Archive for November 2013
0-for-90 racehorse likes to be in pack
- Vote for Lust failed to win a single race in 90 appearances before his recent retirement
- Ranked as Australia's worst racehorse -- by some distance
- Horse recently retired and now is being ridden by the owner's granddaughter
- There was once talk of a one-sided showdown with Aussie great Black Caviar
(CNN) -- Even in retirement Black Caviar -- arguably Australia's most celebrated racehorse with 25 victories from 25 starts -- shows no sign of fading from the media glare.
Only recently the mare grabbed plenty of headlines after a statue was erected in her honor.
But another equine retirement in recent weeks has passed without quite the same fanfare -- Vote for Lust being put out to pasture.
Vote for Lust is the cart horse to super mare Black Caviar.
"He's just really, really bad," the horse's owner and trainer John Castleman told CNN. "He just doesn't go fast."
Retirement came after its 90th run out -- ninety rides that came and went without a solitary victory.
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For all his lack of pace and panache on the race track -- Vote for Lust's career fittingly ended with him being 12-and-a-half lengths off the pace in his racing finale -- he has enjoyed something of a cult following in Australia, with both a Facebook and Twitter page set up in his name.
Vote for Lust is indisputably Australia's worst race horse, with his closest rival being Jordi, who had 67 starts without a win.
As for laying claim to being the world's worst, Vote for Lust is in with a good shout, although he has some serious competition.
British horse Quixall Crossett was the first thoroughbred to lose 100 races in England in 2000 while the American horse Zippy Chippy also went 100 races without a win and also even lost a race with a minor-league baseball player.
Fan favorite
But even Vote for Lust's owner and trainer John Castleman struggles to believe that there could possibly be a worse horse on the planet.
Despite the track record of ignominy, Castleman admitted that hundreds of suitors had been lining up to buy this Australian underachiever after his retirement was announced.
But family came first for Castleman, who gave Vote for Lust to his 14-year-old granddaughter.
She is able to give him the sort of slow-speed riding that the 10-year-old specialized on the race course during his career.
During Vote for Lust's career punters laid all manner of bets on him to win -- all to no avail -- though Castleman was wily enough never to dip into his pocket to back the ultimate no hoper.
"He's beaten one or two out there at home but never in a race," said Castleman.
Jockey Glenn Boss
Twice on Melbourne Cup day, Vote for Lust ran in a two-horse race and on each occasion came home a distant second.
His last realistic chance for victory came at the Horsham Maiden in June 2009, a race specifically for horses that have never won. True to form Vote for Lust was nowhere to be seen at the winning post.
Sociable horse
Even jockey Glenn Boss -- a three-time Melbourne Cup winner -- could not get anything out of the luckless horse in a one-off outing.
With the horse sponsored by the betting company Betfair, Boss was brought in to ride him in his 87th outing in a public relations gimmick.
"There was a point where I thought 'here we go', but that lasted all of about 100 meters before his usual canter kicked in," said Boss, who attributed Lust for Last's lack of competitiveness to his amiability.
"He likes the outing but he's sociable and just wants to stay in the pack with his mates. If he could have a beer and a steak sandwich, I reckon he would."
At the time, the jockey was asked if he felt Vote for Lust might finally pull off a victory in what was then the twilight of his career. His answer was, "never say never," though Castleman's assessment, admittedly with a chuckle, was more brutal -- "never."
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There is a certain parental pride from the owner in just how bad Vote for Lust was.
"If he'd have won that would have been no good would it?" he said. "Anyway, it just was not meant to be."
In the yard, he was known as either 'Bogey' or 'Lusty' although Castleman admitted: "There might have been other names too depending on what sort of mood I was in!"
Australians love a trier and to his credit there were times when Vote for Lust showed a glimmer of form -- usually in adverse weather conditions.
"There were a couple of occasions early on in his career when the rain was lashing down and he just kept on ploughing through. I thought he might have done it then. When he didn't do it then, I think I knew he'd never do it."
Calm nature
So why did Castleman keep on entering him in races?
"Well, horses don't pay for themselves do they?" said Vote for Lust's owner. "And anyway he'd still pick up some money for his places which would cover his feed and keep really."
