These Amazing Puppies

At the rate these guys are maturing, they'll be ready for obedience training in about a month! Yesterday, they all figured out how to get out of the pool. Not only that, they taught themselves to get back IN! There is usually a matter of several days or longer before pups get THAT concept down pat. And THEN they decided it didn't matter if they got back in, they were still safe outside the nest. Sometimes they wandered around the pen (which is half the size of the room... 15' by 8') until they found their mom and sometimes they just lay down and went to sleep where ever... together or singly! I am SOOO impressed with all four. It's almost scary how advanced they are!

Preakness bummer
I had first and second place in the Preakness BUT they finished in the wrong order for Animal Kingdom to try for the Triple Crown. The mile and three sixteenths is definitely Shakleford's length... AK needed another couple steps to pass him. I doubt either of them will run in the Belmont; Shak because it is too long and AK because his trainer and owner(s) aren't keen on running 3 races in 5 weeks. He probably wouldn't have been entered in the Preakness if he hadn't won the Derby. Actually, that group of people... AK's connections... are MY type! No drugs, no tricks, run the horses when it's right for them and have fun. Wish I could afford to buy in!

Another Storm
And for the first time in a long while, my power was off for an extended period... all of last night's prime time so I missed the Celebrity Apprentice finale. (I'm assuming John Rich won because that was the only choice....) My power came on after about 5 hours... the lights/tv coming on woke me up... and then went off again. Don't know when or for how long, I just saw that the clock was screwed up again this morning. My son, who lives about 3 miles from me, is STILL without power and the tree blocking the road about 30 feet beyond his drive is still untouched. That is a fairly busy road and there were no warnings up, no police presence, no nothing so all night there were squealing brakes. He called the police several times and was told they were busy.... More severe storms forecast for later today. Of course. It's Dancing with Stars tonight AND the finale (season AND series) of The Event!

Updates - Pups and Preakness

Okay, this is Lolly, the medium size one of the 3 girls. On the website I put that she doesn't have white on her face. Well, this morning, I checked her in the sunlight and I was wrong about that (imagine that!) She is pale blond, like the others, BUT there is the faintest amount of white on her face, just like the photo shows. The picture makes her blond look darker which makes the white more prominent than it actually is BUT as the hair gets longer, the white will probably be more visible to the casual looker. Unless, of course, her blond LIGHTENS up more.... ANYway, that's Lolly!

No Triple Crown Again This Year
I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get another one! In case you didn't see the race, Super Saver finished 8th, the same spot he started from. His jockey said he just didn't have the energy to hang in there although he ran in second for most of the way. Looking at Lucky, with a new, very young jockey up, finally won. Here's something interesting... just before the race started I wrote down the names of my 1-4 winners in order (you can only bet on 1-3 but the 4th place horse does win money.) My order started with Super Saver... not because I think he's a super colt but because of wishful thinking... followed, in order, by First Dude, Paddy O'Prado and something-or-other-Twist. I didn't have Lucky in there at all. Paddy I thought would do well after the way he ran the Derby (he finished 5th yesterday;) I've liked First Dude because of his name (I thought he was named after Bill Clinton but it turns out his dam is Run Sarah Run...) and the Twist horse I chose because of Jack Twist from Brokeback. Forget about Paddy O'Prado... Nick Zito (remember him?)'s horse, Jackson Bend, came in third. BUT second place went to Dude and fourth to Twist! Guess I should stick to picking long shots! One other thing... Lucky's jockey, Kent Desormeaux, was taken off him after the Derby and accepted a ride on Dublin (who also ran in the Derby and was running in the Preakness.) Lucky for Dublin and Desormeaux, they were in gate 12, the last one. At the break, Dublin veered sharply right (instead of bearing left toward the rail and the rest of the field.) It was really weird. But his jock got him back under control and although he was dead last for most of the race, he finished 5th or 6th.

So the Belmont is in 3 weeks and it's the last of the Triple Crown races. It's a little longer than the Derby and should be pretty interesting... look for Ice Box, running fresh after 5 weeks off. And that's as far as I'm going with this!