The best horse in the world

If I were one of Afleet Alex's owners, in the wake of his having sprinted away in the final quarter of the Belmont as if he were breaking from the gate at Los Alamitos, running the fastest final quarter of the Belmont in my lifetime, I'd have a challenge to make.

Dear Mr. Frankel:

You train a horse called Ghostzapper.

Track of your choice. Distance of your choice. Security arrangements and drug testing to match those at Churchill Downs or Belmont during the Triple Crown this year.

Catch Alex if you can.

I'd bet on Afleet Alex to beat Ghostzapper, or any other horse in the world, at any distance, by open lengths.

October's not that far away.

Belmont and Birds

It's hard to look past Afleet Alex in the Belmont today. I no longer have any doubts about the training regime he's been put through, and he's proved his athleticism.

I do wonder how his experience in the Preakness affected him mentally. How is he going to react in close quarters in this race? He finished the Preakness looking furious and determined with his ears pinned back.

Giacomo seems like the obvious other contender, but if both of the favorites come up short today, I think the race is fairly wide open, with a bunch of nice but not-quite-proven colts in the field. Pinpoint and Southern Africa, to me, are the most likely upsetters -- particularly the latter. But there's something about the longshot Watchmon I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere: he's won at a mile and 7/16ths, close enough to 1 1/2 miles to count as a win at the distance in his past performances.

We'll see.

The Black-Headed Grosbeak not only survived his brush with bird netting but produced, with his mate, a fledgeling, who was extravagantly begging as its father fed at the seed feeder, but to no avail. Now it seems to have learned to use the feeder on its own.

Neither of the adult Grosbeaks knew how to get seeds from the feeder when they first arrived (it's a cling feeder intended for smaller birds) but both learned, and recently they've learned to use the suet feeder as well. The proportion of my income spent on bird food continues to rise...