Saratoga Highlights--2013 (Part 5: Top Ten #'s 5, 6, & 7)

NYRA just mailed the applications for season seats for the 2014 Saratoga meet. Completed mine immediately, and now the countdown to the July 18th opening day becomes more intense.

But while dreams of this year's 40 days of the best horses, the best... Well you know the mantra. Let's continue our reminiscences about last season.

Thus far in this series we've looked at the (my) first 4 picks of last year's Top Ten:
1 Will Take Charge in the Travers
2 Princess of Sylmar in the Alabama
3 Wise Dan in the Fourstardave
4 Royal Delta in the Personal Ensign.

Let move to the next 3 of the 2013 meet's best.

Highlight # 5
Alpha, winning the Woodward

The Woodward is one of the premiere races run all year, at Saratoga or anywhere. In recent years, the Woodward produced some of the greatest races won by some of the greatest champions. Havre de Grace and Rachel Alexandra and Curlin and Lawyer Ron. And before them, there was Ghostzapper, Mineshaft, Lemon Drop Kid, Cigar, and Holy Bull among others.

(click to enlarge any photo)

Alpha (right front) Holding the W-W Lead
by Bob Mayberger

Well in 2013, the line-up included Flat Out, Successful Dan, Ron the Greek, Paynter, and the longshot at 8-1, Alpha. And what would you know?

From the outside, Alpha was taken immediately to the front by Johnny V and he never gave up the lead. He was challenged early by Paynter and then in deep stretch by Flat Out. But he dug in and prevailed by a head.

Alpha (right) by a Head at the Line
by Adam Coglianese

Alpha's last victory came at Saratoga in the previous year's Travers (in the dead heat with Golden Ticket), just a month after he had won the Jim Dandy. He had not won in the intervening 6 races, and he has failed in his 4 attempts since the Woodward.

But the then-4 year old son of Bernardini was certainly the star on that last Saturday of the 2013 meet.

2014 Chief Judge Cooke Lawrence H. Symposium: EXCEEDING FEDERAL STANDARDS

The 2014 Chief Judge Cooke Symposium

Thursday, April 3

2:00 - 5:00pm

Albany Law School

(Part 5--Roberts' Voting) The Supremes' Record in Racial Discrimination Cases: Decisional & Voting Figures for the Roberts Court

In the last post in this series, we looked at Justice Antonin Scalia's record. We saw that his voting heavily favored complaints brought by Whites, and virtually never those by Racial Minorities.

We also saw that, regardless of the claimant's race, he rarely voted for the position that would help protect Racial Minorities. Moreover, we saw that his record did not correspond to support for race-blind equality either. Instead, his voting largely opposed measures and arguments for the promotion of race-blind equal treatment--except where the beneficiaries would be White.

[Disclosure: Yes, I find Scalia's record appalling--if not wholly surprising. But the description of Scalia's record is based on how he actually voted, not on my or anyone else's opinion of the Justice himself.]

Now let's turn to Chief Justice John Roberts. Let's look at his voting, and also look at how his record compares to Scalia's. First, what about voting in support of complaints brought by Whites versus those brought by Racial Minorities?

(click graphs to enlarge)

GRAPH 1

As depicted in graph 1, Chief Justice Roberts' record is somewhat less stark than Justice Scalia's. His voting has been just as supportive of complaints brought by Whites--as in perfectly so. But his voting has been more supportive than Scalia's of those brought by Racial Minorities.

Roberts' voting support of Racial Minority claimants has not been strong. But it has been double that of Scalia's. Indeed, if we exclude the unanimous decisions--where the issues were sufficiently straightforward to garner every Justice's vote, including Scalia's--the contrast becomes sharper. Take a look.

GRAPH 2

In those cases where the Justices divided--i.e., those closer cases where there apparently were strong arguments on both sides--Roberts did sometimes vote to uphold the complaint brought by Racial Minorities. As we've seen, Scalia never did.

Saratoga Highlights--2013 (Part 4: Top Ten #'s 3 & 4)

It's now 4 months till opening day for the 2014 meet. Beyond that, NYRA just announced that it's taking applications for reserved seats. I'm waiting for my "application" form in the mail. I'll complete it immediately, ask for the seats I reserve each year, and then begin the day to day countdown.

OK, no surprise. I'm a Saratoga junkie as much as a Court junkie.

And looking over the photos sent to me by Bob Mayberger and Adam Coglianese--as well as watching the culminating Derby preps and handicap stakes--this is March madness to the tenth power for those of us for whom thoroughbred racing is part of our DNA.

Let's get to #'s 3 and 4 on the Saratoga 2013 Top Ten.

We've looked at Will Take Charge winning the Travers at #1.
Princess of Sylmar winning the Alabama at #2.
So now #'s 3 & 4. Two champs.

Highlight # 3
Wise Dan, winning the Fourstardave

His 2nd consecutive Fourstardave.
His 2nd consecutive HOY.

(click to enlarge any photo)

Another Fourstardave for Dan
by Adam Coglianese

In fact, in the last 2 years (from Equibase.com):
Eclipse Award - 2013 Horse of the Year
Eclipse Award - 2013 Champion Grass Horse
Eclipse Award - 2013 Champion Older Horse
Eclipse Award - 2012 Horse of the Year
Eclipse Award - 2012 Champion Grass Horse
Eclipse Award - 2012 Champion Older Horse

This is one magnificent athlete. If this were baseball, we're talking the Mick, the Duke, and Willie.

(Part 4--Scalia's Voting) The Supremes' Record in Racial Discrimination Cases: Decisional & Voting Figures for the Roberts Court

Let's now turn our attention to the individual Justices' records. How have they voted in racial discrimination cases?

We start with Justice Antonin Scalia. He's been on the Court the longest and he's the most--well, colorful. His detractors will no doubt view the term as overly euphemistic; his fans, disparaging.

Be that as it may, Scalia is well-known as an outspoken proponent of "originalism." He says that he interprets constitutional and statutory provisions by adhering to their original meaning. Among other things, he argues that this methodology avoids injecting personal ideological preferences into the law.

[To be blunt, I don't buy it. Neither do many other judicial scholars, on and off the bench, who are brighter and more important than me--e.g., Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. (Like Scalia, a Reagan appointee.)]

With that in mind, let's get to the task at hand: Scalia's voting record in cases involving issues of racial discrimination.
[The pool of cases--all those before the Court since John Roberts was appointed Chief Justice--was described in part 1 of this series. An abridged description is included at the end of this  post.]

First, take a look at what may be the most striking findings in examining Scalia's record.

(click graphs to enlarge)

GRAPH 1

Yes. In cases where Whites complained of racial discrimination or about some other civil rights issue, Scalia voted to uphold their claim every time. Whether claiming discrimination on the basis of their being White, or complaining about favoritism for minorities or the requirements of civil rights laws, White claimants always won Scalia's vote.

What about Scalia's record in cases where racial minorities were the ones complaining? Take a look.

GRAPH 2

Quite different!