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Saskatoon Star-Phoenix – Dave Deibert – Sask. equine group seeks control of Marquis Downs to re-establish horse racing in city

Equine Sport Saskatchewan

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While you’re waiting and anticipating Yule, Christmas, Boxing Day and the opening of Santa Anita’s winter meet enjoy a few of Phil’s favourite readings, drinks, flicks, Carols, Christmas and other tunes. If you’re waiting for Kwanzaa get off this site.

And Remember that ofttimes Phil just gotta give into the URGE.

Scientific American – Krystal D’Costa – What is Christmas Spirit?

A.V. Club – Stephen Thomas Erlewine – The 25 best cover songs of all time, ranked

A,V, Club – Stephen Thomas Erlewine – The 25 worst cover songs of all time, ranked

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Phil stumbled on a relatively new Facebook Group:

Horsemen opposed to racing in Balzac

203 members and growing. Phil didn’t think there were that many thoroughbred racing participants and fans left in Alberta.

Now, a very great man once said That some people rob you with a fountain pen.

Bob Dylan

The Ringer – Jodi Walker – Heartbreak in West Hollywood | An American Scandoval

Mandolin Wind

The Score – NFL Power Rankings – Week 17: A ‘gift’ each team wishes it could return

Is it really not possible to touch the gaming table without being instantly infected by superstition?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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lundi decembre 25 joyeux Noël

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Tecumseh

The Guardian – Ukraine moves Christmas date to 25 December in snub to Russia

The Choice Facing Ukrainians This Christmas

FairyTale of New York

Phil has a question:

How will we know it’s Christmas when the Queen won’t give her Christmas morning speech this year.

Under Pressure

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

You Dumped Him/Her/Them: The Last Word

High Fidelity

Crimson and Clover

I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am.

Dr. Seuss

The Conversation – Yuthika Girme – Christmas movies always show us that being single sucks — but that’s not true

Happiness is a small house, with a big kitchen.

Alfred Hitchcock

The Ringer – Michael Pina – Ranking the 2023 NBA Christmas Day Games

On Broadway

The Cremation of Sam McGee

By Robert W Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

      By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

      That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

      But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

      I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.

Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows.

He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;

Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.

Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.

If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;

It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,

And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,

He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;

And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:

“It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone.

Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;

So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.”

A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;

And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.

He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;

And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,

With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given;

It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains,

But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last remains.”

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.

In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.

In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,

Howled out their woes to the homeless snows— O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;

And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;

The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;

And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;

It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”

And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;

Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;

Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;

The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;

And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;

And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.

It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why;

And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;

But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;

I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside.

I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked”; … then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door.

It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm—

Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

      By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

      That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

      But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

Lake Laberge Campground

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney

What A Wonderful World

Figgy Pudding

You must write for children in the same way as you do for adults, only better.

Maxim Gorky

Noema – Boyce Upholt – The Unending Quest To Build A Better Chicken

Spirit of Radio

Front Office Sports – Eric Fisher – The NFL Gets What It Wants, Including on Christmas. But the NBA Isn’t Going Away

Down on the Farm

And I would eat them in a boat,

and I would eat them with a goat.

Dr. Seuss

Waltz of the Flowers

Esquire – Fussman – Helen Mirren: What I’ve Learned

Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.

Dr. Seuss

Green Door

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

How to Carve a Turkey

Bobby Flay’s Turkey Carving Tips

Is there any practice less selfish, any time less wasted than preparing something nourishing and delicious for the people you love?

Michael Pollan

Home

The New England conscience doesn’t keep you from doing what you shouldn’t – it just keeps you from enjoying it.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – ‘A high-calorie feast of delightful excess’ – Jay Hovdey on Kincsem biopic

2015 Malibu Stakes

Anthony Bourdain

Southern Living – Wells – Watching “White Christmas” With My Mom Is the Holiday Tradition We’ll Never Give Up

And strictly forbid that any quarrelling be at your meals.

Robert Grosseteste

The Ringer – Steven Ruiz – The Winners and Losers of NFL Week 16

Even if you don’t think you can cook well, you can cook better than the food industry.

Michael Pollan

The approach of Christmas brings harrassment and dread to many excellent people. They have to buy a cart-load of presents, and they never know what to buy to hit the various tastes; they put in three weeks of hard and anxious work, and when Christmas morning comes they are so dissatisfied with the result, and so disappointed that they want to sit down and cry. Then they give thanks that Christmas comes but once a year.

