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And Now to Sports News

NBA Championship

Warriors fans live across the street. Warriors fans live to the right of me; they live to the left of me; they live behind me. Everywhere seniors hi-fiving around the block. Tuesday morning early,early carpools full of fans will be heading out for the victory parade in Oakland.

Justify Takes the Triple Crown

Yesterday, my  BIG QUESTION: “Will there be another Triple Crown winner today?

Can Justify hang on that extra quarter of a mile and get his nose first across the finish line at Belmont. I thought he struggled for his win at the Preakness. Watching that race, I was not sanguine that he could handle the mile-and-a-half distance of the third leg of the Triple Crown.  After all, he would be up against fresh horses  trained to peak at the Belmont.

Justify did win take the Triple Crown. And it was a grand run to watch. He took the lead at the start, and kept the lead all the way to the finish line.  He did it easily, with plenty of energy left at the finish line.

Watching beautiful horses run lifts the spirits. Sadly, shadows darken the”sport of kings” in America. Doping  is illegal, but are many practices that flirt with the dark side, and are harmful to the horses in the long run.

The Triple Crown itself is open to criticism because of the grueling stress placed upon young horses whose joints and bones are still cartilage. The official birthdate for all Thoroughbreds is January 1; but many foals don’t see daylight until March. Those late arrivals are several months shy of two years when they are officially eligible to race. They are not really mature. Given that ‘baby’ cartilage doesn’t  finish maturing into bone until horses are five or six, it’s not surprising that race horses break and have to be destroyed.