Enjoy
 

Haskin waned on me when he voted for Zenyatta for horse of the year.

Think the point was the game is sadly lacking in star appeal, whether you were in the Rachel or Zen camps, or both, there was a buzz in horseracing when they were both still in training, most will admit they do miss those arguments and it has reflected in the interaction on this board, to use an analogy it seems like the Jersey shore before Irene here most days. I know my interest has waned.

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention -- but I don't remember anyone villifying Stay Thirsty any more than the rest of this 3yo crop as a whole. It was one upset after another and one moderate winner after another. The most dizzying such first half to a 3yo season in memory.

Stay Thirsty was a pretty solid 2yo (his no excuse BC Juvie drubbing was in a supersonic fast race -- and the overwhelmingly dominant top two -- Uncle Mo and Boys At Tosc -- have been subsquent cripples.)

Just a case of a good 2yo, with a good 2yo foundation, who has stayed healthy and developed in the second half of the season after a slow return from the layoff.

Stay Thirsty almost denied Ruler On Ice a Classic win and he has successfully kept Moonshine Mullin from a Jim Dandy score and Rattlesnake Bridge and JW Blue from a Travers exacta.

Anyway -- the reason I loved the column so much is that it would have read like an Indian Charlie post had Uncle Mo won the King's Bishop. Stuff about liking a horse at age 2, stuff about pedigree, stuff about losing interest in the game, and stuff about thanking a horse for restoring it back.

Haskins health?
 

The line of Steve Haskin's blog that caught me by complete surprise was
" As I lay in a bed, trapped in an environment totally foreign to me," I ddn't know this great wordsmith was ill. That really distresses me as he is not only a great writer but a great person. I hope he gets well soon.

Somewhere, Andromeda's Hero is smiling. And still working on finishing the '06 Clark.

Steve if you're reading this I hope you get well very soon. And, if you're not reading this I still hope you get well very soon.

I'm looking forward to hearing you back on the radio.;)

What's going on with him?

Yep, I would like to echo the get well sentiments as well. The Horseracing community is a lot better with Haskin in it than out of it.

I didn't know anything was wrong with him. Just sounded like hurricane depression.

Steve has been ill since returning from covering the Whitney. He'd been in the hospital for three weeks and is still far from 100%. He had been out of touch with nearly everyone this whole time and only surfaced the other day. I was very pleased that he was able to visit with me on the radio today. I don't know a bigger fan of the game, and given his long-standing presence on ATR, missed his contributions tremendously.

Steve:

Can we send him a card? I'm sure a lot of us would like to let Steve know that we're thinking about him and wish him well. Thinking too that this would help heal his spirit.