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Derby Day Trash Talk 2023

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Okay, after an eventful, occasionally contentious, week, there is a weekend. Trash Talk was invented for weekends like this. So, let’s go.

First up, the Kentucky Derby. The easy favorite, Forte, has been suddenly scratched from the field hours before the race. That is kind of stunning. Who is the new favorite? Tapit Trice is the 2023 Kentucky Debry favorite at 5-1 followed by Angel of Empire (8-1). Look out for Derma Sotogake, the impressive Japanese horse, and my personal outside pick, Verifying. Sit back in your rose pink Cadillac and have a mint julep!

In other sports news, this is the weekend of the Miami Grand Prix. Miami remains as ugly and stupid of a course as I have ever seen. It is garish and stupid. The refrain is always “but there will be stars there!” Got news for folks, I have been to more than a few, and there are “stars” and beautiful people at every Grand Prix. Qualifying has yet to go off, but it is a fair chance it is between Verstappen and Perez. Leclerc has really been doing well lately, and never count out Fernando Alonso.

In the NBA, the Phoenix Suns held off the Denver Nuggets last night thanks to a herculean 47 point effort by Devin Booker. Booker is the most underrated and unappreciated true superstar in the NBA. Can the Suns win at home again Sunday to pull even at 2-2? I don’t know. The Arena is a seriously crazy place to play during playoffs, but Denver just seems, for now, a better team.

There is some fun going on in the AL East, where Jim White’s Rays are killing it. I might have to fly over for a Rays game if Jim can get us into RandyLand.

Alright, that is enough framework, chat about anything and everything you wish.

On Kentucky Derby days, I usually post Dead Flowers by the Stones because, obviously, it references Kentucky Derby day. Usually the Marquee Theater version. But today, gonna use a version by Keef, Willie and friends. It is pretty kick ass.

Kentucky Derby Day

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Video not loading like it used to. Sorry about that. Here it is, as should be:

It is getting harder to properly embed videos from You Tube. Just imagine how bad a worthless prick like Musk can make the internet.

Okay, let’s rip it up a bit. There is nothing like Derby Day. The hats are as insane as they look. And, yet. it is one of the greatest pieces of Americana ever. I have not been in a long time, but, jeebus, it was everything as advertised. And surely is still.

This is also the weekend of the Miami Grand Prix. The course looks like painted garbage with not enough racing surface to me, but maybe it will be better racing than expected.

Draw up a mint julep and enjoy.

This is a Trash Talk thread, have at it.

 

Kentucky Derby Trash Talk: A Run For The Roses & Missing Mary

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If it is the first Saturday in May, it is Kentucky Derby day. And so it is again today. We dabble with the ponies occasionally here at the Emptywheel blog, from previous Derby Trash Talks, to our coverage of the historic battles of super filly Zenyatta against the biggest and baddest boys of the horse racing world. Heck, we even have our own fearless roving reporter, Rosalind, monitoring the pending debut of Zenyatta’s little sister, Eblouissante.

But, by far, it was our friend and colleague Mary who kept up our equine quotient here. Her tales from her farm, in the actual horse country of Kentucky, were a constant over the years. Whether it was the feeding and common chores to care for her horses, saving ones in trouble, to making sure they were ready for incoming storms, it was a slice of life we don’t often stop to ponder in the fast paced politi-legal world we generally do here. Mary loved racing horses more than the actual racing really. For the big race days she would always say something to the effect of “oh, I’ll probably just be working on the farm for that”. Yet, later would say “well, I found a few minutes to see Rachel Alexandra run, wow what a race!”

Mary’s voice, sadly, left us just before last Christmas and, frankly, we are still reeling a little from the loss. Communities need glue, and she was part of ours. The first thing I thought when the Derby chatter started up this year was “Damn, I miss Mary”. So, our Trash Talk and Derby coverage this week is dedicated to Mary. In honor, one of our longtime good friends of the blog has put together an amazing video, which is at the top of this post, and has a powerful ending. Give it a watch please. If you are new here and did not know Mary, here is the original memoriam we did.

So, there is a real live Derby today. It has not been one of the years with a big noisy media buildup. While we would probably know Andrew Cohen, the CBS News and The Atlantic legal analyst more for his work in the law, he is a completely devoted and involved soul in the world of Read more →