For all the negativity about his racing prowess, or lack of it, Vote for Lust was invaluable as a horse for all occasions away from the track.
"He was good to have around the place, he was everyone's mate," said Castleman.
"He was quiet as hell and we'd take him to partner horses. He was so good natured, the calming influence on the more jittery horses. He just did everything you'd ever ask of him, that is apart from going fast.
"When we were breaking in horses, we'd have him tied up at the side and he'd just calm everyone down. He's just a bloody good bloke. For us, he was gold dust."
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At races, Vote for Lust would welcome bigger crowds than the faster more successful horses.
"He's got quite a cult following, don't you worry about that," added Castleman.
"Everyone would want to get his picture taken with him. It's crazy to think someone put him on the internet and he ended up with hundreds of people following him.
"Just as he retired, we had seven radio stations ring up for interviews, and people rang up asking if he was for sale. He's much loved, just sadly not for the right reasons."
Equine genealogy
Vote for Lust would still be racing had it not been for an abscess on his foot. Castleman had hoped to take him to at least 100 runs, after which he planned to host some sort of a party. In the end, that was not to be.
As for how he might have fared against Black Caviar, Castleman is certain that would have definitely have been a one horse race.
"There was a suggestion that he'd challenge Black Caviar in a race," said Castleman. "That would have been the mother of all mismatches."
It is just a few weeks since he handed over the horse to his granddaughter, and he readily admits he misses having him around the place.
But there is the potential for someone to follow in his footsteps.
He has a half-sister and half-brother in Castleman's stable.
The latter has been named 'He Ain't My Brother' to distance himself from his equine genealogy.
Despite that, he can't quite break the family shackles. In his few races to date, he has yet to taste victory.
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North Korea asked to free veteran
- Merrill Newman was detained in North Korea in October, after a trip to the country
- State news said he "apologized" for crimes, including killings during Korean War
- A NSC spokeswoman says the U.S. is "deeply concerned" about him and Kenneth Bae
- She urges Pyongyang "to release Mr. Newman," who is 85
(CNN) -- The U.S. government is "deeply concerned" about two American citizens detained in North Korea, including 85-year-old Merrill Newman, a National Security Council spokeswoman said.
"Given Mr. Newman's advanced age and health conditions, we urge (North Korea) to release Mr. Newman so he may return home and reunite with his family," said Caitlin Hayden, the NSC spokeswoman.
North Korea's state-run KCNA news service reported early Saturday that Newman had apologized for crimes he had committed against North Korea, both while serving in the U.S. military during the Korean War and during his trip back to North Korea earlier this fall.
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Another American being held in North Korea, Kenneth Bae, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced in May to 15 years of hard labor.
The North Korean government has said he was found guilty of "hostile acts" and attempts to topple the government.
According to his family, Newman had gone a 10-day organized private tour of North Korea in October. From phone calls and postcards he sent, the trip was going well and there was no indication of any kind of problem, his son said.
Then, just minutes before his Beijing-bound plane was set to depart Pyongyang, the retired financial consultant and Korean War veteran was taken off the aircraft by North Korean authorities.
Until Saturday, the North Korean government hadn't said why it held Newman, who lives in Palo Alto, California.
The explanation came in the form of a published apology from Newman, as well as accompanying images of him thumbprinting his handwritten note and talking about his experiences.
"After I killed so many civilians and (North Korean) soldiers and destroyed strategic objects in the DPRK during the Korean War, I committed indelible offensive acts against the DPRK government and Korean people," Newman said, according to the "apology" reported by KCNA.
His statement ends: "If I go back to (the) USA, I will tell the true features of the DPRK and the life the Korean people are leading."
In addition to this statement, KCNA ran a story alleging Newman came to North Korea with a tourist group in October and afterward "perpetrated acts of infringing upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and slandering its socialist system."
This story claimed that Newman tried to "look for spies and terrorists who conducted espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK."
Investigators determined that, as a member of the U.S. military, he "masterminded espionage and subversive activities ... and, in this course, he was involved in the killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians."
"The investigation clearly proved Newman's hostile acts against the DPRK, and they were backed by evidence," the KCNA story added. "He admitted all his crimes and made an apology for them."
CNN's Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.