> 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