Ennui

"One's real life is often the life that one does not lead."
-Oscar Wilde

There are days that pass, as most do, without consequence or note, into the mental dustbin of the extrinsic. Every so often, these fragmented files clutter up the system and require purging but their compass in and of itself warrants scrutiny. I think Stalin is the one who said 'Quantity has a quality all its own.'

I missed the dog days of summer, insulated by the heady notoriety (I am using it loosely but in its primary and negative connotation) of this 'blogging thing'. Like a kitten after a good snort of catnip, the sparkling ball of waste and stupidity rampant in the industry, distracted me; I see a soap-box and I just can't resist mountaineering my misanthropic ass onto it. As the days grow shorter and the cooler weather tempers my keyboard, I find it useful to assess my situation.

I started this shout into the void as a chronicle of my efforts towards racing empery. Coolmore would have nothing on me and Sheikh Mohammed would refrain from buying up any of my horses. My progress, albeit slower out of the proverbial box than Evening Attire is, still shows me with a rider so all is not lost; at this speed I would be hard pressed to lose an unsecured football let alone a rider.

I attribute this Silky Sullivan-like beginning to three factors:

1. I own a share of one horse who is yet to race and not even in training. Imalexus is still a few weeks away from her return.
   
2. My dowery resembles the profit and loss statement of Countrywide Financial.
3. I am inherently, incorrigibly and unabashedly lazy.
   

Any one of these factors is risible as it pertains to the Empire C.V. and all three are ruinous, yet here I am, pressing on. They should give out medals for this sort of thing, or is it barbiturates?

Time is one of my few luxuries. It affords me the...well, time, to pursue any number of interests. One could argue that time and horse ownership fit like the proverbial hand in glove but when it is combined with pecuniary insolvency however, it leads to a lot of reading, walking and introspection-none of which are good for you.

Margaret Thatcher once said, 'I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.' and I am learning that this game is not always, or mostly for that matter, about "race day". It is about the slow nurturing of hope and the gentle incubation of dreams. It is about the process and the revelation of character and whatever other broken metaphor you can throw in.

Ultimately, it is about the horse. I just happen to be attached to one that I cannot see, no matter how much time I have and that difference is all the difference.

Perfect Drift has retired. (The market/tech savvy folks at the NTRA might want to update their profile for the horse re:connections and age.)

When I was a child-chronologically, Mrs. Not Really has doubts as to my maturity quotient-Spectacular Bid mesmerized me; who doesn't like a two-word gray that tries hard? My infatuation though was that of a child, with all the blissful ignorance that that entails; I cried when Affirmed beat him in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. (I also usually cry every year in September, o.k. so it's more like June; this year, I might not have to until next month.)

For some reason I lost touch with racing after that magical year in 1980. Perhaps it was because I was abroad and learning the hard way, that biting girls to show them you liked them, was not the best way to win friends and influence people.

Perfect Drift is the horse that brought me back. His road, 'less traveled by', to the Derby and determination in the same, reinvigorated my dormant passion. I was all over him in the Stephen Foster and saw him win the Hawthorne Gold Cup in 2003. He was always there at the quarter pole and I never saw him quit in the stretch. He may have slowed down but it happens to us all and he remains the epitome of class. All that anybody could hope for in a horse, all heart and dead, game; my hat is off to his connections, past and present.

The voting for the DIY Selfappointedfancommittee contest is underway. Go vote.

TVG is now a sponsor of the TBA. Welcome.

The recently concluded NTRA marketing summit has released its report and it is worth a read. Some excellent ideas and methods of implementation are set down in that text.

It now remains to be seen if the dysfunctional members of racing's inner sanctum can bring themselves to take a look at it.