Burns Park Championship Course

John Czarnecki, Ed Pennington, and I played Burns Park Championship Course this afternoon. Ed scored 87. I scored 90 and John 95.

Levy Trail South

I walked Levy Trail South tonight in 34:28.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who calls meat "a protein," as a woman I heard on National Public Radio did yesterday morning while talking about her diet: "At each and every meal, we have a protein and at least two servings of vegetables and fruits," she said. In fact, I'm going retroactive on this one. Anyone in the last ten years who has, as this woman later admitted, called chicken, beef, fish, or any sort of meat a protein will be stabbed. This must be stopped

Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS—I walked from my car on Oaklawn's parking lot north and south on Central Avenue and then up to the press box for 39:55 at lunchtime today. On the outside chance any of my readers have wondered, I didn't do anything the last four days out of laziness and deference to a boatload of Oaklawn work for the paper.
Speaking of which, while driving home tonight, it occurred to me I had used the word calamity in one of the two race stories I wrote this evening. Wait a minute, I asked myself, are you sure you know what calamity means? You know, specifically? Fuck.
Here's what I wrote: Oaklawn has not allowed anyone other than horsemen, essential track personnel, and media on its racing grounds since March 13 in an effort to stem the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic, the same calamity that has kept Amoss at home since his roundtrip to and from Oaklawn to watch his filly Serengeti Empress win the Grade II 1-mile-and-1/16th Azeri Stakes on March 14.

It was with a nice sense of relief that I read this definition:
ca·lam·i·ty

/kəˈlamədē/

noun

• 1.an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster:"the journey had led to calamity and ruin"

Sure, that's what I thought it meant, but I ran with it without knowing. Seated in my car in circa southwest Little Rock, I thought, "Oh shit. I don't know"

Burns Park Tournament Course

John, Ed, and I played Burns Park Tournament Course this morning. Ed scored 93. I cored 97 and John 101. I had nines of 51 and 46 and 1 birdie (with a downhill 50-foot putt on No. 14, the green on the back-nine someone could easily approach from Arlene Drive if they saw people on it they wanted to talk with).

Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS—I walked two roundtrips between my car and the pressbox (because I forgot a bag full of Diabetes Mellitus crap) and then around the Oaklawn facility just a bit at lunchtime today in 37:44.

QUESTION OF THE DAY
Why haven't any of Pete's business school friends told him of the nearly perfect inverse correlation between the price of crude oil and the number of dead people in U.S. nursing homes?*
*he wondered this yesterday after he bought gas for $1.15 a gallon

Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS—I walked all over Oaklawn's facilities for 36:05 this afternoon to interrupt the writing of advance stories for tomorrow's Apple Blossom and Count Fleet Sprint Handicaps, a race story about today's Rainbow and Rainbow Miss Stakes, and a feature on a very friendly, talented jockey named Joe Talamo. The doors to the Oaklawn Jockey Club were locked.
It feels like Saturday.
I wonder. Would any of Pete's leads today make any non-sports fan consider reading on?

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — People responsible for the Grade I $600,000 1-mile-and-1/16th Apple Blossom Handicap, Oaklawn’s top feature for its fan-free Racing Festival of the South, share common thoughts that have little to do with fillies and mares, four-years-old and up.

HOT SPRINGS — Whitmore, owned in part by Robert LaPenta and Ron Moquett, will run today with a chance to once again expand his legacy at Oaklawn.

HOT SPRINGS — He hadn’t yet nailed down the specifics, but Joe Talamo knew by the age of eight what he wanted from life.

HOT SPRINGS — It always seems appropriate when owners and trainers from Arkansas are connected to an Oaklawn race-day feature.

Levy Trail South

I walked Levy Trail South this morning in 34:55.
I am at the point that I can't wait for the Oaklawn season to end, even though it will likely mean I will not work until football season begins, if indeed it does. Actually, as hard as I have worked at the track, I look forward to a four-month break. Today I worked on six stories from 8 a.m. to 8:26 p.m. Three will run tomorrow, the others on Saturday.
The season ends two weeks from Saturday. John and Ed, the motherfuckers, golfed today.

Levy Trail South

I walked Levy Trail South late this afternoon in 33:16.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next person who says, "Our lives will never be the same."