Mark Twain

All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s just not December without that movie in my house.

Tom Hanks

Bloodhorse – Bob Kieckhefer – Do Deuce, Reunited with Yutaka Take, Wins Arima Kinen

TDN – Alan Carasso – ‘Deuce’-s Wild In The Arima Kinen

Esquire – Kirkland – The 71 Best Christmas Movies of All Time

le dimanche 24 decembre

 

Darling Be Home Soon

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

World Peace

All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet On The Western Front

Amazing Grace

Irish Times – Shane MacGowan’s funeral in pictures from Dublin and Tipperary: Ireland says slán

FairyTale of New York

Galway Bay

Shane MacGowan’s Funeral

LAD Bible – Olivia Burke – Fans remember Fairytale of New York singer Kirsty MacColl who died extremely tragic death 23 years ago today

Phil has a question:

Is it OK to call that rich Mexican bastard who killed Kirsty MacColl a fokkin faggot.

In The Air Tonight

Esquire – Fussman – Bill Maher: What I’ve Learned

Southern Living – Su-Jit Lin – What Is A Reveillon Dinner?

Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.

Samuel Beckett

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

2015 Malibu Stakes

TDN – J.N. Campbell – Simple Pleasure: Graded Racing On Opening Day In Arcadia

Atlas Obscura – Burgess – J.R.R. Tolkien Is Our Favorite Father Christmas

FairyTale of New York

It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.

Michael Pollan

It appears that people weren’t afraid to say “Merry Christmas.” They just didn’t care. A real shift has occurred, not because of animosity but because of apathy. In 2005, roughly equal portions of Americans told Pew Research that they wanted stores to say “Merry Christmas” and that they didn’t care what stores said (with another 12 percent favoring “Happy holidays” or “Season’s greetings”). Over the next decade, those numbers diverged. By 2017, less than a third (32 percent) preferred “Merry Christmas,” while more than half (52 percent) said it didn’t matter which greeting stores used.

The Atlantic – Graham – The War on Christmas Is Winning

If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?

Steven Wright

Silent Night

Q. How is Christmas exactly like your job?

A. You do all the work and some fat guy in a suit gets all the credit.

Southern Loving – Abby Fribush – 24 Christmas Recipes Perfect For Two

Spirits in the Material World

Bloodhorse – Tracy Gantz – Malibu Pits Baffert Trio Against Three Invaders

In Between Days

Resist the temptation to subject yourself only to that which re-affirms what you already think.

Jake Tapper

Six White Boomers

Man on the Moon

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by stupidity.

Robert J. Hanlon

FairyTale Of New York

“Nobody in the band thinks that’s worth a second’s thought.

“The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character.

“She is not supposed to be a nice person or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate.

“Her dialogue is as accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend.

“She is just supposed to be an authentic character.

LAD Bible – Dominic Smither – Shane MacGowan responded to backlash over homophobic slur in Fairytale of New York

Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.

Mark Twain

TDN – Constitution’s Legalize Too Much for Sugar Bowl Rivals

If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?

Steven Wright

Silent Night

Parade – Renee Hanlon – What Is Eggnog, Exactly?

Bourbon Eggnog

Gimme Shelter

Let’s have some new cliches.

Samuel Goldwyn

Live Through the Night

Another difference is that males grow their antlers in the spring and drop them in December. Females, on the other hand, keep their antlers until spring after their calves are born. Then, they start growing new ones immediately.

This raises the question of whether or not Santa’s team of reindeer may, in fact, be female. If the males drop their antlers before Christmas and the females hang onto them for much longer, it would appear that Santa’s sleigh is being led by the girls!

Parade – Renee Hanlon – Huh? Do Female Reindeer Have Antlers?

Somewhere Down the Crazy River

It’s Christmas Eve! It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.

Bill Murray

I Got You Babe

Just wanted you to know that you have literally no chance of ending up on the good list of Santa this year. Merry Christmas to you!

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – NYRA – Lynn Snierson – ‘I was almost ready to give up but I didn’t quit’ – Javier Castellano Q+A

Don’t Stop The Dance

Paulick Report – Victor Ryan – Santa Anita’s New Synthetic Infield Training Track On Schedule For Mid-January Opening

Coming Home

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – ‘I really wanted to prove myself’ – Katie Davis Q+A

Sunday Morning Coming Down

FairyTale Of New York

What Did Santa Say to the two legged reindeer.

