Reader, commenter, and self-proclaimed #1 Curlin fan Libby will be heading to Churchill this weekend to bid farewell to her favorite, and she’s soliciting tributes to the big chestnut. Libby will compile them and present them to Curlin’s connections this weekend, so if you’re interested in contributing, please contact her at libbybar@gmail.com.

One final word on Wishful Tomcat’s win in the Discovery last Saturday; on Saturday morning’s OTB handicapping show, Dan Illman picked the Contessa colt, noting particularly the trouble he got into in the Floral Park, when he broke badly and rallied from seventh, contrary to his usual front-running style. Illman suggested that Wishful Tomcat would make us of his new-found closing technique, saying that he’d “stalk and pounce,” employing a little feline metaphor particularly pleasing to me. Illman got half of it right; Wishful Tomcat did win, but on the lead. I hope he saves that metaphor for another race.

I’m convinced; we’re back to longshot. If it’s good enough for the Blood-Horse and Daily Racing Form, it’s good enough for Brooklyn Backstretch. I wonder what style sheet they used to make this call, as Merriam-Webster agrees with the Associated Press, as does the New York Times.

Along with a number of other members of New York’s racing community, I’ll be heading to Saratoga later today, to spend Thanksgiving with family. At Aqueduct on Saturday, I was surprised to hear how many folks from so many areas of racing will be up there, too, and I know that I’ll see a few familiar faces watching simulcasting at Saratoga Raceway, a holiday family tradition. Posting may be light, but with all the good racing happening here later this week, probably not…