Sunday, December 19, 2010

“Comma to the Top gets new shoe and the Futurity - San Diego Union-Tribune” plus 1 more

“Comma to the Top gets new shoe and the Futurity - San Diego Union-Tribune” plus 1 more

Comma to the Top gets new shoe and the Futurity - San Diego Union-Tribune

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 07:01 PM PST

By Ed Zieralski

Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 7:17 p.m.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Trainer Peter Miller prides himself as being a hands-on trainer, but a blacksmith, he is not.

But Miller, 44, who lives in Carlsbad and is based at San Luis Rey Downs in Bonsall, was ready to do some shoeing on his talented gelding, Comma to the Top, before Saturday's 30th running of the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. Somewhere between the barn and the paddock, Comma to the Top lost the shoe off his right hind hoof. And that's when things got very dicey.

"I was ready to get in there and shoe him myself, and I've never shod a horse," Miller said after his talented 2-year-old gelding, Comma to the Top, new shoe and all, won the $750,000 CashCall Futurity by 1¾ lengths ahead of J P's Gusto. Comma to the Top overcame a steady, sideways rain, a mishap in the paddock, a 28-minute delay and nine rivals.

"He's a special one," winning jockey Corey Nakatani said, comparing the gelding to "a young Lava Man." "I told Pete I think he has a high cruising speed and typically horses that can do that turn out to be really nice horses."

Comma to the Top, the son of Bwana Charlie out of Maggies Storm, won his third stakes race in six weeks and sixth in 10 starts. But he became irritated when the first farrier struggled to get the shoe on his hoof.

"It was obvious the first blacksmith couldn't do it," Miller said of Fernando Alvarez, who slipped under the colt and was stepped on. Alvarez was taken away by ambulance with a back injury.

Miller said fellow trainer Neil Drysdale called and told him veteran blacksmith Wesley Champagne could step in. Somehow, Champagne, got the shoe in place.

Miller never considered scratching the race favorite (5-2), especially considering a trip to the Kentucky Derby in May likely awaits his colt.

"He's really good," Miller said.

Miller said the win, his second Grade I as a trainer, is the highlight of his career, even beating out his win in the 2007 Grade I Del Mar Debutante with Set Play.

"After all the drama and everything, this is just unbelievable," Miller said. "But I do want to apologize to the other trainers and owners. It was out of our control."

After setting the early pace in front of Comma to the Top, O'Neill's High Level Jeff, with the meeting's leading jockey Joel Rosario, faded to fourth. J P's Gusto, ridden by Joseph Talamo, closed to finish second, 3¼ lengths ahead of Clubhouse Ride. Nakatani let Comma to the Top make his move at the 3/8ths pole and that was it.

Comma to the Top, owned by Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Kevin Tsujihara, covered the 1 1/16th miles on the Cushion Track in 1:44.72.

With the $375,000 first-place earnings, Comma to the Top now has earned $551,600.

Notes: Over at Santa Anita, the new main dirt track was closed to training Saturday due to muddy conditions after the steady rain that is pelting Southern California. Trainer Bob Baffert won two races and jockey Rafael Bejarano won four Saturday. It was Nakatani's meeting-best fifth stakes win.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.

Malawi School Desk Shortage: Lawrence O'Donnell Helps Kids In Need (VIDEO) - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 10:22 PM PST

"The Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell went to Malawi this summer to help a classroom -- and raise awareness about an acute problem plaguing children and teachers in the impoverished nation. There is nowhere to sit but the dirt floor. Or cracked cement floors, for the nicer schools.

"A teacher asking for chairs in Malawi is asking too much," he lamented.

The teachers would be happy to start with chairs. Desks would be an even bigger luxury.

One of the classes O'Donnell found had about 120 students and no classroom. They studied outside.

O'Donnell and MSNBC launched a partnership with UNICEF, announced on his show this week, to help the education crisis in Malawi. From a network news release:

The Malawian education system is plagued by several factors, including: the lack of classrooms and overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of qualified teachers and a profound scarcity of teaching and learning materials, including school furniture. The scarcity of furniture and supplies has severely impeded Malawi's educational system by decreasing the participation of children in school ... In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, approximately 45 million children do not go to school and only 20 percent of children that do attend have access to furniture.

The program, called K.I.N.D. (Kids in Need of Desks) aims to provide 46,000 desks (each accommodating two children) that will be available to 224,000 Malawian students. The cost per child is $24.

For more information on the program and to find out how you can help, visit O'Donnell's website or UNICEF's website.

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Impact On Twitter and Facebook!

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)