American Pharoah! American Pharoah, Baby!



LEXINGTON, Ky. – Giving the world one more magical memory, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah provided a storybook ending to the first Breeders' Cup ever held at pastoral Keeneland Race Course, galloping into his retirement to stud with a 6 ½-length victory over longshot Effinex in Saturday's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

"He gave everybody what they came to see today," trainer Bob Baffert said. "That's what horse racing is about. There was some great racing. We saw some really good horses run, that's the beauty of the Breeders' Cup. It's tough, it's tough to win. You better come with a good horse and you better be ready.

"I'm so proud of Pharoah, what he did today. Just watching him turn for home… I've never seen anything like him, never trained anything like him. He is a gift from God. I'm just glad the Pharoah goes out the champ that he is. It's going to be sad to see him go, but I think he's done enough. He's proved enough."

Baffert and owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat and their families watched the race from the walking ring of Keeneland's paddock, jumping up and down and screaming as American Pharoah cruised away from the competition through the stretch with little urging from jockey Victor Espinoza. Without seemingly exerting himself, he covered 1 ¼ miles in 2:00.07, easily a track record at a little-used distance at Keeneland.

It was the sixth track record in three days on Keeneland's year-old dirt track that replaced an eight-year experiment with Polytrack.

"What can you say? What a horse," Zayat said. "The kindest, friendliest, easiest most brilliant horse I've ever seen in my life. We owe American Pharoah everything.… This race was only about American Pharoah, we wanted him to go out as a winner, just for the horse. He's run so hard and brilliantly for a very long taxing time.… He runs with his heart. He's just a different kind of animal.

"I literally did not watch the final eighth. I closed my eyes, I knew he'd won and I got extremely emotional."]

American Pharoah, who had never faced older horses, raced unchallenged on the lead, a lethal situation his rivals feared once the champion mare Beholder was scratched on Thursday, leaving no other true speed horse to provide pressure.

The first horse to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 37 years loped through a quarter-mile in 23.99 seconds – fast for most horses trying to go wire to wire at 1 ¼ miles but not for a horse who can reel of 12-second eighth-miles all day. But Pharoah picked up the pace slightly, the second quarter-mile going in 23.51 and the third in 23.71 to have a two-length lead on Effinex.

"I knew it was going to be his last race and I was ready for it," Espinoza said. "I wanted to let him bounce out of there and (use) his high speed like he's always done. I don't want to take any chance. I don't want to take any one inch out of him in the race to let anybody get close to me.


"On the backside, he kind of slowed down a little bit and then I looked at the track and it was a little bit deep and I decided to move him just like maybe one or two paths out. As soon as I moved from that spot, he accelerated again. I was like wow. I was really excited. Turning for home I was not worried about the track. I was gone. I was trying to open it up as much as I can and I saw the wire maybe 20 yards out. For me, it couldn't come fast enough to cross that wire and get it over with."

American Pharoah strode home in quarter-miles of 24.26 and 24.60 as the crowd roared approval. Off at 7-10 odds, much of it no doubt $2 souvenir tickets, he paid $3.40 to win.

The victory came nine weeks after American Pharoah lost the Travers by three-quarters of a length, coming the day after he got overly excited while galloping before a Saratoga crowd estimated at 15,000 just to watch the Triple Crown winner train.

"I'm so proud of the horse, but (also) a sense of relief," Baffert said. "After that last race, I was really down on myself. I thought he was doing really well, enough to win that race and he was just a little flat. We had that extra time, got him ready. When he's right, you saw what he can do."

It was Baffert's second straight Classic, following the 3-year-old Bayern last year. His 12 Breeders' Cup victories rank second only to D. Wayne Lukas' 20.

The $26 million Breeders' Cup was played out on a cool and overcast day before a crowd of 50,155, a track record. They'll never forget being there to see the last race for American Pharoah before he heads to a stallion career at the international Coolmore conglomerate's nearby Ashford Stud, though there could be a possible side trip to Churchill Downs for a finale fan farewell.


American Pharoah, a son of WinStar Farm's stallion Pioneerof the Nile, concludes his career with nine victories in 11 starts, earning $8,650,300 with the $2.75 million payday. His 3-year-old season never included a home game, the colt flying out to compete at seven different tracks.

The Jimmy Jerkens-trained Effinex, with big-money rider Mike Smith up, went off at 32-1, the second-longest shot in a field reduced to eight with the scratches of Smooth Roller Saturday morning.

Effinex stayed closest to Pharoah throughout, with Tonalist and Frosted next in pursuit before giving way.

