When My Two Favorite Things Collide

LONESPEED HORSE

My living room/dining room area walls have the following photographic arrangements:

-12 photos of me and my kids arranged in one cluster in the dining room.

-A black and white photo of Secretariat with jockey Ron Turcotte looking at the timer as they crossed the wire in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. This picture sits on the wall above and to the right of my living room TV.

-Above the fireplace, another black and white photo taken from behind Noel Gallagher and his brother, Liam, of the band Oasis, on stage at an outdoor concert in front of what looks be 50,000 fans.

Other than my kids, of course, my two favorite things in the world are horse racing and Oasis (and by Oasis, I include Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, the solo act of the older Gallagher brother). This being the case, rare is the occasion when my two favorite things collide. Thus, I give myself the right to assume they are colliding even when they likely are not. Allow me to explain.

At Del Mar in Saturday’s first race, American Pharoah’s half-sister, Chasing Yesterday, will make her career debut for owner/breeder Jane Lyon’s (Summer Wind Farm) and trainer Bob Baffert (who else?). Chasing Yesterday, according to an article I dug up online, is named for Lyon’s late husband, who passed away shortly after American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Lyons had purchased American Pahroah’s dam, Littleprincessemma, when American Pharoah was on the sidelines with injury as a two-year-old. And they kept, rather than sell at auction, the Tapit baby whom Jane Lyons named Chasing Yesterday. Everybody got that?

Now, if you Google “Chasing Yesterday”, the entire first page of search results yield article after article, picture after picture, and link after link related to Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame. Why? Because his second solo album is called Chasing Yesterday. So obviously, when I first learned of the existence of Chasing Yesterday the horse, I of course assumed she was named after Noel’s album. It appears she is, in fact, not.

Now, will that stop me from using my Del Mar press credential to approach Jane Lyons tomorrow in the paddock and ask her if Noel’s album played a part in the name? Actually yes, it will stop me from doing that. I have SOME class. I’m not a TOTAL animal.

As for Chasing Yesterday the album, it’s a must-own.

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