CHURCHILL DOWNS, SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009:
What a busy - but wonderful! - couple of months I have had! After winning the Kentucky Oaks by an almost gaudy 20 1/4 lengths, I faced down the boys just a couple of weeks later in the Preakness Stakes, and even though they were chasing me hard, I dug deep for all the girls out there to become the first filly to win the race since Nellie Morse in 1924, and only the fifth to do it ever. Hopefully some of those little fillies running around in pastures across the country with big hopes of making it in “the business” will make me the fifth filly of many to win the Preakness one day.
Vogue, as in “the” Vogue magazine [insert dazzling smile here!] even sent Steven Klein, a very famous photographer, down to Churchill Downs from New York City to take my picture for the August edition; if you want to see what my big photo shoot was like, just look at my video diary here.
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I’ve been keeping things pretty low-key since then. It's so important to not get burned out – we have a whole half of the year left in the season – but I’m excited to be gearing up for another big race now…I need my rest and time to train, but I love all the excitement of a big race. We all dream of having our name in lights!
Speaking of lights, my big workout on the 15th of June was at around 5:30 am under the temporary lights here at Churchill Downs. I went six furlongs in 1:12, and of the four of us who got timed at that distance, I went the fastest. Churchill Downs is trying out night racing for the first time in its 135-year history, and as far as I've heard, the racing under the stars the following Friday was a huge success. The track was testing the lights out that morning to give everyone a chance to get used to them before the big night debut, and I was one of the first to run under those big bright lights!
Then, on Wednesday of last week, I learned that I would be going to Belmont Park on Long Island to face some really nice fillies in the $300,000, mile-and-an-eighth Mother Goose Stakes. I can’t wait to see Belmont for the first time, especially since that's where Curlin had so much success and, of course, where he broke Cigar’s North American money-earner record after a repeat victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup last September. Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke also announced that they were going to donate $20,000 in my name to the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure for research to combat breast cancer, so I’m going to flaunt my love of pink and run like a girl, and with the girls, and for the girls!
My friend Tiffany from the clocker’s stand here at Churchill Downs brought me candies to celebrate - a big bag of peppermints (my favorite), and two bags of butterscotches, one bag for me and one for my people because they keep eating all my butterscotches…(hint, hint if they are reading this)...
I’m going to miss all my friends here in Louisville, but I’m so excited to go all “bright lights, big city” in NYC! A girl can always use a new pair of shoes, and I got a fabulous new pair on Saturday from my blacksmith, David Hinton, who my trainer Steve Asmussen likes so much he flew him all the way to Dubai to give Curlin new shoes before he won the Dubai World Cup in 2007...I was just a wee yearling then, but Curlin is a legend!
Well, it’s a rainy day here at Churchill, and I’d better get some rest. I have my last big workout in the morning before I head to NYC. I’ll let you know how it goes and hopefully somebody will get a good picture of me!
Saratoga Race Course, Thursday, Septmber 10, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Friday, September 4, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, August 24, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Friday, August 14, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, July 27, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, July 20, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, July 13, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, July 6, 2009
Saratoga Race Course, Monday, June 29, 2009
Belmont, Saturday, June 27, 2009
Belmont, Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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