Come on. Eileen

Bloodhorse – Karen M Johnson – Track Phantom Upsets Nash in Gun Runner Stakes

TDN – Track Phantom Banks Derby Points In Gun Runner S.

Paulick Report – Road To Kentucky Derby: Track Phantom Impresses In Gun Runner In Year’s Final Derby Prep

Like a Hurricane

Bloodhorse – Molly Rollins – Sibelius Back on Top With Mr. Prospector Score

Like A Hurricane

TDN – Alpine Princess Goes Big And Easy To Win Untapable S.

SportsNet – Iain MacIntyre – Alone atop the standings, Canucks prepared to keep proving skeptics wrong

Learn to Fly

Run, Run Rudolph

Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit)

Clement Clarke Moore

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,

when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
“Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid!
On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes–how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Six White Boomers

Ho, Ho Ho

Santa Claus

Sometime Around Midnight

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samedi 23 decembre

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

Manhattan

The Family Man

You’re Not My Dad

This movie needs a film noir ending.

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing

Driving a stock car does not require much handling ability, at least not as compared to Grand Prix racing, because the tracks are simple banked ovals and there is almost no shifting of gears. So, qualifying becomes a test of raw nerve – of how fast a man is willing to take a curve. 

Tom Wolfe

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – Nancy Sexton – Invitation to Ireland: record 37 stud farms open doors as Irish Stallion Trail celebrates tenth anniversary

FairyTale Of New York

Galway Bay

Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions. 

Joyce Carol Oates

Paulick Report – Ray Paulick – Did New York Stewards DQ The Wrong Horse? State Agency Offers Explanation

TDN – Bill Finley – New York Gaming Commission Issues Update On Great White Way Stakes DQ, But Only Adds To The Confusion

Far Out – Russell and Tibbs – The 10 most underrated Christmas movies of all time

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

White Christmas

Paulick Report – Mike Willman – Santa Anita: Speed Boat Beach Could Key Bob Baffert Trifecta In Opening Day Malibu

Sloop John B

Horse Race Insider – John Pricci – STOCKING STUFFER WEEKEND INCLUDES MAJOR PROGRAMS AT FAIR GROUNDS AND GULFSTREAM

The Star – Richard Warnica – For one young reporter in a new city, Christmas meant making a stranger feel at home

Esquire Sager – B.B. King: What I’ve Learned

Taste of Home – How to Host a White Elephant Gift Exchange

Here’s Phil’s Simple rules for a White Elephant Gift Wine Exchange:

1. Each gift must be a bottle of wine.

2. Each gift must cost no less than $20 a bottle.

3. No Mogen David.

The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book? 

David Attenborough

Bloodhorse – Jay Hovdey – Racing Needs a New Version of the Good Old Days

CTV News – Abigail Turner – The Vancouver Art Gallery spent years confirming 10 of its paintings are fakes. That process is now an exhibit.

This is Why

Spirit in the Sky

Tory Avery – What is Shabbat?

Cast Your Fate To The Wind

Los Angeles Times – Robert Lloyd – Review: The ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special delivers a pure, exhilarating adventure

Phil has a question:

Was Clark Kent too busy consulting on the Tardis to answer Phil’s 3 requests for information on the failure to pay the mare bonuses to Esquirol Farms.

TDN – New Training Track At Santa Anita On Course For Mid-January Opening

Agent Provocateur

The only good reason to ride a bull is to meet a nurse.

Cowboy wisdom

The Lonely Bull

Bon Appetit – Samuelsson and Yam – Jacques Pépin’s 5 Pro Tips for Home Cooking

Southern Living – BBQ Brisket And Latkes: How One Editor’s Family Celebrates Hanukkah In Memphis

If a queen bee were crossed with a Friesian bull, would not the land flow with milk and honey? 

Oliver St. John

Bloodhorse – Bob Kieckhefer – Anisette Leads Local Contenders in American Oaks

Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.

George Carlin

Silver Bells

Bloodhorse – Bob Kieckhefer – San Gabriel’s Field Comes From All Three Surfaces

Southern Living – 45 Easy Christmas Eve Appetizers To Welcome Your Holiday Guests

For almost seventy years the life insurance industry has been a smug sacred cow feeding the public a steady line of sacred bull.

