I just had lunch with a longtime TG customer and we spent some time chuckling about how similarly TGJB and I (Ragozin customer) felt about Peace Rules (a lock on Saturday, we concurred), and how much more Midway Road's Ragozin line looked like a Thoro-Graph line (in his last, a perfect pair up of his 2-yr-old top on Ragozin), and how much debatable(more typical of Ragozin lines) the top looked on T-graph-- a 3 point top, or so I've been told. Probably an easier use on Ragozin, but a must-use on either, for certain.

I was with Ragozin customers in Baltimore who hit the race nicely, and the T-graph customer I lunched with today hit it, too, as I suspect many other T-graph customers did. Kudos to those who were less stubborn than I about beating the Derby winner.

Despite my strong negative feelings about some of TGJB's marketing efforts on his competitor's website (and I'm well aware of his defenses of them), I gotta say, I feel compelled to offer up kudos when they are overdue, and in one way they are overdue in this suddenly very enjoyable season of Triple Crown pursuit--

I was reading Bloodhorse's post-KY Derby coverage (print edition, I don't think they have this piece on their website) last week, and the lengthy piece on Distorted Humor featured WinStar's Rich Decker giving Jerry B. some serious credit for tagging Distorted H. as a future stallion prospect for them, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, I'm sure many future stallions are purchased using a wide variety of methodologies that you or I might find questionable, but in this case, what happened was simple and beautiful. TGJB saw a horse who was fast on his numbers with the sort of breeding that he thought made him intriguing. Flash forward a few years later, and this stallion has become one of a very few to sire a KY Derby winner in his first crop, and now Funny Cide has a reasonable shot of closing the deal (not with my money on him, mind you, but he's certainly got a shot).

As one who has attended the last 10 Triple Crown races consecutively, as well as the last dozen KY Derbies consecutively, I know how much these events mean to me-- the shimmering beauty of 150,000 in the house at Churchill Downs makes the Derby and the intoxicating hour that precedes it incredibly compelling, so much so that I vow to never miss it. The Preakness is more of a down and dirty affair, but it's a legitimate jewel nonetheless, especially for those of us who value spacing between efforts and are amazed when a Derby winner can put back to back efforts like those together. It's a nice time if you value crabcakes and Camden Yards, too.

And so I attend these races, glad to be associated just by being there. But in TGJB's case this year, the association is stronger than just being there-- by tagging Distorted Humor for WinStar, he's a little piece of the puzzle that is turning into a gorgeous piece of racing history. I'm sure you're proud, Jerry, and you damn well should be. Congratulations.