"I was so happy with the way he ran," Smith said. "He just ran brilliant. I knew of course American Pharoah would set the pace, but I thought I got to put myself close enough to give myself a shot. At the three-eighths pole when I saw that I couldn't match strides I thought, 'You know what? Don't panic, don't go with him, sit there and wait and try to get second' and we got it."

Smith, a Hall of Famer who has been around some truly great horses, said of Pharoah, "The real guy showed up today. He's a machine, just a brilliant horse. No words, at least in my vocabulary, does him justice. I thought I had him for a little bit there, and he just keep hitting gears."

Honor Code rallied from last,13 lengths back with a half-mile to go, to finish another 4 ½ lengths back in third under Javier Castellano.

"I thought he ran great," said trainer Shug McGaughey, a Lexington product. "There was no pace over a very fast racetrack and a very good horse won. I wasn't going to take him out of his running style, and he was the only one who closed… I think everybody was riding to be second, because nobody put any pressure on the winner. The race was over when they were going down the backside.

"… As a trainer, this is the first Triple Crown winner I've ever seen, and I think he is a very deserving Triple Crown winner. To see him come back and run the way he did, against this field of horses, my hat is off to him."

Churchill Downs-based Keen Ice, who in the Travers became the only horse to beat American Pharoah since the Triple Crown winner's first start, finished 1 ½ lengths behind Honor Code, nosing out Tonalist, Hard Aces and Frosted in the photo for fourth, with Irish invader Gleneagles last in his dirt debut.



Say Your Prayers, Donald Trump: Here comes Justin Trudeau!


 (CNN)According to the Reputation Institute, it is the "most admired" nation on earth. Immigrants flock there from all over the world -- for the most part politely standing in line for the opportunity.

Taxes seem to get lower every year and the government runs a surplus. Burdensome regulations have been slashed and the tax code's been rewritten to encourage business investment and pro-family policies. Abroad, it's taking the fight to ISIS with a reinvigorated military, standing side by side with Israel and against aggression from the mullahs of Iran and Vladimir Putin's Russia.

No, it's not three years into the Marco Rubio administration -- it's present-day Canada, and its courageous leader just got booted out of office after nine years of steadily maneuvering the ship of state.



The Conservative Party's loss is to the detriment of its neighbors to the south and the world at large, since the Tory leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was defeated by the unprepared, gaffe-prone but well-coiffed son of a former prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

Harper's fate is all the more shocking when you consider how well Canada weathered the 2008-2009 financial crisis under his watch. He didn't bail out anyone (except the U.S.-based auto industry), no financial institutions failed and the Canadian economy hummed along.

Part of Harper's success -- and doom -- lies in the commodity markets. With sky-high oil prices and other resources reaching record highs, Canada got rich as other industrial powers paid top dollar (or top loonie, if you will) for the raw materials they needed to grow. As oil prices fell off a cliff, the Canadian economy slowed, even briefly dipping into recession this year. But Harper made the necessary cuts and kept taxes low. Amazingly, he balanced the budget ahead of schedule as the commodity markets nosedived.




Despite their success, Harper's policies, too, seemed to echo the "American" political discourse, a byword for becoming what Canadians fear most -- too much like their rapacious, bellicose and paranoid neighbors to the south. In Canada, identity is tied up in a few things (hockey, universal health care) but none more powerful than a genteel anti-Americanism that tinges every political debate in the Great White North.

When Harper introduced anti-terror legislation called C-51, or "Canada's Patriot Act," after prominent attacks inspired by radical Islam, the wing nuts of Canada's left came out of the woodwork, painting the Prime Minister as a tyrant in the making.

His inaction on climate change -- a shrewd move for a near-petro state -- enraged the ecowarriors.


But the final straw came when Harper took a stand for an inclusive, but fully Westernized and assimilating Canada -- banning the niqab, or face veil, from being worn at citizenship swearing-in ceremonies. The din of the "culturally sensitive" left's cries was deafening -- "racist," "Islamophobe" and "anti-immigrant" entered the normally polite Canadian discourse.

What lies next for Canada is bad news for America and especially conservatives.

Canada under Harper's leadership was a conservative wonderland with balanced budgets, increasingly low taxes and a robust foreign policy aimed at taking on terrorists and bullies the world over. But that is poised to change under the Liberal Party's Trudeau, who promises to run deficits, pull out of the anti-ISIS operation in Iraq and Syria, and re-establish ties with Iran. He also wants to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.



Furthermore, although the abortion debate has been "settled" for a generation by repeated diktats from Canada's uber-leftist Supreme Court, Trudeau has stamped out dissent within his own party over abortion, where a thriving anti-abortion wing once existed.