Levy Loop

I walked the good old Levy Loop this morning in 32:57. It's suddenly cold here in Levy.

Ghetto Cat Loop

I walked the Ghetto Cat Loop this morning in 33:25.

Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS—A young man and woman stood closely together at the far northern edge of the large and vastly exclusive Oaklawn Jockey Club. I saw them from behind, at least 200 feet away, as they looked through the racetrack's airport-like windows over the owner's cabin and the dark gray chill of this afternoon. We were the only three in the pristine fifty-thousand-square-foot room, which was immaculately dressed as if hundreds of wealthy diners were expected. The couple's presence there ranks among my lifetime's oddest memories. I nearly added another minute to my 37:12 walk to ask who they were and what they thought of this odd, unlighted room, darkened for this fan-free race day and the new coronavirus pandemic, but I was afraid I would frighten them and get tossed from the grounds before I could write one thousand four hundred and thirty-six words about two stakes races in two and a half hours.
Oh well. At least I made it into the Jockey Club for the first time since 2002 and perhaps as the first person ever, with races underway, to have walked through the doors dressed in faded blue jeans and a Henderson State University baseball T-shirt.

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — Mr. Big News lived up to his name.

Off at 46-1, Allied Racing Stable’s Mr. Big News followed far behind a rapid pace over a sloppy track to outrun 12 other entrants and win the $200,000 1-mile-and-1/8th Oaklawn Stakes for three-year-old horses in 1:49.89 before zero fans at Oaklawn on Saturday.

Ridden by Gabriel Saez and trained by Bret Calhoun, Mr. Big News, by Giant’s Causeway, had finished fifth of 11 in one of two divisions of the Grade II 1-mile-and-1/16th Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Feb. 15 in his last start.

Calhoun said a careful examination of Mr. Big News’ past performances gave him confidence.

“He performed like we thought he would,” Calhoun said. “I know he was a big long shot, but we had quite a bit of confidence in him over the last couple of months.”

Martin Garcia rode Eclipse Thoroughbred Partner’s Farmington Road to second, two lengths behind Mr. Big News and 3 1/4 lengths in front of third-place Taishan. Basin finished fourth, 5 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

As one of Oaklawn’s measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic, the track has excluded fans from attendance since March 13. Only people essential to racing, medical care and security, and media personnel are currently allowed on the racetrack’s grounds.

Mike McCarty’s Gold Street, under Tyler Baze, broke fourth from the gate but led the field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.07. Mr. Big News was in 11th, 14 1/2 lengths back.

“He didn’t break as sharp as I wanted, so I just let him be, let him into his own rhythm,” Saez said. “When he hit the backstretch, he started moving, and I said, ‘OK, buddy. Go on with it.’ ’’

Thousand Words, the 5-2 favorite ridden by Joe Talamo from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, stumbled from the gate and was eight lengths back through the first quarter. He would never contend and finished 11th, 29 3/4 lengths back.

Gold Street’s lead was 1 1/2 lengths through a half-mile run in 45.47. Farmington Road was last, 11 1/2 lengths behind.  Mr. Big News was 10th, nine lengths off the lead. Basin was fourth and Taishan fifth

Gold Street and Basin are trained by Steve Asmussen, a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Gold Street had won wire-to-wire in Oaklawn’s opening-day $150,000 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 24. He raced with a similar style in the Oaklawn Stakes to lead by half a length through three-quarter miles in 1:10.67, but he gave way to Taishan, under Joel Rosario, before the home stretch and would finish eighth.

Taishan led as he turned for home, but Mr. Big News and Farmington Road, who started at 6-1, began to unwind.

Mr. Big News took the lead with an eighth of a mile left, and Farmington Road took over second at the 1/16th pole.

“When we got to the top of the stretch, I swung him out into the clear, and he found a different gear,” Saez said. “He got the job done.”

“I found a way to go and followed the winner around, and he just took off,” Garcia said. “It looks like my horse is going to be a good horse.”

Todd Pletcher, another Hall of Fame member, trains Farmington Road.

Calhoun said he understood why gamblers did not share his confidence in the winner.

“You had to really dig down and watch the replays hard to be able to see and know what we thought we knew going into this race,” Calhoun said. “I can definitely see why he was that price, and it didn’t bother me at all. There were a lot of other options in there with the big field of talented horses.”

