ORB~~Derby winner~~having a breeze under exercise rider Jennifer Patterson~~(Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun Photo)
We wish ORB and all his connections best luck in their quest to take down the second leg of the Triple Crown in the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore less a day away now. ORB has been preparing smashingly for the race~~we think even better so than before Derby.
If ORB is successful, he, and we, have so many dedicated connections and attendants to thank~~from the very rich men who own him, to his much heralded trainer, to the flash jockey boy~~ Joel Rosario~~who will ride him tomorrow afternoon, to the dozens ill-paid, yet most hard-working stable lads, grooms, vets and walkers who keep the barn around him safe and humming.
It has always hit us a bit of sadness that so many of the exercise riders of the morning are girls~~who have an effortless rapport with horses and have little difficulty making assigned weights~~but who are, nonetheless, very infrequently, able to suit up in silks and ride their, often close friends, in what we call the combat of the afternoon.
Combat at the races is yet a boy’s purview~~with notable exceptions~~one of whom, Miss Anna Rosie Napranik~~pilots My Lute tomorrow~~a very nice horse who ran a game 5th in the Derby but whom we feel ran about as well as he can for Rosie in that splendid race. We wish Rosie and My Lute all best of course~~as we do all the other combatants and their connections~~but it simply may prove out that ORB is the quicker sort.
Racing, ever a fascination~~likewise~~is ever a heartbreak.
That said, we have become so close to ORB personally that we think it sad~~yes, sad~~that Jenny Patterson has to watch him in the big race from the sidelines~~cheering him on like the rest of us fans, but unable to boot up on him as she does every morning~~for tomorrow~~comes~~the combat of the afternoon.
All good luck to ORB and all the others~~and a well-deserved pat of appreciation to Jenny~~ who rides him so well in his exercises~~comme ca:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mSvz50gfbw&feature=player_embedded
Rejoice and Glad!!
Amen.
John Daniel Begg
At
Washington
Friday, 17th Mai, Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, 2013
JOHN DANIEL BEGG 
Fewer and ever fewer are those who love and appreciate the “Sport of Kings.” When racing is open and true competition it is a beautiful thing. Once all jockeys were Black males. Now they are Caucasian of one sort or another. Perhaps, someday soon, we will see many more women. What you say about the connection between women and horses is true. There is an amazing affinity between us. I hope ORB wins the imperial scepter today. Thanks for the great insights.
Gina–thank you–we shall see very shortly how ORB does in the race–John