Ralph Nader

Ringing of the Bells

Bloodhorse – Molly Rollins – Subsanador Makes North American Debut in San Antonio

Road To Nowhere

Beware of addictive medicines. Everything in moderation. This applies particularly to the Internet and your sofa. The physical world is ultimately the source of all inspiration. Which is to say, if all else fails: take a bike ride.

Aaron Koblin

TDN – Sara Gordon – The Road Back: Joshua Franks, A Story Of Horses, Hope And Healing

Garden and Gun – Holidays in the South: 24 Must-Try Cocktails

Southern Living – 35 Christmas Cocktail Recipes We Love

Atlas Obscura – Schultz – The Satisfaction of Mathematically Efficient Christmas Cookies

w5

Bloodhorse – Eric Mitchell – Dandy Man Shines Could Brighten in Mathis Mile

Esquire – Cannon – Not All of Them Were Merry

Wild Horses

Bloodhorse – Byron King – Opportunity Awaits Clearly Unhinged in La Brea

All Day and All of the Night

The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.

T.S. Eliot

The Sky Is Crying

Atlas Obscura – Bickman – The Christmas Tree Is One of the World’s Oldest and Most Evergreen Traditions

TDN – J.N. Campbell – Gulfstream Championship Season Graded Races Ready To Unwrap

What’s Love Got To Do With It

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vendredi 22 decembre

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

Blade and Bow New Fashioned

Blade Runner

Transmission

Things aren’t different. Things are things.

William Gibson

Phil reminds you that the entries for Santa Anita’s Boxing Day card are released today.

Hard to believe that a decade has passed since the call to the post at Hollywood Park was replaced by the Last Post.

Last Race ever at Betfair Hollywood Park. December 22, 2013

America’s Best Racing – Julie June Stewart – Reflections on Hollywood Park’s Special Place in Horse Racing History

Phil never realized until he watched that replay that the winner of the 2009 Canadian Derby, Tommy Danzigger, raced in the last race that took place at Hollywood Park. Not only did he race in the last race at Hollywood Park he has the unique distinction of being the last horse to cross the Hollywood Park finish line in an official race as he finished 12th of 12. Of the 4 thoroughbred tracks that Tommy Danzigger raced at 2 are now shuttered.

Sometime After Midnight

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – Pagones – Great racetracks we have lost: Hollywood Park and the dawning of the Breeders’ Cup era

The gain to the winner is always less than the loss to the loser.

Ian Fleming

However, to behold the scope of the new Hollywood Park development is to understand why Thoroughbred racing is armed only with a dull knife in a high calibre gunfight for even a small share of the sports economy. SoFi Stadium, ugly as it is, will be crammed to the gills on Feb. 13 for the Super Bowl, monopolizing both social and traditional media, while the name of Hollywood Park, when summoned, will mean something altogether different from its origin story.

Bloodhorse – Jay Hovdey – Hollywood Park History Buried Under Super Site

Hollywood Park

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

Lou Holtz

Redemption Song

Los Angeles Times – Jack Harris and Mike Digiovanna – Yoshinobu Yamamoto agrees to 12-year, $325-million deal with Dodgers

2013 Hollywood Derby

Garden and Gun – Tom Wilmes – Demystifying the Art of Bourbon Tasting

1984 Breeders Cup Classic

The Ringer – Miles Surrey and Meghan Schuster – The Definitive Ranking of Cars in Pop Culture

Show Me How To Live

A Traditional French Christmas Menu

Mustang Sally

America’s Best Racing – Bob Ehalt – 2023 Gun Runner Stakes at a Glance

Beep! Beep!

Most people don’t know that wrestling came out of the circus.

Billy Corgan

America’s Best Racing – Bob Ehalt – Nelson Bunker Hunt: An Oilman with an Eye for Racehorses

Phil has a question:

Did you ever hear the story of how Bob Baird and Floyd Arthur sold the Bagel Princess to Hunt.

Friday On My Mind

Esquire – Michael Paterniti – On the Road with the Big Red Dirigible of Christmas Love

Wicked Game

Music is the space between the notes.

