Sappy, but worth watching people complimenting each other. You probably say, "Ahhhh." You might even tear up.

If you teared up watching commercials, this three-minute video is for you. If friends laugh at you because you cry at the drop of a hat, this three-minute video is for you. If you just wanna cry, this three-minute video is for you.

SoulPancake hit the streets seeking one thing -- compliments. SoulPancake asks people to compliment each other. Nothing complicated. Just a compliment. Here is the result.

Jockey DeShawn Parker returns to horse racing action December 5, 2012, at Tampa Bay Downs.

For those wondering where jockey DeShawn Parker has been, he will return to action Tuesday, December 5, 2012, at Tampa Bay Downs. As many of you know, Parker competes mostly at Mountaineer Park. For 2012, Parker has 1,273 starts (303-223-189). He will ride in four claiming races in his return.

On Tuesday, Parker will ride Robin des Concorde (Race 3), Slam Runner (Race 5), Big Gavel (Race 7) and Alex's Vision (Race 10).

Despite not racing since Nov. 13, Parker is ranked 59th in earnings — $3,751,497. Of those ranked in the top 100, only Ramon A. Dominguez (1,363), Javier Castellano (1,367) and Leandro R. Goncalves (1,329) have more mounts this year. (Stats are as of the morning of Nov. 30.)

Tampa Bay opens Saturday. Tampa Bay is off the next three days before returning to action Wednesday, which is part of its 91-day meet, ending May 5, 2013.

Nonios and Paynter get schooled in the paddock earlier this year. A chance to get them familiar with the paddock.

Nonios and Paynter are schooled in the Monmouth paddock earlier this year during Haskell week at Monmouth.

Christina Jelm, assistant to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, explains Nonios' schooling session, while Jim Barnes, assistant to Bob Baffert, shares his thoughts about Paynter's session.

Betting on horse racing online is legal, so gamblers who love Zynga Poker and Angry Birds may have hit Derby Jackpot. The next new thing that may save horse racing?

If horse racing is ever to increase its popularity with the younger crowd, Derby Jackpot may be the way. But as always, we shall see. Derby Jackpot could be horse racing's first real step into social media that could have a true impact. Yes, race tracks, handicappers, trainers, jockeys, owners are on Twitter and Facebook. Yes, there are apps to follow and bet on horse racing. But, now comes the important question: Is Derby Jackpot different?

Again, we shall see.

In describing Derby Jackpot, The Verge reports:

There is no information about the jockey, for example, or the horse's history, or even its age — just the horse’s name and its odds. Bets are as low as $2 and can pay out as much as $2,000. Once the results come in, the site encourages players to tweet their winnings.

Derby Jackpot may have as much to do with horse racing as FarmVille has to do with agriculture, but casual fans are exactly what the horse racing industry needs. Horse racing is going the way of Latin — to put it bluntly, it appeals mostly to old white aristocrats. The average age of a horse racing fan is 51, expected to increase to 57 by 2020, according to a comprehensive industry report released in 2011. And with recent crackdowns on many of the major poker websites, there is a hole in the market for a new breed of online gambling.

The company was founded by brothers Tom, Walter and Bill Hessert, as well as CTO Eric Gay, after a trip to Preakness Stakes. One of Derby Jackpot's advisers is economist and Freakonomics co-auther Steven Levitt.

Here's a video on the topic:

A walking tour of 2012 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita with actor John Ortiz, previously known as Turo Escalante

Here's a walking tour of 2012 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita with actor John Ortiz, previously known as Turo Escalante on HBO's short-lived series Luck. It's in three parts, but, unfortunately, there are only two parts of the tour to be found.

Part I


Part III


And as many know, HBO's Luck had one of the best musical openings — by Splitting Atoms. Only True Blood and Sopranos were better.

La Prevoyante Handicap set at Calder. In 1972, 2-year-old La Prevoyante was the Queen of horse racing while Secretariat was the King

The La Prevoyante Handicap is a $100,000 Grade 3 race for fillies and mares at Calder Race Course at 3:05 p.m., Friday, November 30. The distance is 1 1/2 Mile on turf.