Without Harper at the helm, the lessons of Canada's miracle -- surviving the financial crisis, balancing budgets, slashing red tape and taxes while maintaining a healthy welfare state -- will be lost to history as Trudeau's Liberals in a fit of pique roll back the gains the Great White North has made.

Politics is a fickle game and fatigue is a real phenomenon. Harper's achievements will be relegated to the dustbin of history.

As Shelley's "Ozymandias" reminds us, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

BoBA ISML 2015 Tiara and Male Division Odds: October 19, 2015

Bedlam on Baltic Avenue
INTERNATIONAL SAIMOE LEAGUE
2015 TIARA ODDS
As of 7:30 A.M. PT, October 19, 2015

Chiyo Sakura 1-9
Yukino Yukinoshita EVEN
Kosaki Onodera 2-1
Rin Tosaka 3-1
Mashiro Shiina 4-1
Shiro 5-1
Yui Yuigahama 6-1
Jibril 7-1
Yoshino 10-1
Eru Chitanda 12-1
Asuna Yuuki 13-1
Chitoge Kirisaki 15-1
Isuzu Sento 17-1
Nanami Aoyama 20-1
Kurumi Tokisaki 22-1
Ayase Aragaki 25-1
Saber 30-1
Kuroyukihime 35-1
Eucliwood Hellscythe 40-1
Azusa Nakano 45-1
Kurisu Makise 50-1
Yuri Nakamura 60-1
Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi 65-1
Maki Nishikino 70-1
Tohka Yatogami 75-1
Rikka Takanashi 100-1
Yui-nyan 150-1
Shino Asada 200-1
Marika Tachibana 250-1
Kurousagi 500-1
Taiga Aisaka 1000-1

Bedlam on Baltic Avenue
INTERNATIONAL SAIMOE LEAGUE
2015 MALE DIVISION ODDS
As of 7:30 A.M. PT, October 19, 2015

Hachiman Hikigaya 1-9
Sora EVEN
Accelerator 2-1
Yuzuru Otonashi 3-1
Archer 5-1
Izayoi Sakamaki 10-1
Koyomi Araragi 15-1
Touma Kamijou 20-1
Seiya Kanie 25-1
Gintoki Sakata 30-1
Edward Elric 40-1
Kiritsugu Emiya 50-1
Keima Katsuragi 75-1
Ryuuji Takasu 100-1
Tomoya Okazaki 250-1
Gilgamesh 500-1

ISML 2015: Top 16, Male Division


1. Hachiman Hikigaya
ISML 2015 AQUAMARINE PENDANT CHAMPION

2. Sora
ISML 2015 TOPAZ PENDANT CHAMPION

3. Accelerator

4. Yuzuru Otonashi
ISML 2015 AMETHYST PENDANT CHAMPION

5. Archer
ISML 2015 RUBY PENDANT CHAMPION

6. Izayoi Sakamaki

7. Koyomi Araragi
ISML 2015 EMERALD PENDANT CHAMPION


8. Touma Kamijou

9. Seiya Kanie


10. Gintoki Sakata


11. Edward Elric


12. Kiritsugu Emiya


13. Keima Katsuragi


14. Ryuuji Takasu


15. Tomoya Okazaki


16. Gilgamesh

ISML 2015: Top 16, Stella Division


1. Rin Tosaka


2. Mashiro Shiina
ISML 2015 TOPAZ NECKLACE CHAMPION

3. Illyasviel von Einzbern

4. Eru Chitanda

5. Asuna Yuuki

6. Nanami Aoyama

*7. Kotori Itsuka
DEFENDING ISML CHAMPION

8. Ayase Aragaki

9. Saber

10. Kuroyukihime

11. Eucliwood Hellscythe

12. Azusa Nakano

13. Kurisu Makise

14. Yuri Nakamura

15. Rikka Takanashi

16. Yui-nyan

*Taiga Aisaka replaces Kotori Itsuka in postseason

ISML 2015: Top 16, Nova Division


1. Chiyo Sakura (RUB)
ISML 2015 RUBY NECKLACE CHAMPION


2. Yukino Yukinoshita
ISML 2015 AQUAMARINE NECKLACE CHAMPION

3. Kosaki Onodera
ISML 2015 AMETHYST NECKLACE CHAMPION

4. Shiro
 

5. Yui Yuigahama
 

6. Jibril
 

7. Yoshino
 

8. Chitoge Kirisaki
ISML 2015 EMERALD NECKLACE CHAMPION

9. Isuzu Sento
 

10. Kurumi Tokisaki
 
11. Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi
 

12. Maki Nishikino
 

13. Tohka Yatogami
 

14. Shino Asada
 

15. Marika Tachibana
 

16. Kurousagi