In which we revisit some of our stories from last week…

Celebrity announcers struggle in entertaining ways…

Dave Rodman, Pimlico’s track announcer, had it easy on Friday (here).  That’s because it was Celebrity Announcer Day at Old Hilltop, and eight of the 10 races were called by local media celebs, rather than Rodman.

The celebs were good for a chuckle — if not much good for telling you what was going on in the races — and mostly seemed to enjoy themselves.  One of the most common struggles, oddly enough, had to do with racetrack geography.

Mark Viviano, of WJZ-TV, for example, observed that the horses were “headed to the top turn,” which presumably is near a magical, mythical place identified by Jamie Costello (WMAR-TV): “the third turn,” which he said, “is on the far stretch.”

Once they hit the far, top, or third turn, figuring out which was which proved quite a challenge.  “The horses are bunched up,” Nestor Aparicio (wnst.net) helpfully observed.  Orioles announcer Jim Hunter agreed: “There’s a cluster as they come around the turn.”

And even if you could pick one horse out from another, it wasn’t easy to determine what their names were.  Former Washington Caps announcer Steve Kolbe (CBS radio) only managed to give three of the 10 horses a call, while Ravens’ announcer Gerry Sandusky threw up his rhetorical hands in surrender.  “Wishing I had remembered the colors and not the numbers,” he called.  “The two horse.. Your guess is as good as mine.  Why did I agree to do this?”

[pullquote]The two horse.. Your guess is as good as mine.  Why did I agree to do this?” — Celeb announcer Gerry Sandusky[/pullquote]

One thing they virtually all agreed on: it was a beautiful day in Baltimore, calling a race is great fun, and it’s a lot harder than it looks.  Happily, Rodman was back at it on Saturday…

Mid-Atlantic horses thrive in Louisville

We flagged some of the horses and humans connected to runners in big races at Churchill this past weekend (here), and, ‘lo and behold, they delivered.  On Oaks day, Pennsylvania-breds Princess of Sylmar — at monster odds in the Oaks — and So Many Ways (in the Eight Belles) delivered the goods…

On Derby day, the very good Delaunay extended his growing win streak with a facile score in the G2 Churchill Downs.  He’s a Maryland-bred.

Oh, and Marylander Stuart Janney is part-owner (and breeder) of Orb, a horse whose sire, Malibu Moon, once stood in Maryland, at Country Life Farm.  He won the Kentucky Derby.  Maybe you’ve heard of it…

Ted Black has more (here)…

And Julie Krone still stands alone

Nick Hahn remembered Colonial Affair last week (here).  That Virginia-bred carried Julie Krone to victory in the 1993 Belmont Stakes — he’s the most recent Virginia-bred to win a Triple Crown race and, to date, she’s the only woman to pilot a winner in one of the jewels.

Rosie Napravnik attempted to become the second woman rider to win one of the three races aboard Mylute on Saturday.  The 15-1 shot, trained by Tom Amoss, for whom she’d ridden Delaunay to victory earlier on the card, made a menacing move into contention but ran evenly after the furlong marker.  Mylute is considered possible for the Preakness…

(Featured image is Too Clever by Half winning Saturday’s featured allowance test at Pimlico.  Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.)