, 1833, members of The Jockey Club agreed that horses at their headquarters in Newmarket would share the birth date of January 1 instead of May 1. This only applied at Newmarket, though, as there were two factions of racing in England at the time: those who followed the ‘Newmarket rules’ and those whose officials came up with their own set of regulations.

January 1 wouldn’t be adopted countrywide until 1858.

Once the new date became widespread in Britain, some in America called for racing to follow suit, specifically the North. The South dug its heels in, though, and refused to change the date from May 1.

Thus, for a time, American racehorses celebrated their birth days on two different dates, depending on where they were born. The divide remained until after the Civil War ended in 1865, when the main focus of the sport shifted from the South to the North, specifically New York.

One of the first changes made was bringing Southern race horses in step with the North to make the official birthday January 1.

The above is just a brief summary; Nelson Dunstan wrote an in depth article that was printed in the January 12, 1948, edition of the Daily Racing Form. Special thanks to Tom Hall from The Blood-Horse and the Keeneland Library for their help.

Now to name the baby

How do horses get their names?

Owners have to get creative with horse names, since no two racing horses can share a name at the same time, according to the Jockey Club rule book. Horse names must be submitted to the Jockey Club no later than February of their second year. And it should go without saying, but horse names can’t be rude or inappropriate. There has certainly been a handful in history on the borderline, or that snuck in, but as a rule of thumb, it’s not a great idea.

Names also can’t be longer than 18 characters, including spaces, and must meet a variety of other conditions. The Jockey Club tosses about 30% of the names submitted. One of the most common naming techniques is to use the horse’s pedigree, incorporating the name of its father, or both father and mother. But names can come from anything — current events, a favorite pastime, a location or pop culture. Barbaro and his siblings got their name from a family painting of horses.

Here are the more specific rules for naming a horse: What’s in a Name: A Look at the Rules for Naming Thoroughbreds | News | Kentucky Derby

To Check this year’s Derby horses, enter their name in the search block at Thoroughbred Horse Pedigree Query and the five previous generations will appear. This will often reveal the reasoning behind the name. You can also put in a name you like to see if there is a horse by that name or a retired name that might be available as some names are on the Jockey Club Permanent List and cannot be used.

“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Obviously today is the day when Trailmixers go to the starting gate with the annual run for the roses.

The use of roses was first established as part of the Derby celebration when they were presented to all the ladies attending a fashionable Louisville Derby party in 1883. The roses were such a sensation, that the president of Churchill Downs, Colonel Lewis Clark, adopted the rose as the race’s official flower.

So pour your favorite form of usqueba, topped with a bit of mint and learn the lyrics to My Old Kentucky Home. Warning I always tear up when they get to “Weep No More My Lady”

The entries so far are as follows:

Post Position / Name (Jockey) / Morning Odds / Trailmix Rider 

1 / Known Agenda (Irad Ortiz, Jr.) / 6-1 / 

2 / Like The King (Van Dyke) / 50 – 1 / 

3 / Brooklyn Strong (Rispoli)/ 50 – 1 / 

4 / Keepmeinmind (Cohen) / 50 – 1 / 

5 / Sainthood (Lanerie) / 50 – 1 / 

6 / O Besos (Pedroza) / 20 – 1 / 

7 / Mandaloun (Geroux) / 15 – 1 / 

8 / Medina Spirit (Velazquez) / 15 – 1 / 

9 / Hot Rod Charlie (Prat) / 8 – 1 / – Pogo, Renee, Sturgeone 

10 / Midnight Bourbon (Smith) / 20 – 1 / – Jamie 

11 / Dynamic One (Jose Ortiz) / 20 – 1 / 

12 / Helium (Leparoux) / 50 – 1 / – Craig 

13 / Hidden Stash (Bejarano) / 50 – 1 / 

14 / Essential Quality (Saez) / 2-1 /– Patd / Place for Jamie 

15 / Rock Your World (Rosario) / 5-1 / – Place for Patd 

16 / King Fury (Hernandez, Jr) / 20 – 1 /  

17 / Highly Motivated (Castellano) / 10-1 / 

18 / Super Stock (Santana) / 30-1 / 

19 / Soup and Sandwich (Gaffaleone) / 30-1 /– Show for Patd 

20 / Bourbonic (Carmouche) / 30-1 /  

By Jamie, a Trail Mix Contributor

Anyone who knows me knows that if Hugh Jackman is in a movie, don’t stand between me and the theater on opening day.  This year, he stars in a film that asks more questions than it gives answers that will be released on Election Day or as the promoters say, “Go vote, then go to the movies”.  This combines my two greatest obsessions:  Politics and Movies.

The Front Runner is based on Matt Bai’s book, All The Truth is Out:  The Week Politics Went Tabloid, about the week that Gary Hart’s campaign was destroyed by the rumors of an extra marital affair that may or may not have happened in this case (there were others as he seems to have had a zipper problem) but changed political coverage by media seemingly forever.  As Hart has said, “You can get awful famous in this country in seven days.”

While I lived through the events, I knew next to nothing about Hart, except for the positions he took and then of course, the scandal that ended the campaign.  In a desire to know more I read a few articles and then wondered what he had been up to since. As it turns out, he never really went away and that scandal may have cost us an excellent President.  Fortunately, it did not deprive us of a great thinker. He returned to law, acted as an advisor to other politicians, made speeches, and most of all, he wrote:

• James Monroe, the 5th President
• God and Caesar in America
• The Courage of Our Convictions
• Restoration of the Republic, The Jeffersonian Ideal
• The Fourth Power, A Grand Strategy for the US in the 21st Century
• The Shield and the Cloak, The Security of the Commons

Hart is now considered one of the foremost thinkers on national security.  On September 4, 2001, exactly one week before the September attacks Hart gave a speech warning that within the next 25 years a terrorist attack would lead to mass deaths in the United States.  Hart met with aviation executives in Montreal, Canada, on September 5, 2001, to warn of airborne terrorist attacks. The Montreal Gazette reported the story the following day with a headline, “Thousands Will Die, Ex-Presidential Hopeful Says.”  On September 6, 2001, Hart met with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to urge, “You must move more quickly on homeland security. An attack is going to happen.”  In a subsequent interview with Salon.com, Hart accused President George W. Bush and other administration officials of ignoring his warnings.

Recently I picked up his most recent (2015) book, Republic of Conscience  which is very much in line with Ben Franklin’s, “We’ve given you a Republic if you can keep it.” Hart provides an action plan. In about the clearest words I have read, this man now 81, has written a book that makes you want to highlight something on every page.   From the beginning of the Amazon introduction:

Going back as early as 400 BC, the idea of a true republic has been threatened by narrow, special interests taking precedence over the commonwealth. The United States Constitution was drafted to protect against such corruption, but as Gary Hart details in The Republic of Conscience, America is nowhere near the republic it set out to be almost 250 years ago, falling to the very misconduct it hoped to avoid.

Writing well before the 2016 campaign – “Conservatives have mounted a stealth campaign to produce barriers to voting.  There is an over-all domination of money, virtually all of it representing one special interest or another.  The political media even provide honors for those raising the most money.” I would quote more, but I would be rewriting the whole book.  Just go get it.

Hart and his wife Lee (now married for 60 years) were given a private showing of The Front Runner.  They both liked it and the questions presented.  Over hot chocolate afterwards, Hart asked, “Do I really talk like that?”  Lee answered, “Yes dear, just like that.”

Buy the books, go to the movie … Oh and don’t forget to vote.

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