Hash

I was out for 45:45 on a Hash run set on Chenal Mountain on the western edge of Little Rock. It was hard going. This is an area where we once had two or three runs a year. I would say that in the last ten years we haven't been there more than four times. I'm not sure why not. There are trails all over the place, plus it's really pretty.

WarMemorial Golf Course

I played War Memorial Golf Course this morning and afternoon with John Czernecki and Tim Biggs and scored 105. John also had a 105 and Tim a 108. I hit exactly three good shots. It was the worst I have played since a terrible stretch I went through in the late summer of 2010.

Levy Trail

I walked the Levy Trail with the Geezers this morning for 1:49:27.

Hot Springs

HOT SPRINGS—I walked from my car to the Oaklawn Park press box by way of the stables this morning for 41:12.
I lost at total of $2.60 on horses. After eight trips, I'm up $8.10 for the season.

DR. PETE'S STONE COLD SURER THAN TWO MOTHERFUCKERS LOCK OF THE LAST 13.772  BILLION YEARS
Race 5 today at Oaklawn Park. Bet half of everything you have and can steal between now (2:37 p.m. Central) and post time, scheduled for 3:08 p.m., on Chip Van Winkle (No. 5) to win.
RESULT
Fucker got beat at the wire.

Stuff starting to make the paper just as I wrote it

Asmussen, like most horsemen, is keenly aware of the infinite variables that transcend a trainer’s influence and assist or retard performance. He asks for the best, particularly in terms of his and his assistants’ effort. After that, he said all he can do is accept and assess what is before him and use it to prescribe the next step.

Petrov had trainer Ron Moquett’s hopes up as he roared into the stretch, but One Liner’s momentum was disguised by the rush of Petrov’s move on the final turn. Velazquez said he felt his horse gaining ground, and his confidence soared.

Hot Springs/Oaklawn Park

HOT SPRINGS—I walked from the Oaklawn Park parking lot to the press box this afternoon via the barns and a Valero minimart for some triple-a batteries in 56:10.
I turned two bets of $7 into a profit of $16.50 at Oaklawn today and am now up $10.70 for the season after seven trips.

War Memorial Park Golf Course

I played War Memorial Park Golf Course this morning and afternoon in 98 with John Czarnecki and Tim Biggs. John scored a 107 and Tim a 103. I used 38 putts.

Cooks Landing

We Geezers walked the 6.5-mile Cooks Landing Loop this morning in 1:42:17. Elaine Gimblett's watch said we went 6.5 miles.

Lakewood Lake No. 2

We walked from Lakewood Lake No. 2 this morning for 58:06.

OVERHEARD
"They ain't gonna eat where?"
—woman responding to her husband, who said, "They ain't gonna eat that."

Oaklawn Park

HOT SPRINGS—I lost $7.00 at Oaklawn Park yesterday and am down $5.80 for the season.

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — It looked on paper as if it might become the most contentious stakes race to this point in the Oaklawn Park season.

As it turned out, the winner of the $125,000 one-mile Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies made simple, straightforward work of the other seven well-regarded entrants, each packed with top-flight experience. Chanel’s Legacy won by 2 1/2 lengths over My Sweet Stella in 1 minute, 38.51 seconds. Torrent was third, 3 3/4 lengths behind Sweet Stella and a nose in front of fourth-place Lovely Bernadette.

Perfect Wife broke through the gate before the start and apparently injured her mouth, but the 8/5 favorite of an estimated crowd of 15,000 and simulcast gamblers around the world nevertheless raced to the lead when the gates opened. Chanel’s Legacy was never further back than second nor more than a length behind Perfect Wife’s right flank through a quarter-mile in 23.51 seconds and a half in 46.90.

Chanel’s Legacy’s trainer Lynn Chleborad watched the race unfold on a flat-screen television near the paddock, and she ran through her typical constant commentary.

“She needs to go out in 24,” she said. “No, that’s too fast.”

Chleborad explained her concern after the race.

“When she went out in 23 and change, I thought, ‘Holy cow,’ ’’ Chleborad said. “I was worried, but then when we got to the quarter pole, I thought, ‘Well, she’s still strong.’ But I still wanted the wire to get there.”

Chanel’s Legacy, off at 13-1 with jockey Alex Birzer up, gradually took the lead as the first two raced around the final turn and through 6 furlongs in 1:11.61. My Sweet Stella, trained by Racing Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, was in fourth and looked geared for a strong finish but was momentarily trapped between Torrent and Lovely Bernadette and consequently steadied by jockey Carlos Marquez, Jr.