PP   Horse:  Jockey,  Trainer,  ML
1    My Pal Chrisy: Luca Panici, Lutchman Padarath   15-1
2    Ciao Bella: John R. Velazquez, Todd Pletcher   5-2
3    Closing Range: Elvis Trujillo, Philip Oliver  12-1
4    Clarinet: Joe Bravo, Josie Carroll  4-1
5    Centring: Luis Saez, Thomas Albertrani   6-1
6    Peekablue Sue: Luca Panici, William A. Kaplan   20-1
7    Thislilsoulofmine: Paco Lopez, Roger Attfield   8-1
8    Havant (GB): Jose Lezcano, Christophe Clement   9-5


Other La Prevoyante Handicap headlines:
Brisnet: Tropical Turf, La Prevoyante highlight Calder closing day.
DRF: Havant gives Clement good shot at fifth La Prevoyante victory
Sun-Sentinel:Calder ends season with a pair of graded turf stakes
Bloodhorse.com: Ciao Bella Could Make La Prevoyante Impact

The history of La Prevoyante?
A horse by the name of Secretariat was King of the two-year-old males in 1972, but it was La Prevoyante who was Queen of the two-year-olds. In fact, it was Secretariat who nipped La Prevoyante for Eclipse Award's Horse of the Year in 1972. While Secretariat went on to bigger and greater things, La Prevoyante was no slouch.

La Prevoyante won her first 12 races as a two-year-old. In her three-year-old season, she placed second in the Kentucky Oaks to Bag of Tunes. La Prevoyante, who won 25 of her 39 races, was inducted into the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1995. On December 28, 1974 — the day of her final race in the Miss Florida Handicap at Calder — La Prevoyante collapsed and later died after rupturing her left lung.

Here is the 2011 Handicap. Spoiler alert: Won by Casablanca Smile, who when wire-to-wire.

"You're taking one step at a time, and you are in your zone."

Aerial Video Systems (AVS) supplies a different look (via video) at 2012 Breeders' Cup — including aerials and in-field camera car

Aerial Video Systems (AVS) just posted video of the company's video work at the 2012 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.

Here's the YouTube description of this video: A short montage of AVS' involvement in the 2012 Breeder's Cup. AVS provided the wireless HD links, wireless P1 Steadicam camera package, in-field camera car with Cineflex V14-HD, audio, comms, P/L and aerials



Here is other work done by AVS:
AVS Aerial Demo 2011 —  YouTube
Aerial Video System - Providing the Aerials for Deadliest Catch —  YouTube
Other AVS YouTube videos.

Mizdirection owner, guy called Jim Rome, lands sports talk show on Showtime.

Mizdirection owner, Jim Rome (whose filly won the 2012 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita), says his new Showtime talk show will be "a more elevated conversation about sports."

Rome's favorite spectator sport? Horse racing? Nah ... hockey.

Here's some free advertising for Rome's new show. The short video is a Q&A.

Race horse has uglier Christmas sweater than you, your sister, your wife, your mother, and your ex-girlfriend.

And you thought your wife or sister or mother had the worse Christmas sweater/sweatshirt. Think again. Check out this poor horse's Christmas sweater on the cover of today's Racing Post.

OK, it's not a real sweater. It's a water-based painted on sweater, reports The Sun. The horse wearing the paint is Dr. Livingstone, while the jockey is the famous Tony "AP" McCoy. The short video shows it being painted on the horse.

Horse racing journalist, historian Joseph B. Kelly dies at 94. Kelly's first wager was on Whirlaway, favorite horse was Citation.

Legendary horse racing journalist and historian Joseph B. Kelly said the first race horse he ever bet on was Whirlaway, who won the Triple Crown in 1941 with Eddie Arcaro aboard. Kelly, who wrote for the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Star, passed away at 94, on Monday, November 26.

Here's an interview with Kelly where he talks about Whirlaway, ABC-TV broadcaster Jim McKay (who he knew when McKay was James McManus) and the early days of broadcasting from the race track. The video is listed as Part I of an interview with Kelly, but there isn't a Part II or III to be found, unfortunately.



Here are comments about about Kelly:

From Brisnet:
Pimlico and Laurel announcer Dave Rodman: "He was eager to share stories about Maryland racing, especially the Preakness. Nobody loved Pimlico more than Mr. Kelly, who continued to drive to the track almost every day. Coming to the races kept him very sharp. He loved to talk about the horses and handicap the races."

