Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "downs"
Kentucky Derby Upset and Gone With the Wind Wrap
Mine That Bird Rail to Wire Win
Dream up all the cliché’s in the book and you’ll find several that will fit into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
When Calvin Borel looked at Mine that Bird’s past performance chart he saw a mixed bag. Two-year-old champion in Canada and then some unmentionable races in the States. But as he studied the form some things became apparent. Mine that Bird’s losses came with consistency when he got caught wide on the turns.
I suspect a wry grin crossed Calvin’s face as he thought, ‘Well, we can fix that,’
The handicappers looking at the Kentucky Derby form saw that awful race Mine that Bird ran at Santa Anita last October, and at that point most of them probably crossed him off their list of contenders.
However, had they thrown that race out (and by the way Santa Anita’s racing surface is a synthetic material, which might have made a difference) it could have made a world of difference but then he wouldn’t have gone off at 50-1 and there would have been no big story.
Heavy overnight rains came to Churchill Downs and that seemed to favor the Louisiana Derby winner Friesan Fire, he had won his race over a sloppy track.
The 3-1 favorite I want Revenge was an early morning scratch.
For those of us that watched on TV you could sense a typical Kentucky Derby day kind of excitement in the crowd. Wide brimmed ladies hats, celebrities and mint juleps were all in evidence and while there was plenty of betting going on there were no wide swings in the odds.
During the saddling process, the post parade and as the 19-horse field loaded into the gate the horses maintained a calm.
Out of the gate Dunkirk stumbled and Mine that Bird was pinched in between horses.
Borel gently took a hold on the Bird, got him out of trouble and went about his business of moving to the rail – dead last.
Join the Dance and Regal Ransom led the field up front and kept the horses moving at a good pace.
Borel got Mine that Bird to the rail and they went almost unnoticed to the public and track announcer as they passed horses on the inside. They had no traffic problems along the way, and moving into the stretch That Bird kicked into another gear with only a sliver of a hole in front of him, the space was paper thin, but he accelerated through it and burst into the clear. By the time the announcer realized what was happening Borel had that Bird three lengths in front of the field and extending his lead as they pulled away to an easy 5 and ½ length win.
Now on to the Preakness and quest for the Triple Crown:
One of my daily updates on Twitter:
‘Calvin Borel pilots Mine that Bird to the rail and they fly inside the field to nab second longest price in Kentucky Derby history.’
Read more tweets at www.Twitter.com/tombarnes39
Let’s Go to the Movies Part 16
It’s a Wrap
June 27, 1939
Mr. John Hay Whitney
630 5th Avenue
New York, N.Y.
‘Sound the siren. Scarlett O’Hara completed her performance at noon today. Gable finishes tonight or in the morning…’
That left only a week of pickup shots and Gone With the Wind filming would be complete.
During the next several months David Selznick would be overseeing the editing process while at the same time conducting a low key PR campaign. During that same period Selznick had to use diplomacy to calm the mayor of Atlanta. It seems that Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield had heard a rumor that Atlanta was out of the running for the World Premier of Gone With the Wind and communicated his concern to David Selznick.
On July 17, 1939 Selznick sent this reassuring letter to the mayor, and it reads in part: ‘Dear Mayor Hartsfield:
I am in receipt of your telegram concerning the premier of Gone With the Wind. The rumors, which you have heard, have no foundation. Neither we, nor Loew’s, Incorporated have ever given any thought to opening any place but Atlanta, as I have repeatedly assured Governor Rivers, yourself, Miss Mitchell, and other important Georgians…’
And just to give you a sense of what went on behind the scenes between the film’s completion and the premier in Atlanta of Gone With the Wind here is an excerpt from a memo sent to Kay Brown in New York October 7, 1939.
‘…we have our main title all laid out on the basis of having Gone With the Wind come first, and in a unique manner; but if MGM for some strange reason thinks that Clark Gable is more important than Gone With the Wind, and should come first, and wants to bitch up our main title layout, I suppose there’s nothing I can do but get up a new main title, since under out contract with MGM Gable’s name must precede Gone With the Wind.’
A footnote following that memo: The names of the four stars, in a size fifty percent of the films title, followed the films title on the screen and in all advertising.’
One of Selznick’s final battles was that the language censors, at the time, demanded a change from the words in the book, Rhett Butler’s punch line to Scarlett as he turns to walk away – ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,’ was being questioned by the Hays office.
Fortunately Selznick won that battle and shortly after the film’s release ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ became a catch phrase and part of Hollywood and Movie lore.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook.
There can be no honor without a foundation of integrity. That may seem old-fashioned, but – it is a fact.
