First Post: Saturday, January 21, 2012

Happy Birthday now to the great Placido Domingo, 71.

It’s easy to fool the public into believing (fervently!) that Justine Beebster or Lady gaGA (remember, accent on the second syllable!) is the greatest singer of all time, and then you switch on the Met broadcast (no, not David Wright and Johann Santana) and something godlike comes out of Domingo’s mouth. Or you hear some scratchy 40-year-old reel-to-reel recording of Dame Joan Sutherland. Then you remember not to fall for the contemporary hype.

Speaking of Mr. MeatDress, has he ever done a song where he’s not angry? Where he’s not shouting at the top of his/her lungs? Even Madonna had some subtlety and sense of dynamics, soft to loud to soft. The video for “Take a Bow”, for instance, is better than anything you’ll ever see from that hermaph gaGA!

Free ones: Rundown…

Turf Paradise 3, 5, 8
Gulf 6, 8, 9
Santa Anita 4, 6, 7

It actually snowed this winter in New York, so Bell Rd. slots in for canceled Ozone Park this afternoon.

Pay-side:

Laurel 4, 5, 9
Tampa 5, 9, 10
Fair Grounds 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13
Oaklawn 4, 7, 9
Turfway 2, 3, 4
Sam Houston 1, 2, 4, 5, 10

All the best action taking place at the Gulf today. No, not that ’Gulf but rather the Gulf of Mexico. The card at New Orleans has been voted Motor Trend’s Card of the Year for 2012 (so far), with no fewer than seven standout races and — count ’em! — six Bonkers Boxes, all in a zippy little four-cylinder package. Zoom zoom! Continued excellent at Houston, too.

WMF Report:

Speed
Laurel 5½f
Keystone 6f

Rally
Gulf 1 1/16m (T)

Nocturnal Submission: PennNat, Race 3 (6:49 p.m. EST / 3:49 p.m. PST), finds #7 Trip Permit and #4 Kiernan’s Legacy in with a chance. …

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. Farewell.