All the hub hub today is about the Solar Eclipse, as all the Air B N B's in its path are sold out.
As you can see the narrow path takes the event thru the middle of America.
So, we decided to honor it with a Solar Eclipse Awards, Awards to events over the past weekend that were worthy of a Solar Eclipse.
What is this Solar Eclipse ?
The Racingwithbruno Solar Eclipse Award is dedicated for events that eclipsed or totally blocked out anything else that day.
Our 1st Solar Eclipse Award goes to the morning line on opening weekend at Keeneland.
If you followed, the morning line was no closer than nuts on a cat, as 4-5 morning line horsedidn't even go favored, and went off at 3-1, 8-1 to 10-1 horses, on more than a couple of occasions in the morning line, went off favored. The morning line is a hands down #1 Solar Eclipse Award recipient.
The 2nd Solar Eclipse Award goes to the Beyer Figure committee who once again have shown they have little understanding what the Beyer figures really are.
I grew up in this game making the Beyer figures straight out of the teachings of Andrew Beyer books.
The Beyer are a final time figure. They are derived by the final time minus the inherent speed of the track, a simple but logical formula to judge the figure for the race.
Pace is part of the final time, and not a part of equation or adjustment, yet, the Beyer group has made pace a part of the equation. Giving credit to a fast pace and slower time is now a thing to deal with and work. around. Thus, no longer the final time minus the speed of the track, the quintessential rule for a Beyer figure, is the norm.
After all these were the same people that were jumping up and down throughout the Justify Triple Crown and Zenyatta 19 race winning streak "not fast enough, not fast enough'', yet, in the case of Zenyatta, 19 times she was fast enough to win.
I was on a seminar at Hollywood Park with Andrew Beyer, and he was booed when he noted that 'she wasn't fast enough'.
It's simply making shit up as they go, the motto for Beyer figures, and that is why they are the number 2 Solar Eclipse Award recipients.
The next thing will be awarding high % trainers with bonus points in their Beyer Figs.
Can't believe it when people buy horses off those figs.
The third Solar Eclipse Award winner is John Calipari leaving Kentucky for the 'sunny beaches of Arkansas'.
According to the Mob Museum, "Long before Las Vegas became the underworld’s casino playground, Hot Springs, Arkansas, was home away from home for the most notorious names in U.S. organized crime. Al Capone, Albert Anastasia, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Carlos Marcello — these and many more vacationed in the Spa City, where illegal but open prostitution and gambling attracted Mob royalty for decades until the casinos were shut down in the late 1960s"
Coach Cal' who also owns dual citizenship in Italy, could have moved to Sicily if they had a 'WhatsaMatta' University Basketball team, but he chose the next closest thing, Arkansas.
We are no way, in any shape or form, depicting Coach Cal as a mobster, unless you ask a Kentucky Basketball fan, but he had to make an escape out of here, thus, Arkansas was a fair destination.
I like Coach Cal, met him a few times at UK with Tom Leach, a friend and Racingwithbruno subscriber. Coach Cal is a proud Calabrese, from the region of Calabria, ''Capa Tosta'' Hard headed, is the translation. Hard headed or stubborn is the Calabrese mantra.
You would never think Coach Cal leaving Kentucky and Solar Eclipse on the same day, but it is a sign of bigger things to come.
Congratulations to Coach Calipari, and good luck to finding a good cannoli in Arkansas.
The fourth and final Solar Eclipse award goes to Chad Brown and Sierra Leone.
This may be Chad Browns year in the Kentucky Derby 150th year celebration. Sierra Leone overcomes a lack of speed with a devastating late run, his push off from behind is incredible and even with a paddling left front he could even swim upstream with the salmons as well.
He is a rare talent and along with the Solar eclipse of 2024 could very well be Chad Browns 1st Kentucky Derby win, after all he has won everything else.