Claude Debussy

Bloodhorse – Dick Downey – Forte DQ Paused With Temporary Restraining Order

Little Drummer Boy

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Oscar Wilde

Bloodhorse – Molly Rollins – Sibelius Looks to Get Back on Track in Mr. Prospector

Times Like These

Esquire – Sebastien – What I’ve Learned: Liam Gallagher

Under Pressure

Epicurious – Moyer-Nocchi and Miller – Who Invented Mac and Cheese? This American Favorite Has Ancient Roman Roots

1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked just under al dente

Bobby Flay’s Macaroni and Cheese Carbonara

Ironic

TDN – Wagering And Purse Records Fall At Zia Park’s 2023 Meet

Tonight

Paulick Report – ‘I’m Very Proud To Be At This Level’: Windylea Farm’s Kip O’Neill Relishing First NYRA Owner Title

Free ticket to circus like gold ring on merry-go-round – make enjoyment double.

Charlie Chan

Taste of Home – Mulvey – Here’s What Happened to the Christmas Goose

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Marcus Terentius Varro

Mash Christmas

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, “What a good boy am I!”

Mother Goose

Little Jack Horner
Sat on a corner,
Watching the girls go by;
Along came a beauty,
He said “Hey there cutie”,
And that’s how he got his black eye!

Peeking Goose

Ooh Las Vegas

2013 Malibu Stakes

2014 Malibu Stakes

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near one.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Separate Lives

Horse Race Insider – START PLANNING YOUR TRIP TO THE 2024 KENTUCKY DERBY

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

Nikola Tesla

Good Vibrations

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – Nicholas Godfrey – A year in horse racing – revisit our most popular stories of 2023

FM

The Conversation -James Horncastle – Ukraine can still defeat Russia, but it needs the right tools to do it

As It Was

SportsNet – Canada’s Nathan Rourke ‘honoured’ to be part of Patriots organization

Sports Business Journal – DeVito, Maxx MGMT file for pair of trademarks

Phil has a question:

Don’t you have to be good or famous first.

Times Like These

The Ringer – Jake  Kring-Schreifels – “There Is No Limit”: The Oral History of the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Minions

Southern Living – Kimberley Holland – 12 Recipes We Only Make At The Holidays Because They Are So Time Consuming

Phil has a question:

Latkes.

In Between Days

The Ringer – Brian Phillips – The Year AI Conquered Our Imaginations—Before It Eventually Conquers the World

Immigrant Song

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mercredi 21 decembre

 

All About Walla Walla Onions

Phil’s Christmas Drink and  Flick

Between The Sheets

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Because The Night

The Ringer – Adam Nayman – ‘The Iron Claw’ Will Put You in an Emotional Headlock

TDN – Bill Finley – After Great White Way Stakes Fiasco, Repole Calls for Jockey Club Leaders to Resign

This has a question:

Did you know that all stewards can’t have sex.

The Farmer’s wife cut off their tail with a butcher’s knife.

Moon Dance

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Globe and Mail – Alanna Smith – Alberta directed removal of COVID, flu references in fall vaccine campaign, documents show

Phil has a question:

Is Danielle going to cure Albertans with Smith Bros. Cough Drops.

Why are their no Christmas lights on Alberta’s Legislature Building this year.

Peninsula News Review – B.C. legislature in Victoria lights up for the season

15 Most Popular Swedish Christmas Dishes

Because The Night

The increase in rhetoric and hate crimes against Muslim-Americans and Syrian refugees is the triumph of fear over ideals. Those engaged in both are doing more to sabotage American values than the terrorists.

Esquire – Sager – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What I’ve Learned

Spirit In The Night

Global News – Simon Little and Janet Brown – Fee inflation pushing many kids out of sports, B.C. non-profit warns

Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard

Aeon – Thomassie – Yes, the Inuit have dozens of words for snow – but what does each one mean exactly?

Atlas Obscura – Rosenblat – This Family Gave the World the Snow Globe

A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

Yogi Berra

Light My Fire

Horse Race Insider – John Pricci – A DUBIOUS RULE PREVENTED JUSTICE FROM BEING SERVED IN WRONGFUL DISQUALIFICATION

All Together Now

Canada’s National Observer –  Bartels – Rethinking the tenacity of salt marshes

Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a fox?

Dr. Seuss

Punch – Grant – The Vineyard Falcon Does Not Suffer Fools

Q. What did one Snow Globe say to the other.

A. Things are kinda shaky round here.

The Christians stole the winter solstice from the pagans, and capitalism stole it from the Christians.

