Racing Forms

The Derby death of Eight Bells, a filly,
three years of age, favored by Hillary,
caused my superstitious self to sense
broken legs forced forward on a fast track
mean: certain euthanasia ends that race.

Big Brown won that Derby and The Preakness,
but a cracked left hoof, well patched by greedy
fellows focused on the Triple Crown, failed
to deliver as promised; Big Brown lost
The Belmont Stakes and came in as dead last.

Brown's handlers can't explain why he faltered;
the jockey said he felt he had no horse
when he spurred him to seize an opening;
Brown's "can do" became a slow "no, thank, you"
thus, Brown enters history books for tracks.

Unlike the fast filly in the Derby,
Big Brown has a future, as a sire;
unlike Hillary who stepped down today,
Barack has a future, post that wire
where a winner's circle has a White House.

But winning depends upon the absence
of cracked hooves well patched by greedy fellows
and the woman who suspended her run for roses
(a ring in the circle where women need not apply)
who knows how to rise on call as Maya has written.

Jeanne Khan
7 June 2008