Honor your character’s integrity.
To paraphrase Sherwood Anderson: Your characters should be as real as living people. You should be no more willing to sell them out than you would to sell out your friends or the woman you love. To take the lives of those people and bend or twist them to suit the needs of some cleverly thought out plot to give your readers a false emotion is as mean and ignoble as it is to sell out living men or women… And that is the truth.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
.
Dream up all the cliché’s in the book and you’ll find several that will fit into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
When Calvin Borel looked at Mine that Bird’s past performance chart he saw a mixed bag. Two-year-old champion in Canada and then some unmentionable races in the States. But as he studied the form some things became apparent. Mine that Bird’s losses came with consistency when he got caught wide on the turns.
I suspect a wry grin crossed Calvin’s face as he thought, ‘Well, we can fix that,’
The handicappers looking at the Kentucky Derby form saw that awful race Mine that Bird ran at Santa Anita last October, and at that point most of them probably crossed him off their list of contenders.
However, had they thrown that race out (and by the way Santa Anita’s racing surface is a synthetic material, which might have made a difference) it could have made a world of difference but then he wouldn’t have gone off at 50-1 and there would have been no big story.
Heavy overnight rains came to Churchill Downs and that seemed to favor the Louisiana Derby winner Friesan Fire, he had won his race over a sloppy track.
The 3-1 favorite I want Revenge was an early morning scratch.
For those of us that watched on TV you could sense a typical Kentucky Derby day kind of excitement in the crowd. Wide brimmed ladies hats, celebrities and mint juleps were all in evidence and while there was plenty of betting going on there were no wide swings in the odds.
During the saddling process, the post parade and as the 19-horse field loaded into the gate the horses maintained a calm.
Out of the gate Dunkirk stumbled and Mine that Bird was pinched in between horses.
Borel gently took a hold on the Bird, got him out of trouble and went about his business of moving to the rail – dead last.
Join the Dance and Regal Ransom led the field up front and kept the horses moving at a good pace.
Borel got Mine that Bird to the rail and they went almost unnoticed to the public and track announcer as they passed horses on the inside. They had no traffic problems along the way, and moving into the stretch That Bird kicked into another gear with only a sliver of a hole in front of him, the space was paper thin, but he accelerated through it and burst into the clear. By the time the announcer realized what was happening Borel had that Bird three lengths in front of the field and extending his lead as they pulled away to an easy 5 and ½ length win.
Now on to the Preakness and quest for the Triple Crown:
One of my daily updates on Twitter:
‘Calvin Borel pilots Mine that Bird to the rail and they fly inside the field to nab second longest price in Kentucky Derby history.’
Read more tweets at www.Twitter.com/tombarnes39
Let’s Go to the Movies Part 16
It’s a Wrap
June 27, 1939
Mr. John Hay Whitney
630 5th Avenue
New York, N.Y.
‘Sound the siren. Scarlett O’Hara completed her performance at noon today. Gable finishes tonight or in the morning…’
That left only a week of pickup shots and Gone With the Wind filming would be complete.
During the next several months David Selznick would be overseeing the editing process while at the same time conducting a low key PR campaign. During that same period Selznick had to use diplomacy to calm the mayor of Atlanta. It seems that Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield had heard a rumor that Atlanta was out of the running for the World Premier of Gone With the Wind and communicated his concern to David Selznick.
On July 17, 1939 Selznick sent this reassuring letter to the mayor, and it reads in part: ‘Dear Mayor Hartsfield:
I am in receipt of your telegram concerning the premier of Gone With the Wind. The rumors, which you have heard, have no foundation. Neither we, nor Loew’s, Incorporated have ever given any thought to opening any place but Atlanta, as I have repeatedly assured Governor Rivers, yourself, Miss Mitchell, and other important Georgians…’
And just to give you a sense of what went on behind the scenes between the film’s completion and the premier in Atlanta of Gone With the Wind here is an excerpt from a memo sent to Kay Brown in New York October 7, 1939.
‘…we have our main title all laid out on the basis of having Gone With the Wind come first, and in a unique manner; but if MGM for some strange reason thinks that Clark Gable is more important than Gone With the Wind, and should come first, and wants to bitch up our main title layout, I suppose there’s nothing I can do but get up a new main title, since under out contract with MGM Gable’s name must precede Gone With the Wind.’
A footnote following that memo: The names of the four stars, in a size fifty percent of the films title, followed the films title on the screen and in all advertising.’
