I love the proposal knocking about this week for preserving the historic Red Mile (harness) track in Lexington while adding residential and commercial development to the property.

The place presently is an eyesore stuck smack within the city of Lexington. Drive past and what you see are old barns, empty lots, muck pits, and the rear of an aging grandstand stuck smack in the city. The scene fits somewhere in a twilight world between urban and rural character. It’s a scene out of place, out of time, and irrelevant in its present state.

Add development while retaining the historic features, however, and this blighted scene could change radically. It’s the perfect answer for preserving a part of the city’s storied past while making meaning and good use of it for modern times. CONTINUED

In recognition of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra running Saturday in the Grade I Mother Goose Stakes (work it, Rachel!) we have been posting musings and quotations about women:

Today’s is from the movie, Grand Hotel, Academy Award winner for Best Picture in 1932, starring Greta Garbo as a prima ballerina who falls in love with John Barrymore. The scene takes place when Garbo discovers a man in her hotel room. It is Barrymore, who had entered through the window planning to steal her jewelry. They begin to chat…the hours pass…they begin to fall in love…

Garbo: I became famous…but why am I telling you all this? Last night I didn’t know you at all. Who are you?

Barrymore: ¨I’m a prodigal son…I shall die on the gallows…I haven’t a bit of character…when I was a little boy I was taught to ride and to be a gentleman…

Garbo: And what do you do now?

Barrymore: Well, now I’m a gambler…

Garbo: You may keep the pearls. I don’t want them…[She tells him she is traveling to] Vienna…You’re coming with me, of course you are…I have money; I have enough for both of us…I shall dance and you’ll be with me and I have a villa there…the sun will shine…

Barrymore: Don’t worry. I’ll be on the train.

Sometimes I’ve wondered what became of Racecar Rhapsody after he left Ken McPeek’s stable. Go to this link:

http://sidfernando.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/chechen-intrigue-in-dubai-may-have-affected-ascot-plans/

In recognition of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra we’re posting  quotations and musings about women this week. Tune in Saturday for Rachel in the Grade I Mother Goose Stakes. Work it, Rachel:

“Early female athletes had difficulty being taken seriously…When covering women’s athletic events, even sympathetic sportswriters constantly reminded readers that these athletes were different, in part by repeatedly referring to their looks. In a story about Chris Evert’s play at the U. S. Open, for example, a reporter spent paragraphs describing her jewelry, long pink fingernails, tanned skin, dark eyelashes, and lack of sweat (italics mine).”

From Scotter Toby Davidson and Valerie Anthony, editors, Sport of Kings: America’s Top Women Jockeys Tell Their Stories (Syracuse University Press, 1999), 11.

In recognition of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra and her upcoming race Saturday in the Grade I Mother Goose Stakes, we’re focusing this week on musings and quotations concerning women. Here’s today’s, from Barbara Kingsolver, “Homeland and Other Stories,” page 10:

“You have to marry outside your clan,” she said. “That’s law. And all the people we knew were Bird Clan. All the others were gone. So when Stewart Murray came and made baby eyes at me, I had to go with him.” She laughed. “I liked his horse.”

Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra will be the most ballyhooed celebrity at Belmont Park on Saturday – the most hyped celebrity since Calvin Borel attempted his personal “jockey triple crown” in the Belmont Stakes. One thing I’m glad to see: all women will be admitted free for this running of the $300,000 Grade I Mother Goose Stakes.

I can remember when every Wednesday was ladies’ day at most race tracks and women received free admission. Why did racing get away from this custom? Changing attitudes, I guess. A shift towards “politically correct.” But one of many opportunities lost, I would argue.

Rachel is putting the spotlight back on females at the track. New York Racing Association has recognized this opportunity and is quite correctly capitalizing on the occasion. Forget about women jockeys, trainers, and owners: the very female presence at the races was at one time the premier sign signifying that the sport was indeed wholesome and not the evil den of degeneracy…CONTINUED

Last year we brought you a story about the inaugural John Henry Memorial Equine Adoption Fair: http://www.maryjeanwall.com/wallblog/?page_id=13

This year’s fair is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. June 27 at the Kentucky Horse Park and will be held in partnership with the Kentucky Horse Council. The adoption fair will feature adoptable horses from several equine rescue organizations, in an effort to assist these organizations in finding good homes for their rescued horses.

I was surprised to read that the 1947 Kentucky Derby trophy won by Jet Pilot failed to sell at auction Sunday in Boston. Why not, I wondered? Jet Pilot wasn’t the most memorable horse in this sport’s history but his owner was absolutely unforgettable.

Let me tell you about Elizabeth Arden Graham, cosmetics queen whose money and eccentricities brightened racing with extraordinary flair. Someone once wrote in to a newspaper gossip column with the question, “Is it true Elizabeth Arden put expensive cream on her horses’ legs?”   CONTINUED

The tipoff was there all along; we just did not take it seriously. The third-placed jockey in the 1915 Belmont Stakes was C. Borel. History repeats.

How do I love the Belmont Stakes? Let me count the ways…

A: for Aqueduct, for hosting the Belmont Stakes in 1963 while Belmont’s grandstand and clubhouse were being rebuilt; for *Australian for siring three winners of the race during the early years and thus helping make the Bluegrass significant in the post-Civil War era of sports; for Eddie Arcaro, winner of the Belmont six times and for riding in every Belmont from 1938 through 1960 (imagine!) except for one year while on suspension; for Afleet Alex (2005) and the Alex’s Lemonade stands assembled for charity at Belmont Park and at other tracks.

B: for no less than August Belmont, namesake of the track and the race, who arguably had more to do than anyone with resurrecting Thoroughbred racing in the Northeast after the Civil War; if not for his crowd, the sport might still be raced in heats at South Carolina or New Orleans. B is also for Birdstone, the little horse who could and who gave trainer Nick Zito and owner Marylou Whitney a win for the ages in 2004, before siring this year’s favorite, Mine That Bird. B is for Col. E. R. Bradley, who could knock them dead in the betting ring who bred and owned the 1929 winner, Blue Larkspur and the same with the 1940 winner, Bimelech.

C: for the carnations, all 300 to 400 of them, sewn into the winner’s blanket; for Hall of Famer Steve Cauthen…

CONTINUED