In the starting gate, eight skittish thoroughbreds pawed at the frozen ground and shot steam from flaring nostrils. Cold-numbed jockeys gripped the reins and tensed for the starter's signal. "They're off!" shouted Track Announcer Raymond Haightbut on the first turn, the horses disappeared in a blinding snowstorm. Haight gave up trying to call the race, made a mock appeal to the crowd: "If anybody knows who that horse is that's on top by four lengths, will he please call extension 37?"
Snow and subfreezing temperatures do little to cool the enthusiasm of the...
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