The Go-To Second Opinion at the Track
Featured in Illustration: Affirmed and jockey Steve Cauthen Winning the 1978 Kentucky Derby (Illustration Courtesy of Esmé Bleecker-Adams)
To pull back the curtain on the Paddy’s Picks process, I usually write the introductions to these articles at the end. The problem is that I’m currently in a car in the middle of Pennsylvania on the way to my sister’s graduation. So you’ll all have to forgive me if I’m a little succinct in setting the stage for this year’s Kentucky Derby.
A Kentucky Derby without Bob Baffert is like an oil tanker without a fireworks display. Plenty of things can still go wrong, but you’re feeling a lot safer onboard, aren’t you?
Instead of transferring his Derby hopefuls to his colleague, Tim Yakteen, this year, Baffert tried to get around his Churchill Downs ban through the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The court’s decision to enforce the racetrack’s restrictions is a clear win for those who consider Baffert’s doping history to be a stain on the sport. From a purely competitive point of view, however, it is unfortunate that superstar colt Muth, along with a few others in Baffert’s stable, are therefore ineligible to run.
In the early 1600s, Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, grew tired of the social scene in France and began hosting small events in her salon. In time, these events and others like it became highly fashionable, allowing intellectuals across various disciplines to exchange concepts and ideas on the basis of reason. Thus began the Age of Enlightenment.
Nearly 200 years later, King Louis XVI was beheaded by guillotine in the Place de la Concorde. 22 years after that, the tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled for the second time and sent to die off the coast of Africa.
