racingmeridian.com

PONIES..it’s going to happen. Fist pump and a shot of Jagger and I’ll pronounce the news once more; it’s going to happen. Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra are committed to settling one of the biggest feuds in racing history on the track in a showdown of inestimable intrigue and allure. It’s just a waiting game now with Rachel enjoying a well deserved rest and likely a couple of months away from peak fitness. The confrontation will, thus, almost certainly take place in the U S, and not in Dubai, and on dirt, not plastic. It’s going to be a huge, spectacular match-up with horse racing taking a rare step into the mainstream limelight. For strategic purposes the two will compete in a fully stocked race, not a “match” race (in a match race the speed has an inordinate edge). Will Zenyatta bring a rabbit in order to soften up the lovely Rachel? All’s fair in love and war and this, people of the planet, is war. The Meridian is home base to the Rachel Alexandra assault troops and we’ll await details of the event with breathless, gin soaked anticipation. And we’ll be saving, counting our pennies, eating peanut butter instead of steak, in order to place the single biggest wager of our betting lives on the fleet youngster. When the two leave the starting gate, the world will be about two minutes away from comprehending what I’ve shouted for months; they’re not in the same league. Rachel Alexandra destroys Zenyatta…

PUG LIFE..Globals’ profile of Shawn O’Sullivan aired last night and I came away emotionally drained. There was such sadness in the string of revelations; the illness of Shawn’s father Mike, his estrangement from his family (including his twin sister Maureen), the string of legal entanglements including two charges of assault and one of drug possession, the onset of pugilistic dementia, the loss of memory etc. Despite the sadness of the revelations the show was conducted with intelligence and class. Shawn’s continued support for boxing was interesting but probably not echoed by most viewers. It’s clear the sport can exact an enormous toll on its practitioners, one that leaves them as mere shells of fully functioning humans. If only..if only Shawn had walked away after his third loss, the calamitous knockout defeat at the hands of Donovan Boucher, a brutal right hand that announced firmly and irrevocably that Shawn’s career was over. Instead he pressed on, eventually suffering yet another knockout loss, to Alex Hilton on St Patrick’s Day, and still he continued, risking a battered brain against the fists of four more foes. Eventually a doctor refused to license Shawn and his professional boxing career came to an end. As the boxing world debates the incomprehensible decision of Ricky Hatton to return to the ring, it is interesting to ponder where the responsibility for this carnage lays - the fighter? The public that continue to support the fights? After Shawn lost to Alex Hilton, I never went to another one of his fights. It was beyond over, and the slurring and loss of balance hinted only at far greater damage to follow. I took my leave. It is doubtless the refusal to retire at an appropriate time that lead to the brain damage that now compromises Shawn. His counter is he didn’t know what else to do. I don’t have the answers, but I do wish I could force a Ricky Hatton, a Miguel Cotto, to sit and talk to Shawn today and really assess the need to continue boxing after their peak performances clearly reside years in the past. Would it make a difference? No, but my conscience could at least be washed clear by the knowledge the fighters continued despite an acknowledgment of the frightful risks…about half of the videos shown during the show came from yours truly. I still haven’t had them returned, just saying…