Each of the top three finishers are assured a spot in Oaklawn’s 14-stall starting gate for the Grade I 1-mile-and-1/8th Arkansas Derby scheduled for May 2.

Whereas the Oaklawn Stakes did not offer Kentucky Derby qualifying points, the Arkansas Derby will distribute a total of 170, with 100, 40, 20, and 10 to first through fourth, respectively. The winning and second-place points alone would have qualified a horse for a spot in any of the Kentucky Derbies’ 20-stall gates since the points system was established for the 2013 season and beyond.

In response to Churchill Down’s decision to move this season’s Grade I 1-mile-and-1/4th Kentucky Derby from May 2 to Sept. 5, Oaklawn rescheduled the Arkansas Derby from April 11 to May 2, and the Oaklawn Stakes was moved from May 2.

Calhoun said he would wait to decide when Mr. Big News next races.

“They’ve moved the [Kentucky] Derby so late, we have to look around and figure out the lay of the land, figure out where some of the points races are,” Calhoun said. “Obviously, with the Derby so far way now, we can space his races a little bit better, but if we can’t find some better options, we sure may come back [for the Arkansas Derby].”

Levy Trail South/Burns Park Tournament Course

Ed and I played Burns Park Tournament course this afternoon. Ed scored 86 and I scored 89, with nines of 43 and 46. I used 35 putts. We played the last 15 holes with a man named Larry. He was a dick.
Early this morning, I walked Levy Trail South in 35:04.

Levy Trail South

I walked Levy Trail South at lunchtime today in 34:22.

QUESTION OF THE DAY
Why does Burger King think its advertisement for their new chicken nuggets, in which a young woman testifies, "They're a lot better than I expected," would make people think they're good rather than that this woman has a history of eating other stuff at Burger King that sucks dicks?

I PLAN TO STAB
The next person who writes a headline that states a dead musician "...chronicled the human condition in song," as someone at the New York Times did after a Times writer chronicled John Prine's horizontal condition

Burns Park Championship Course

Ed and I played the front nine at Burns Park Championship Course this morning. Ed scored 42. I scored 43 with 3 pars, 4 bogies, and 2 doubles. I used 17 putts.

Burns Park Championship Course/Oaklawn

HOT SPRINGS—It took me 42:14 to walk my ever-changing car-to-the-pressbox route at Oaklawn early this afternoon.
John Czarnecki and I played Burns Park Championship Course yesterday afternoon. John, who hadn't played for at least six weeks, struggled through the last three or four holes of the front nine, so we played a two-man scramble on the back. I scored 48 on the front and then scrambled with John to a 39 over the last nine holes. We were at par through the first seven holes but doubled No. 17 and a bogeyed 18, much to our collective disappointment. We three-putted 17.

QUESTION OF THE DAY
Why would it possibly surprise Pete that liberals think he is conservative and conservatives think he's liberal when he posts things like the following on a Facebutt picture of President Trump all confused in the cockpit of an airplane: Citizens more loyal to their political affiliations than their county—to generalize, people near the edges of liberalism and conservatism—are the least patriotic among us. I am no fan of President Trump's and hope for a better pilot come January 20, 2021, but my money is on the plane, regardless of who flies it.?

Pete doesn't think he has ever before written the verb enrich, though, heck, maybe he has. He wonders late on a Saturday night-Sunday morning whether he has written a clearer deadline story, while at the same time recognizing quite a few flaws:

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — The winner had to overcome a long layoff and a star-filled field.

Ten Broeck Farm’s Kimari, a former juvenile turf specialist who had not raced in five months, used a display of talent up to the task to pass two other heavily-credentialed frontrunners late in the race and win the $100,000 6-furlong Purple Martin Stakes for three-year-old fillies over a sloppy track in 1:10.57 before a crowd of none at Oaklawn on Saturday.

Fans have been barred from the racing facility and grounds of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort since March 13 as part of the track’s response to the new coronavirus pandemic. The Purple Martin was run on the 14th consecutive racing day at the track with no one but essential personnel and media in attendance.

Pre-race focus and betting interests centered on Frank Fletcher’s three-time graded-stakes-placed Frank’s Rockette, the 7-5 favorite, Breeder’s Cup fourth-place juvenile turf sprinter Kimari, the one-race but genuine wonder Edgeway, a son of Competitive Edge trained by John Sadler, and Ring Leader, Oaklawn’s 6-furlong Dixie Belle Stakes winner trained by Mac Robertson.