One of Selznick’s final battles was that the language censors, at the time, demanded a change from the words in the book, Rhett Butler’s punch line to Scarlett as he turns to walk away – ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,’ was being questioned by the Hays office.
Fortunately Selznick won that battle and shortly after the film’s release ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ became a catch phrase and part of Hollywood and Movie lore.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook.
There can be no honor without a foundation of integrity. That may seem old-fashioned, but – it is a fact.
Honor your character’s integrity.
To paraphrase Sherwood Anderson: Your characters should be as real as living people. You should be no more willing to sell them out than you would to sell out your friends or the woman you love. To take the lives of those people and bend or twist them to suit the needs of some cleverly thought out plot to give your readers a false emotion is as mean and ignoble as it is to sell out living men or women… And that is the truth.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
.
2009 Belmont Summer Bird, Dunkirk and Mine that Bird
Birdstone’s success and Desormeaux’s redemption:
Sons of Birdstone: Summer Bird and Mine that Bird finished first and third in Saturday’s Belmont.
The youngsters were true to their breeding showing tenacity and stamina passed along to them by Papa Birdstone. While the Belmont didn’t produce a Triple Crown this year it might have done just as much for racing by highlighting an overlooked stud. Of course now that the secrets out Birdstone will be getting more respect and I predict his stud fees will be going up by a sizeable figure.
The most honest part of horse racing is the horse. Owners, trainers and jockeys are all guided by a human factor, ego followed close on by ignorance.
Last year it was Big Brown’s trainer making outrageous remarks about how great his charge was. This year Mine that Bird’s jockey Calvin Borel was the culprit.
An odd thing happened on the way to the finish line – redemption for Kent Desormeaux.
A couple of Cajuns Desormeaux and Borel riding competing horses from the same sire, Desormeaux came both mentally and physically prepared to win the Belmont, Borel didn’t. While Borel was enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on TV’s Late Shows and seeing New York Desormeaux was studying his past performance record at Belmont, including a couple of losing efforts in the Belmont stakes. He was also working to secure mounts for the day of the Belmont and wound up with three wins on the early card prior to the big race. That race day experience of riding solid mounts over Big Sandy gave Desormeaux an edge.
Now we are aware that the Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird has a very talented half brother Summer Bird.
But don’t forget Dunkirk, the horse with the speed that carried the race and came in second.
What Desormeaux knew from past experience over the giant Belmont oval could only be learned by multiple races over the track. Big Sandy as the Belmont track is called is as different from Churchill Downs as the Indianapolis brickyard is to Talladega, Alabama in auto racing.
Kent Desormeaux and Summer Bird had something else going for them, Nick Zito the winning New York trainer. Summer Bird and his trainer Tim Ice were welcomed into and housed in Zito’s barn for their stay in New York.
Zito has spoiled the chances of several Triple Crown threats with wins in the Belmont, which includes Birdstone’s win over Smarty Jones in 2004.
Of the first three horses to cross the finish line Dunkirk was the only one to sustain an injury, a fracture in his left hind cannon bone. Fortunately it’s not life threatening, but it will keep him out of racing for a while.
Belmont winner Summer Bird returns to his Louisiana Downs home base for some rest. Then according his trainer Tim Ice he’ll begin to train for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on August 2nd. The next goal will be the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga on August 29th.
Mine that Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley said his horse came out of the race in great condition and was set for an eight-week rest.
In the meantime the owners and Woolley are aiming for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 7th. To prepare for that race they want to keep him on the dirt and run him against three year olds.
The horse seems to have gotten through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont better than his trainer. Woolley admitted that hobbling through the grind of a Triple Crown campaign on crutches and a broken leg finally took its tole on him.
‘Talk about whipped, about half way through dinner last night I just said guys I’m done. And I’m not that type at all. I couldn’t believe how I hit the wall last night. I never thought I’d be sitting here sort of down about running third in the Belmont. This has been a lifetime dream.’
Coming Attractions:
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
‘The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle’
Washington orders military to develop hurricane-warning system. Navy vets back from Pacific War form Squadron 114 and flying out of Masters Field, Miami, Florida chased and charted eleven tropical storms and hurricanes the season of 1945, which started the process and development of our present Hurricane Warning System.
For updates go to www.TomsHurricanes.com
Writers Notebook:
A How to Book that Works:
My Review
Dan Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual is what the title implies – and a whole lot more. The book is also a marketing guide and goes a long way in the public relations area.
During the course of reading the book I jotted down a dozen or more subject notes and I’ll share some of them with you.
Poynter talks about reviews, testimonials and how your web site is at the heart of your promotional campaign. The section on news releases gives you an example of their format and how to tailor the release to your material.
