Meeting Alex Brown And The Return Of Sandy Hawley

It was a busy weekend for Triple Dead Heat as I spent Friday night laughing with Margaret Cho in Hamilton, Saturday night visiting a psychic and Sunday afternoon found me first at Woodbine and later running from the dead!

The comedy gig is self explanatory and Margaret was her usual over-the-top self. If you haven't seen her live, you should. Her love/hate affair with Sarah Palin brought tears to my eyes.

In slightly horse related news, Saturday night I went for dinner with Amy and friends which included a 15 minute sit down with a psychic. I'm a sceptic, but also know an opportunity when I see one. When asked about horse racing, the psychic advised that the names John, Brad and Janet will be important to my writing career. Needless to say, I'll be scouring my Breeders' Cup Advance tonight for any possible connections!

Sunday I attended Woodbine to conduct an interview for a piece on horse slaughter for Down The Stretch. I was able to meet briefly with Emma-Jayne Wilson and Jim McAleney and look forward to publishing what should be a good story. Emma-Jayne and Jimmy Mac are top jockeys and two of the nicest people you'll meet.

Without advance planning, I also ran into Alex Brown who is a font of information on the anti horse slaughter campaign and an absolute gentleman. Alex works tirelessly to End Horse Slaughter and I encourage everyone to visit his two websites and get involved. Alex has been featured twice in Down The Stretch this year and when he isn't working horses for Steve Asmussen's stable at Woodbine, he is rescuing horses from certain demise.



On the way home from Woodbine, Amy and I were ambushed by zombies! Each year at this time, downtown streets are overrun with the living dead for the Toronto Zombie Walk. In what was a truly surreal moment, Amy and I stood at the top of the church steps at Queen and Gore Vale (hahhaha...gore!) as over a thousand zombies lurched by. As the monsters passed, those of us hiding on the steps would taunt the corpses.

Crowd: What do you want?
Zombies: Brrrainssss!
Crowd: When do you want it?
Zombies: Brrrainssss!

My favourite zombies included a hippy carrying a sign that read, "Peace, Love, Brains" and a vegetarian zombie with a sign for Z.E.T.H (Zombies for the Ethical Treatment of Humans) which proclaimed, "Grains NOT Brains."



Maybe you had to be there.

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Sandy Hawley made the Woodbine locals proud this weekend capturing the Living Legends Race race at Santa Anita. Hawley rode Tribal Chief to a commanding 6 ½ lengths victory in a time of 1:21.03. The race was the first event of championship week at the Breeders’ Cup and Hawley's win is a good omen for the travelling Woodbine contingent. Hawley defeated horses ridden by: Angel Cordero Jr., 65; Jacinto Vasquez, 64; Sandy Hawley, 59; Pat Day, 55; Chris McCarron, 53; Jerry Bailey, 51; Gary Stevens, 45, and Julie Krone, 45. Winning the event raised Hawley's career victory total to 6,450.

Hawley is a fierce competitor and his hard work preparing for this event paid great dividends for those that wagered on him.

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I look forward to posting some Breeders' Cup picks this week. Please make sure to visit Alex Brown's website for more information on saving the horses we love to watch.