Jessica Chapel / Railbird v2

Kentucky Derby

That’s Not a Mint Julep

… Mad Men character Peggy Olsen is holding in the video still below, found on the official Churchill Downs’ “Plan Your Derby Party” page:

At least it’s not Roger Sterling in blackface singing “My Old Kentucky Home.” That really could have been embarrassing.

From the Twitterverse: Says o_crunk, “@EJXD2 solid marketing. Ganja goes down better than a mint julep. Untapped potential in couch potato potheads waiting to get hooked on TVG.” Of course! Churchill is wisely reaching out.

2/8/10 Update: So, it wasn’t subversive marketing, after all. The Derby Party page is now free of all mentions of Mad Men and the episode three video clip.

Posted in Miscellany on February 4, 2010 / Tagged Churchill Downs, Derby Parties, Funny, Kentucky Derby, Mad Men / Comments Off

(Possible) Derby Contenders

The Paulick Derby Index returns, and I’m pleased to be taking part once again. Is it a little early to start ranking possible Kentucky Derby contenders? For sure; the 2008 Derby winner, Big Brown, hadn’t even recorded his first workout of the year (for those interested, a spreadsheet of Kentucky Derby winners’ preps, including works, from 1998-2009) and eventual champions Curlin and Summer Bird were still maidens at this time. But, a few up-and-comers have made an impression. (Hello, late-running Ron the Greek!) Consider my first top 10 a watch list; I want to see more from all on it.

Posted in Racing on February 2, 2010 / Tagged Derby Prospects, Kentucky Derby, Paulick Derby Index, Ron the Greek / 1 comment

Mine That Bump

Kentucky Derby 2009 bump chart, from Charts and Graphs:

Created with ggplot2 for R. More from Learning R on its construction.

Mine That Bird’s rail dash looks no less improbable graphed, while Pioneerof the Nile’s even run looks better. Too bad there’s no Trakus data, which would make for a busier, but surely richer and more revealing, chart.

Posted in Racing on May 11, 2009 / Tagged Bump Chart, Data, Kentucky Derby, R, Statistics / 11 comments

Favorites for 2009-05-08

Each day, I browse Flickr for interesting racing images. Here are photos recently saved as favorites …

Posted in Racing on May 8, 2009 / Tagged Jockeys, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, Mine That Bird, Photos, Portraits, Rachel Alexandra / 1 comment

Quote of the Day

“Once you’re the Derby winner, you have to look out for the good of the sport.” – Trainer Chip Woolley, while discussing taking Mine That Bird to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes.

Posted in Racing on May 7, 2009 / Tagged Chip Woolley, Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird, Sportsmanship / 2 comments