George Monbiot

Bloodhorse – Byron King – Big Pond Gives Krikorian Another G1 Chance in La Brea

Bloodhorse – Byron King – Anisette to Cap Eclipse’s Banner Year in American Oaks

Cherry-and-Chocolate Bûche de Noël

Light My Fire

The Conversation – Scott – Lear – How to keep your physical and mental health on track during the holidays

How To Celebrate Yule

Fire

This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.

Margaret Atwood

How To Celebrate Yule

Fire and Rain

How To Celebrate Yule

How To Celebrate Yule

Sex on Fire

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

Plutarch

National Today – Yule

Heart Moon Blog – The Yule Fire

Davy and Tracy – Celebrating Yule – The Winter Solstice

Fairy Tale of New York

Stonehenge Stone Circle – Yule – Winter Solstice

The Vulcan Advocate – Roberts – Canada’s Stonehenge, a Vulcan County treasure

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

Ray Bradbury

Phantom of the Opera

Atlas Obscura – Terlach – Aurora Hunters Capture the Wonder of the Northern (and Southern) Lights

Outside – Siber – I Spent the Winter Solstice in One of the Darkest Places on Earth

Darkness, Darkness

Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.

David Niven

Sports Business Journal – NHL, Diamond reach broadcast deal for 11 teams

Bloodhorse – Q&A: Antonucci Reflects on Arcangelo, ’23 Achievements

Paulick Report – Jena Antonucci Hopes Big Year Will ‘Encourage A Young Girl To Rock On And To Do Her’

Politicians were like talking dogs in a circus. The fact that they existed was uncommonly interesting, but no sane person would actually believe what they said.

Alan Furst

In Between Days

California is a place where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors.     

Walter Winchell

What’s next: Rick Caruso buys his suits at the Paramount Swap Meet? USC wins a national football championship? I’m calling those, as well as the following — and if any come true, be afraid.

Los Angeles Times – Column: Gustavo’s predictions for 2024: President De León? DeSantis as grape stomper at Newsom’s vineyard?

Don’t be too harsh to these poems until they’re typed. I always think typescript lends some sort of certainty: at least, if the things are bad then, they appear to be bad with conviction.

Dylan Thomas

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mercredi 20 decembre

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

Carroll

Carol

Carol

Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time.     

Charles M. Schulz

2016 Malibu Stakes

In Between Days

The circus collects the outsiders like a flame tempts moths.

Laura Lam

ESPN – Tommy DeVito makes unpaid appearance at pizzeria after tiff

Gastro Obscura – Dianna Hubbell – Around the World in Christmas Food Traditions

Esquire – Vain – What I’ve Learned: Padma Lakshmi

At every party there are two kinds of people – those who want to go home and those who don’t. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

Ann Landers

Paulick Report – Kevin Kilroy – ‘He Really Has A Turn Of Foot’: Brad Cox-Trained Nash Favored To Earn Derby Points In Gun Runner

Footprint is entered in Saturday’s Gun Runner at Fairgrounds a Kentucky Derby points race. No, Not the Footprint who won the 2007 Ky Alta, Count Lathum and Canadian Derby GIIIC for Derek G. Milen Professional Corporation, Elwin Page and Viking Stable, with Real Simard in the irons for trainer Joan Petrowski. That Footprint raced in Stakes and allowance races until he was 9 winning the Westerner Handicap (Black Type) at Northlands Park at 7. He won 10 races out of 45 with 14 seconds and 6 thirds with career earnings of $560,810.00.

The new Footprint is a 2021 colt by Dialed In trained by Ken McPeek for owner breeder Greg McDonald. May they have as much success with the new Footprint as the connections had with the old.

Life is a circus ring, with some moments more spectacular than others.

Janusz Korczak

Harlem Blues

Bloodhorse – Byron King – Sadler to Unveil Argentina’s Subsanador in San Antonio

It’s My Party

Front Office Sports – David Rumsey – The NFL’s Holiday Takeover Is Reaching New Heights

Winefest

Grading Boxed Wine

The rare dose of perfection is far better than the consistent drip of mediocrity.

Joe Ray

Bloodhorse – Our Voices: Happy Holidays

The other Dons in the room applauded and rose to shake hands with everybody in sight and to congratulate Don Corleone and Don Tattaglia on their new friendship. It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other. That was friendship enough in this world, all that was needed.

Mario Puzo

LifeHacker – What ‘Finishing’ a Spirit Means, and Why It Matters

If you pay attention, listen and keep an open mind you can learn something new everyday. Phil always thought that finishing a spirit meant emptying your glass.