From Courier-Journal:
Former Pimlico and Laurel Park owner Karin De Francis: "He truly was racing’s man for the ages and a real gentleman in the mold that exists no more.”

From Baltimore Sun:
Ross Peddicord, former Baltimore Sun racing writer who is executive director of the Maryland Horse Industry Board: "Joe was a walking encyclopedia on the history of the Maryland horse racing industry. He was the embodiment of the Selima Room, the Woodward Collection and the Bel Air Museum and Stable all wrapped up into one."

Kelly on his favorite horse: "Citation was such a versatile horse that could overcome muddy tracks or fast tracks, short races or long races. He could adapt to any and all circumstances."

By the way, Citation won the Triple Crown in 1948.

Kelly's funeral will be held at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore at 11 a.m. EST Nov. 30 with a visitation period beginning at 9:30 a.m.

If you are interested, below is Whirlaway's Kentucky Derby win in 1941. Whirlaway is he No. 4 horse.



Below is Citation's Kentucky Derby win in 1948. Citation is the No. 1 horse.

Horse racing resolutions a month early: 1). Don't bet what TV pickers like; 2). Don't bet anything for value; 3). ...

ESPN's Jay Cronley shares his December horse racing resolutions. Apparently, Cronley must not think much of New Year's resolutions because these are December resolutions.

Cronley resolves not to "bet anything for value." I can sort of agree with that, but I am in love, for better or worse, with value. He also resolves not to:

"Keep private too many great secrets, like the way Beyer speed figures are overrated as lone indicators for win bets and are inflated by such things as short fields, off track conditions, and surfaces other than dirt."

Note Cronley, I am a Beyer guy. Oh well, we have five weeks to get our resolutions in order. For now, check out Cronley's.

A look back at the Remsen, Cigar, Clark and Fall Highweight, which equals a thankful Mike Repole

Evan Hammonds of Bloodhorse.com revisits the Thanksgiving holiday weekend races - Remsen (Overanalyze), Cigar Mile (Stay Thirsty), Clark (Shackleford), and Fall Highweight Handicap (Caixa Eletronica). And not to overanalyze these results, but the Remsen, Cigar and Fall Highweight were all won by Mike Repole owned-horses.

Hit It Rich eyes one last Long Island Handicap

The $150,000 Long Island Handicap is a 1 1/2-mile turf race for fillies and mares at Aqueduct Racetrack today. The race is slated for 3:43 p.m. EST.

Last year's winner, Hit It Rich is back as the 5-2 favorite. Other contenders include: Mystical Star at 3-1, Kissable at 4-1 and Starformer at 8-1.

After weather cancelled Wednesday and Thursday's racing at Aqueduct, Friday's turf racing also fell victim to the weather.

Here's the field:
1. Starformer (KY) 8/1
2. Hit It Rich (KY) 5/2
3. Tannery (IRE) 8/1
4. Kissable (IRE) 4/1
5. Mystical Star (KY) 3/1
6. Aigue Marine (GB) 6/1
7. The West Rim (KY) 30/1
8. Senada (KY) 20/1
9. Clarinet (KY) 15/1
Also Eligibles:
10. Centring (KY) (MTO) 3/1

Here's last year's Long Island Handicap victory by Hit It Rich.

Jockeys go Gangnam Style, er, Jockey Style. Unfortunately these horse racing jockeys are singing, too

A few English jockeys go Gangnam Style. Brace yourself, folks, because the jockeys are doing the singing. The jockeys are: David Crosse, Gerard Tumelty, Sam Jones and Charlie Huxley. They go "Jockey Style."

Please note: No jockeys or horses were injured in the making of this video -- we think and hope. We cannot account for your ears, though.

New Preakness logo for 2013 unveiled

The Maryland Jockey Club unveiled its 2013 Preakness Stakes logo today. The logo was created by the Leffler Agency, a Baltimore-based company. The Leffler Agency has been creating the Preakness logos for the past 14 years.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Bob Leffler, the president and owner of the Leffler Agency, said: "We at Leffler and brandNU take pride in the diverse styles and practicality that the logos have achieved over the years. They must be bold enough to translate on television, simple enough to serve on credentials and badges and have the dynamism to sell as a feature of apparel.”

The Preakness is set for May 18, 2013.