> 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