Will 2008 Be the Year of Big Brown?

So-o-o-o-o, after…

…1 veterinary staff retreat at the beach

…1 massive spring housecleaning

…1 fantabulous visit with brother-and-nephew unit (many games of Scrabble, played to cries of “That is not a word—I challenge!” followed by “I can’t believe that’s actually a word!” heh heh heh)

…1 author visit to Longview Public Library (thanks to super-librarian Jan Hanson, Tallulah fan Liz, and all the teens who came out on a Tuesday night to hear me read—you guys rock!)

…1 Kentucky Derby that left me in tears (RIP, beautiful, gallant Eight Belles)

…1 busted-up car that left us stranded

…and 1 major breakthrough on the new novel I’m writing

…I’m back.

I’ve blogged before about watching the great horse Affirmed fend off his archrival, Alydar, to win the Triple Crown. The thirty years since then have been the longest stretch ever without a Triple Crown champion.

This year, will Affirmed finally have a successor?

Watching Big Brown gallop away with the Kentucky Derby, and then yesterday’s Preakness Stakes, it’s hard not to get excited about the possibility. What a powerhouse of a horse! Big Brown makes a charge to victory look easy as a romp in the park on a summer’s day.

But eleven times in the past thirty years, horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown, only to get foiled in the infamously grueling Belmont Stakes. Eleven oh-so-close…and then we sigh, and say, Maybe next year.

Smarty Jones, you broke my heart. Dare I love again?