Sun coming out

If you're one of the dorks like me who enjoy reading about the sport of racing almost as much as you enjoy watching it (and if you're reading my obscure blog I'm going to guess you are indeed one of those people), you'll be interested to know that today's card has brought out not only the equine stars but plenty of luminaries from the racing media.

In addition to the Fair Grounds regulars like Bob Fortus of the Times-Picayune and Daily Racing Form's local man on the scene Abram Himmelstein, the Louisiana Derby Day media field also includes DRF national correspondent Jay Privman; the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Gary West (a writer so good that a few days after the paper included him in significant layoffs last week they thought better of it and brought him back on board); the Louisville Courier-Journal's Jennie Rees, who has been contributing some great notes to the Times-Picayune this week, complementing the Fortus features; and then downstairs HRTV has Jon White, who can expound at length on just about any horse from the past 40 years, and Hall of Fame rider Gary Stevens, an excellent analyst in his own right. There are also a bunch of people up here I've never seen before, which is great. I can only assume they must be the dudes from Sports Illustrated, Time and Newsweek.