Rock stood with an acquaintance from the Little Rock Hash House Harriers in a stable at Churchill Downs. Emon Mahony, the Hasher, knew almost nothing about thoroughbred racing, but Rock didn't have time to explain much to him. He was too busy with his analysis of the upcoming Kentucky Derby.
It was late at night, and the stable was dark, its only light provided by a dim light bulb that hung bare on a short wire. Rock told Emon how he had been in this same stall a couple of weeks earlier with several owners and trainers as they tried to determine the source of some very foul smelling flatulence. It could have come from one or more of the men or perhaps from the small animals with them. There was a squirrel, a raccoon, and a possum squatting on a warped shelf that was cluttered with bottles of liniment and dirty towels and brushes and rope and dozens of other items irregularly and unintentionally stacked among dust and cobwebs to represent the life and history of the barn, which Rock figured was at least fifty years old.
Rock was frustrated by questions he had left unanswered during the Oaklawn Park season. For instance, how did Far Right, second in the Arkansas Derby, get his name? Why did the owner of American Pharoah, the Arkansas Derby winner, misspell Pharaoh? And why hadn't he pressed Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas after Lukas told him Mr. Z, third in the Ark Derby, didn't drift at all in the Southwest Stakes?
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