The chapter titled “Advertising Your Book,” not only gives mail and print information you are told how to obtain radio interviews, which gives you free airtime to promote your book.
Those are just a few of the great ideas. Anyone with a book in the works or one that’s ready for the market will benefit from this manual.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.TomsHurricanes.com
www.RocktheTower.com
Sons of Birdstone: Summer Bird and Mine that Bird finished first and third in Saturday’s Belmont.
The youngsters were true to their breeding showing tenacity and stamina passed along to them by Papa Birdstone. While the Belmont didn’t produce a Triple Crown this year it might have done just as much for racing by highlighting an overlooked stud. Of course now that the secrets out Birdstone will be getting more respect and I predict his stud fees will be going up by a sizeable figure.
The most honest part of horse racing is the horse. Owners, trainers and jockeys are all guided by a human factor, ego followed close on by ignorance.
Last year it was Big Brown’s trainer making outrageous remarks about how great his charge was. This year Mine that Bird’s jockey Calvin Borel was the culprit.
An odd thing happened on the way to the finish line – redemption for Kent Desormeaux.
A couple of Cajuns Desormeaux and Borel riding competing horses from the same sire, Desormeaux came both mentally and physically prepared to win the Belmont, Borel didn’t. While Borel was enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on TV’s Late Shows and seeing New York Desormeaux was studying his past performance record at Belmont, including a couple of losing efforts in the Belmont stakes. He was also working to secure mounts for the day of the Belmont and wound up with three wins on the early card prior to the big race. That race day experience of riding solid mounts over Big Sandy gave Desormeaux an edge.
Now we are aware that the Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird has a very talented half brother Summer Bird.
But don’t forget Dunkirk, the horse with the speed that carried the race and came in second.
What Desormeaux knew from past experience over the giant Belmont oval could only be learned by multiple races over the track. Big Sandy as the Belmont track is called is as different from Churchill Downs as the Indianapolis brickyard is to Talladega, Alabama in auto racing.
Kent Desormeaux and Summer Bird had something else going for them, Nick Zito the winning New York trainer. Summer Bird and his trainer Tim Ice were welcomed into and housed in Zito’s barn for their stay in New York.
Zito has spoiled the chances of several Triple Crown threats with wins in the Belmont, which includes Birdstone’s win over Smarty Jones in 2004.
Of the first three horses to cross the finish line Dunkirk was the only one to sustain an injury, a fracture in his left hind cannon bone. Fortunately it’s not life threatening, but it will keep him out of racing for a while.
Belmont winner Summer Bird returns to his Louisiana Downs home base for some rest. Then according his trainer Tim Ice he’ll begin to train for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on August 2nd. The next goal will be the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga on August 29th.
Mine that Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley said his horse came out of the race in great condition and was set for an eight-week rest.
In the meantime the owners and Woolley are aiming for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita on November 7th. To prepare for that race they want to keep him on the dirt and run him against three year olds.
The horse seems to have gotten through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont better than his trainer. Woolley admitted that hobbling through the grind of a Triple Crown campaign on crutches and a broken leg finally took its tole on him.
‘Talk about whipped, about half way through dinner last night I just said guys I’m done. And I’m not that type at all. I couldn’t believe how I hit the wall last night. I never thought I’d be sitting here sort of down about running third in the Belmont. This has been a lifetime dream.’
Coming Attractions:
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
‘The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle’
Washington orders military to develop hurricane-warning system. Navy vets back from Pacific War form Squadron 114 and flying out of Masters Field, Miami, Florida chased and charted eleven tropical storms and hurricanes the season of 1945, which started the process and development of our present Hurricane Warning System.
For updates go to www.TomsHurricanes.com
Writers Notebook:
A How to Book that Works:
My Review
Dan Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual is what the title implies – and a whole lot more. The book is also a marketing guide and goes a long way in the public relations area.
During the course of reading the book I jotted down a dozen or more subject notes and I’ll share some of them with you.
Poynter talks about reviews, testimonials and how your web site is at the heart of your promotional campaign. The section on news releases gives you an example of their format and how to tailor the release to your material.
The chapter titled “Advertising Your Book,” not only gives mail and print information you are told how to obtain radio interviews, which gives you free airtime to promote your book.
Those are just a few of the great ideas. Anyone with a book in the works or one that’s ready for the market will benefit from this manual.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.TomsHurricanes.com
www.RocktheTower.com
Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog
I do a variety blog and post every Wednesday. I am an actor, writer and hurricane hunter and my subjects are generally written about those fields. During Hurricane Season I do at least one story every
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