Kamari, ridden by Channing Hill at 5-2, passed Edgeway and Frank’s Rockette 50 yards from the wire to win by 1 3/4 lengths over second-place Frank’s Rockette. Edgeway was third, a neck behind Frank’s Rockette and 4 3/4 lengths in front of fourth-place 67-1-shot Wasabi Girl.

Ring Leader stumbled at the start and finished eighth in the nine-horse field, 16 lengths behind the winner.

Kimari, a daughter of Munnings trained by Wesley Ward, had not raced on dirt since April 25, 2019 early in her two-year-old campaign. Kimari next won three consecutive turf starts before she finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 1.

Kimari’s five-furlong work in 58.00 and 6-furlongs breezed in 1:12.20 at Gulfstream Park West last month were enough to enrich Ward’s confidence.

“I’m kind of a positive guy anyways, but after seeing those two works, I knew it would take a really, really tough filly to beat her,” Ward said.

Frank’s Rockette was first out of the gate but Edgeway had a nose in front shortly thereafter and led by a length through the first-quarter mile in 21.63. Frank’s Rockette was next, a head in front of Bootytama in third. Kimari was in sixth, 3 1/2 lengths off the lead.

Edgeway, ridden by Tyler Baze, led by a head over Frank’s Rockette through the half in 45.26. Bootytama, at 33-1, remained in third, another head back but would fade to fifth, 8 3/4 lengths behind the winner at the wire.

Edgeway had won gate to wire under Baze in a 6-furlong optional-claiming race at Oaklawn in 1:09.05 on Feb. 29 in her first and only other career start, and she led at the head of the stretch in the Purple Martin. In her previous start, Edgeway stretched her lead in the lane, but she was in much deeper company this time.

Frank’s Rockette, ridden by Martin Garcia, had a nose in front with 3/16s left and would maintain that edge to the finish, but Kimari began to unwind, caught and passed Edgeway and Frank’s Rockette, and pulled away.

“To be honest with you, at the top of the lane, I wasn’t 100 percent sure how much horse I had, especially compared to how much [Garcia] had because Martin hadn’t gotten after [Frank’s Rockette] yet,” Hill said. “Once I started reeling her in, and once my filly got to her, it was over from there. This filly has a lot of class. Obviously, she’s got a ton of talent, but she also has the class to match.”

The Purple Martin was Frank’s Rockette sixth career start for Fletcher of North Little Rock. From Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s stable, her record stands at 6 2-4-0.

“This little filly, so far, has run her heart out,” Fletcher said Friday.

In part because of limited racing opportunities nationwide from multiple track closures, each in deference to the worsening pandemic, the quality of the Purple Martin field significantly surpassed that typical of $100,000 stakes races.

“I think this was the deepest and most talented Purple Martin Stakes we’ve ever had,” Oaklawn track announcer Vic Stauffer said. “There could be four or five graded-stakes winners come out of this race and maybe even a champion.”

Fletcher of North Little Rock said Friday he thought the Purple Martin would feature the nation’s best three-year-old filly sprinters. With four weeks of racing left in Oaklawn’s season, which ends on May 2, Stauffer said the Purple Martin likely offered a preview for a run of races at the track deep in talent.

“If you have a talented horses in training, you have to run them here,” Stauffer said. “Nancy [Holthus] gave a great quote today on the show. She called it like a Dubai World Cup festival type, except for North America. If you’ve got a really good horse, you’re going to bring that horse to Oaklawn, and you’re going to see that more and more as the meet continues.”

Maumelle/Burns Park Championship Course

Justin Cloar, Ed, and I played Burns Park Championship Course this afternoon. Justin, whose Hash name is Mullett, scored 86. I scored 87 and Ed 90. I had nines of 44 and 43, with 5 pars, 10 bogies, and 3 doubles.
Justin, a 48-year-old public defender, is pretty good, he just doesn't play very often. He outdrove Ed and me 50 or more yards on nearly every hole. His short game sucked dicks, but it's just a matter of time before he starts to clobber us.
Earlier, while Daniel worked on my Impala, I walked on the trails of Maumelle for 39:07.