Spirit Road

1980 Malibu Stakes

For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer. 

Xenophon

Paulick Report – Chris Lomon – ‘I Am Up For Anything’: Apprentice Fraser Aebly Inspired By Late Sister’s Passion

Killing Me Softly

Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play.

Dean Smith

Bloodhorse – Report: Commission Vote Revokes Arizona Downs Permit

The age of chivalry is past. Bores have succeeded to dragons.

Charles Dickens

The Ringer – Brady Gerber – Remix Your Canon: How Old Music Became the Biggest Thing in New Music

Peanut Butter

My Back Pages

There are no real Californians. There are only people who live there and people who don’t.     

Laura Kalpakian

Bloodhorse – Tim Sullivan – Some of America’s Safest Trainers Share Their Secrets

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

John Wooden

Fairytale of New York

Front Office Sports – David Rumsey – Amazon Could Rescue Bankrupt DSG — and Fuel Streamer’s Sports Ambitions

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Paulick Report – Ray Paulick – New York Regulators Won’t Permit Appeal Of ‘Baffling’ Stewards Decision

Horse Race Insider – John Pricci – OWNER DENIED PERMISSION TO APPEAL STEWARDS’ RULING DEMOTING BRICK AMBUSH

You can be sincere and still be stupid.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

All Together Now

Paulick Report – Reeves Will Not Pursue Legal Action Over Aqueduct Disqualification

All Together Now

TDN – Reeves Responds to Gaming Commission’s Appeals Dismissal

All Together Now

If the owners of the horse that caused all the chaos but didn’t get disqualified have a modicum of class they’ll write Reeves a cheque for $100kUS . Same with Manny Franco, not only should he send Junior Alvadao a cheque he should serve his suspension for him.

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – American dream: US syndicate’s Royal Ascot dream continues via Youtube series

When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.

Erasmus

TDN – Remington Park Concludes 2023 Meeting

Silver Bells

Music is the shorthand of emotion.

Leo Tolstoy

Southern Living – Cameron Beall – 28 Holiday Dishes You’d Only Find At A Southern Family Gathering

TDN – Dan Ross – Drug Testing Under HISA: When Uniformity and Variability Collide

Everybody Knows

Je suis comme ça. Ou j’oublie tout de suite ou je n’oublie jamais.”

Samuel Beckett

TDN – NY-Bred Breeding Award Rate Increased for 2024

All I Want To Do

Where is all the knowledge we lost with information?

T. S. Eliot

Paulick Report – Ontario Lottery And Gaming Corporation Conducting Post-Pandemic Economic Assessment Of Horse Racing

Hazy Shade of Winter

The hard soil and four months of snow make the inhabitants of the northern temperate zone wiser and abler than his fellow who enjoys the fixed smile of the tropics.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Los Angeles Times – Nicholas Riccardi – Colorado Supreme Court bans Trump from the state’s ballot under Constitution’s insurrection clause

This Christmas Will Be Different

Paulick Report – Natalie Voss – Ashker Preparing For Cross-Country Ride With 25-Year-Old Thoroughbred

The Show Must Go On

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.

John Wooden

National Post – Rahim Mohamed: Whoops! ‘Sankofa Square’ comes with a slave trade connection of its own

Love has been described as a three-ring circus: First comes the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, and after that the suffering.

Bob Phillips

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary – Jay Hovdey – Real Quiet: ‘I honestly think that if we ran for the Triple Crown nine more times, we’d never lose’ – Kent Desormeaux

Lovers In A Dangerous Time

The Ringer – Nora Princiotti – Aaron Rodgers Dangled Hope for a Historic Comeback. All the Jets Got in Return Was Failure.

Sports Business Journal – Chargers’ John Spanos says GM, coaching search not impacted by ‘financial situation’

To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring.

W.J. Vogel

Ashes to Ashes

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mardi 19 decembre

Lola

Hello Lola

Lola

Roasted Sweet N Sour Beets

Phil has a question:

Do you know the difference between beets and beet leafs.

Beet Leaf Rolls with Creamy Dill Sauce

Lola

Phil’s Christmas Drink and a Flick

Carrot Cake

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

White Rabbit

I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.