Shortly after Chanel’s Legacy moved in front, jockey Corey Lanerie pulled Perfect Wife up and out of the race.

“Maybe in hindsight, we probably should’ve scratched her,” Perfect Wife trainer Kenny McPeek said. “She’s got a pretty good cut in her mouth, but she’ll be fine. We’ll regroup.”

When the field turned into the stretch, with the one-mile finish line an eighth of a mile away, Chenal’s Legacy appeared in control. She was 1 1/2 lengths ahead of My Sweet Stella, who had regained enough momentum to hold onto second but was losing ground to the eventual winner.

“The best horse did not win the race,” Marquez, Jr. said. “I was on the best horse. If I don’t get stopped cold like that, I win.”

“I think we ran pretty good considering,” Lukas said. “We just about got wiped out in the turn. All of her momentum was stopped right there, but she came back and ran well. She finished great. She ran good enough to win today.”

With a 16th of a mile to go, victory for Chenal’s Legacy looked imminent, so much so that a man standing beside Chleborad hugged her. Chleborad acknowledged and returned the embrace, but a sort of superstition typical of sportsmen compelled her to keep her eyes on the television.

“The race still wasn’t over,” Chleborad said. “I was still like, ‘Wait. Wait. Not until she crosses the wire.’ ”

“She ran huge,” Birzer said. “She put me in a great spot. She just sat there as the leader weakened. She just picked it up an extra notch and just kept to her business.”

As for the nearly universal assessment of the Martha Washington field’s quality before the race, Chanel’s Legacy and My Sweet Stella entered off of first- and second-place finishes, respectively, in Oaklawn’s Dixie Belle Stakes on Jan. 21. Lovely Bernadette, Queen Bernardina, Ever So Clever, and Benner Island all participated in graded stakes races as 2-year-olds, topped by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen trainee Ever So Clever’s runner-up finish in the Grade II Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 26.

The other two entrants, Perfect Wife, and Torrent, were each clear winners in their last starts, led by Perfect Wife, who won the one-mile Trapeze by five lengths at Remington Park in Oklahoma City in December. She started the Martha Washington with the highest last-race Brisnet and Beyer speed figures.

“Chanel’s Legacy beat some very good horses,” said Ron Moquett, trainer of Torrent. “I’m very happy for Lynn. She works hard, and she deserves a good horse.”

Chleborad sounds convinced at last.

“These fillies are like kids in high school,” she said. “You know, they do great in high school, but then when they go onto college or graduate school, they’re going against a lot of people who have done just as much as they have, but she did very well today against a very good group, and I’m so happy.”

War Memorial Golf Course

I played War Memorial Golf Course today with John Czernecki and Tim Biggs in 99, with nines of 52 and 47. I used 40 putts. One of the things I really like about War Memorial is that it requires the occasional driver chip, which was of no use at First Tee. I have missed that shot the last few years, and now I'm hitting it better than ever.
One of my favorite things about the round is that we completed it in 3 hours, 4 minutes. I prefer not to play that fast, but we started at 10 a.m. and I had to be home no later than 2 p.m. I got back at 1:42.

Levy Trail Loop/Hash/Super Bowl

I walked the Levy Trail Loop this morning in 34:14.
Late this afternoon I walked for 45:13 with the Hash from John Conn's downtown apartment.
Take Atlanta, a 3-point underdog, and the under on an over-under of 58 1/2 points. Atlanta will win outright, 30-24. Nevertheless, I will in fact cheer for New England.

Oaklawn Park

HOT SPRINGS—I walked for 37:14 from my car to the barns and the pressbox at Oaklawn Park early this afternoon. On the way, I experienced a Greta Kuntzweiler first: I was on a stable row near the track when I heard: "Hey, Pete." It was Greta, dressed in a bright blue high-tech looking parka. Her hair was a mess, perhaps the result of a very cold morning spent in a skull cap. She was helping lead a horse to the track for Race No. 4 so didn't have long when she walked a few feet out of her way to hug me. We exchanged a couple of sentences along the line of "How are you?" I told her I'd come see her some morning. The first was that since she and I met in 2003, Greta had never before— in my memory—said Pete when I was within earshot. It was nice to hear.
I lost a total of $6.20 today, which leaves me ahead $1.20 after six trips.

Levy Trail South

I walked Levy Trail South this morning in 32:29.