I'LL BET FRANK DEFORD WANTS ANOTHER HAIRSTYLE

I'll start by saying I was drinking and driving in this morning and heard the latest installment in a series of great commentaries from Frank Deford.   His latest offering, which I heard on National Public Radio (NPR), is included here in its entirety.   Later, after having put my coffee down and logged in to write this blog, what immediately eclipsed  Deford's great story Please Sir, I'd Rather Have Another was his horrific hair style-sideburn combination as evident in his media picture.   Not sure why I was struck by this Count Dracula look, but for me, it suck my interest in the Belmont dry, and had me pondering his bizarre look instead.  In any event, here is the article: 

To be perverse, I'd suggest that for the horse-racing industry, it'd be best that I'll Have Another does not — yes, does not — win the Triple Crown this Saturday.

Oh, certainly, absolutely every year you want a horse to win the first two races — the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness — so that suspense builds and a horse has a chance to win the Belmont and take the Triple Crown. But isn't it better to have the potential winner barely get beat so that the losing streak continues, building interest?

It's now been 34 years since we had a winner, and someday soon, someone will start to call it the curse of the Triple Crown. Terrific! Curses are even more attention-getting than streaks. I mean, suppose I'll Have Another wins Saturday. Next year, if another horse heads into the Belmont, going for the crown, everybody will just say ho-hum, they did that last year, what's the big deal?

OK, that's perversity. Now specificity.

I don't want I'll Have Another to win the Belmont. Oh, he's a terrific little horse, and his jockey, Mario Gutierrez, provides us with a wonderfully uplifting story. To horse and rider, I say: Good luck, Godspeed, and if you win every race but the Belmont, good for you.

But the people in charge of I'll Have Another don't deserve the honor. The trainer is Doug O'Neill, a charming enough character, but a drug cheat nonetheless. In fact, he must start a 45-day suspension on July 1 in California. Illinois has already suspended him. He's been fined nine times for horses testing over the regulatory threshold. Perhaps most grievous, horses he trains break down at twice the normal rate.

I'll Have Another's owner is J. Paul Reddam, who is invariably described as a former philosophy professor — as if he still strolls the hills and dales alone, contemplating his favorite philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein. More recently, though, Reddam is president of CashCall, which refinances dubious mortgages. Three states have challenged him over violations of consumer protection laws. In West Virginia he's charged with breaking usury laws, assessing annual interest as high as, yes, 99 percent.

All right, no official judgment has yet been rendered against Reddam, but when the ethical standards of both men are taken together, can't we simply say: After 34 years, shouldn't a Triple Crown champion possess a better human pedigree?

Wittgenstein opined once: "I sit astride life like a bad rider on a horse. I only owe it to the horse's good nature that I am not thrown off at this very moment." I'm sorry, but I hope both O'Neill and Reddam get bucked at the Belmont. There is so much drug abuse in the sport, so many shady shenanigans, that when it comes to that next horse who finally wins the Triple Crown, I'll take another.

I'LL HAVE ANOTHER MILKSHAKE

Publicly our buddy Doug (that's Mr. Douglas O'Neill to all of you) denies giving any of his horses a 'Milkshake', least of all his superstar colt.

I can tell you that privately he is very open and vocal about the drinkin' habits of all his horses, especially "I'll Have Another".

When I asked what he would do if he wins the Triple Crown, 'ole Doug hooked his arms around his co-conspirators and said, "well, triple shots of Royal Crown for all hands, right fellas?"  

With a wry smile he added, "It was no fluke that we won the Kentucky Derby from post 19, the first time that's ever been done, and with a rookie jockey no less."  He wrapped up our conversation with a peculiar and barely comprehensible reference to New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, saying,"I'll tell you what, if the NFL and the court of public opinion can let the Patriots and Billy Belicheat keep the Lombardi, I have no problem serving out my little suspension.  I've got my eye on the prize and no one is gonna be takin' it away". 

TRIPLE CROWN IN HIS SIGHTS

I'll Have Another had Bodemeister in his sights again, ran him down likee a dog in the street, won the Preakness and is now facing the Triple Crown and immortality.

Two weeks ago at the Kentucky Derby, the chestnut colt chased down his rival in similar fashion.  

Next time, in the Belmont Stakes, the field will not include Bodemeister.

In three weeks he will have a very real chance of joining Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.  The last to win thoroughbred racing's most coveted prize.

"MILKSHAKES ALL AROUND" AT THE PREAKNESS

I don't know Jack about horse racing, and even less about whether "I'll Have Another", the winner of the Kentucky Derby, will have any real shot at grabbing the second jewel of the Triple Crown Saturday at the 137th running of the Preakness at Pimlico today.  He'll obviously have another go at it, running from post 9 in a field of 11 horses.  It's really anybody's guess whether that's particularly good for him or not, but what we do know is that with Bodemeister in the mix, things might not bode too well for "I'll Have Another" pulling off another upset win.  But wait...

Another thing to throw into the mix is "milkshaking" and trainer Doug O'Neil's propensity for using this old school 'training technique' .  This less than legal practice in which a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes are pumped into a horse’s nostrils to delay the sensation of fatigue, could give "I'll Have Another" a cheater's chance down the stretch.

The hell with Mint Juleps, if "I'll Have Another" wins, I'll burst into the nearest McDonalds and snort one of those milkshakes up my own nostril!  Right before the brain freeze, I'll buy a round of milkshakes for everybody, but pass on another one for me.

PEDIGREE FOR DERBY WINNER "I'LL HAVE ANOTHER"

The winner of the 138th Kentucky Derby was "I'll have another".  Great to see an underdog not only make a run for the roses, but to win.  It was also fitting to see that  Mario Gutierrez, of Veracruz, Mexico,  riding in his first Kentucky Derby, was victorious on Cinco De Mayo.  


To win the derby, as barfly Charles Bukowski would say, takes endurance, and this horse has plenty of that.  However, looking forward to Maryland, the pundits are saying that "I'll have another" does not have what it takes to hang with the sprinters as will be necessary to win the Preakness.  


Now I don't know Jack about bloodlines or genetics, but here is "I'll have another's" pedigree chart.