Jessica Rabbit

The Ringer – Kyle Wilson – There Aren’t Too Many Endings in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’

In The End

Diane Kochilas – 25 GREEK CHRISTMAS RECIPES

Canada’s National Observer – Ruby McConnell – Your Christmas tree is beautiful, but it could be poisonous

Big Think – Logan – Why don’t evergreens change color and drop their leaves every fall?

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

H. L. Mencken

Bloodhorse – Racing Post – Bolshoi Ballet Retires to The Beeches Stud in Ireland

The Nutcracker Gran Pas De Deux

If you asked how Captain Vancouver got to what is now the west coast of what is now Canada and the US the kids today would say GPS.

Starlight

Esquire – Huber – Willie Nelson: What I’ve Learned

Counting Cookies

Rolling Stone – Jon Dolan – The 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Garden and Gun – Wayne Curtis – Why Southerners Never Eat King Cake Before January 6

Southern Living – Abby Fribush – 20 Secret Last-Minute Holiday Recipes From Grandma’s Recipe Box

Mo Better Blues

Esquire – O’Keefe – What I’ve Learned: John Grisham

Country fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.

Cowboy Wisdom

TDN – Keeneland’s 2024 Spring Stakes Schedule Features 100th Toyota Blue Grass

Bloodhorse – Keeneland Spring Meet to Pay Record $8.1M for 19 Stakes

Esquire – Fussman – Jim Harrison: What I’ve Learned

Blue Hotel

Bloodhorse – New York Denies Appeal of Brick Ambush DQ

“I’m going to do the research of the law but for this commission to stand by that technicality speaks volumes about the level of insensitivity and incompetence that permeates this industry,” he said. “We could still go to court. I’m not so sure the rules actually say that but let me do some research. To stand behind this kind of technicality bypasses the bigger issue. They are saying we can do what we want when we want, and that is farcical and they should be embarrassed.”

TDN – Bill Finley – Gaming Commission Will Not Allow Appeals in Great White Way Stakes

Phil has a question:

Was he talking about Horse Racing Alberta.

My mother had to send me to the movies with my birth certificate, so that I wouldn’t have to pay the extra fifty cents that the adults had to pay. 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Front Office Sports – Eric Fisher – The Chase for Japanese Star May End With a Massive Deal. Sound Familiar?

Liisbeth – P.K. Mutch – Serving up “MILF and Cookies”

The Ringer – Nora Princiotti – In 2023, We Were All In Our Eras Era

Blame Brett

Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor’s noisy party than being there. 

Franklin P. Jones

Paulick Report – Connections Considering Jerome, KY Derby Points For Debut Winner Dune Road

Life Hacker – Skwarecki – If You’re Worried About Which Vegetables Are ‘Healthier,’ You’re Overthinking It

The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.

Michael Pollan

Call Any Vegetable

Sports Business Journal – Alex Silverman – NHL renews partnership with BetMGM

The Conversation – Hill – Returning the ‘three sisters’ – corn, beans and squash – to Native American farms nourishes people, land and cultures

How my son discovered vegetables was from growing them in the garden.

Michael Pollan

Washington Post – Cracking open ‘The Nutcracker’s’ dark Russian past

Pale Blue Eyes

Pen and the Pad – Janney – A Description of the Ghosts in “A Christmas Carol”

That’s a good trivia question. Everyone remembers the ghosts of Christmas past, present and Yet to Come, but most forget that the first ghost that Scrooge sees is his dead business partner  Jacob Marley.

Pale Blue Eyes

Curbed – Secrets of the Christmas Tree Trade

Paulick Report – Natalie Voss – This Week In History: Fair Grounds Goes Up In Flames, Again

A party without cake is just a meeting.

Julia Child

Lithium

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Chief Seattle

US News – Reuters – Trump’s Million-Dollar Expert ‘Lost All Credibility,’ Judge in Civil Fraud Trial Says

Phil has a question:

Do you know the joke about the Accountant.

Behind Blue Eyes

The Score – NFL Power Rankings – Week 16: A 🎁 for all 32 teams this holiday season

Fairytale of New York

You should never be proud of doing the right thing. You should just do the right thing.

Dean Smith

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Los Angeles Times – Emily Alpert Reyes and Richard Witten – What is ketamine? Understanding the drug cited in Matthew Perry’s death

The Guardian – Ukraine moves Christmas date to 25 December in snub to Russia

Grand Kyiv Ballet – The Nutcracker

Southern Living – 54 Christmas Desserts That’ll Feed A Crowd

Nanaimo Bars

Phil M Stockmen