New York Today: Audible, Our Kentucky Derby Star

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/nyregion/new-york-today-kentucky-derby-audible.html

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Good morning on this warm (and possibly stormy) Thursday.

Meet Audible, the New Yorker to watch in the Kentucky Derby.

Of the 20 thoroughbreds in the 144th running of the Derby on Saturday, Audible, bred by Oak Bluff Stables and born upstate at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, is the only starter from New York.

New York State is home to some 39,000 horses, and over the years we’ve had our fair share at the Derby starting gate. But the finish line is a different story: The only New York horse to win was Funny Cide, in 2003.

Audible may change that — with his 8-to-1 odds, only three horses in this year's field are given a better shot.

It won’t be easy, though. Richard Leahy, the owner of Oak Bluff Stables, who has been in the business for more than three decades, told us, “This is the most competitive Kentucky Derby that I can remember.”

Audible is trained by Todd Pletcher, who also trained last year’s Derby winner, Always Dreaming, and the colt has already won the $1 million Florida Derby this spring. Mr. Leahy, who owns much of the female side of Audible’s family, said that beyond being notably attractive and well balanced, the racehorse “comes from a good family on his father’s side, and a very good family in terms of athleticism on the mother’s side, and all those things together have made him competitive.”

Audible was born in 2015 to Blue Devil Bel, a mare from New York, and Into Mischief, a stallion from Kentucky.

A newborn horse, referred to as a foal, is typically nursed by its mother during the first year. In January of the following year, it becomes a yearling, the most common time for breeders to sell their offspring, according to Mr. Leahy, who sold Audible as a yearling to the horseman J. J. Crupi for $175,000.

The following January, when the horse is 2 years old, aggressive training begins, according to Mr. Leahy. “It’s like taking an 8- or 9-year-old and getting them ready for the major leagues,” he said. “That’s what happened in Audible’s case. Not all horses can take that intense training, but he was able to handle that — no problem.”

Mr. Crupi, a pinhooker — which involves “buying a yearling, training it aggressively and then selling it as a made horse,” Mr. Leahy explained — eventually sold the 2-year-old Audible for $500,000.

And finally, the January after that, when thoroughbreds are 3, they’re eligible to compete in the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

Which brings us to this weekend.

Giddyap, Audible!

Here’s what else is happening:

A storm is brewing.

This afternoon we could see thunderstorms, and the rain could stick around until the weekend.

Our warm spell continues, with a high of 90 today and temperatures in the mid-80s on Friday.

The weekend forecast is giving us a reason to grin: Cloudy, with cooler temperatures.

• A producer of the Netflix show “Marco Polo” has accused Harvey Weinstein of repeatedly assaulting her between 2010 and 2014. [New York Times]

• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo holds a 22-point lead over Cynthia Nixon, according to a new poll. [New York Times]

• Erik T. Bohen, the Democrat who ran for the New York State Assembly as a Republican, has found himself marooned on a partisan island. [New York Times]

• Final arguments were heard in the case of a man who fatally stabbed an aspiring actress in Washington Heights while screaming about demons. [New York Times]

• In a lawsuit, a former top city official suggests that the city’s affordable housing policy isn’t doing all it can to alleviate segregation. [New York Times]

• A.T.M.s were, according to the de Blasio administration, promised to be readily available in courthouses to make it easier to pay cash bail. But that’s not the case. [New York Times]

• The director of the Museum of Modern Art shared his perspective on thinking digitally. [New York Times]

• A Brooklyn city councilman was arrested at a protest demanding that City Hall better address treatment for opioid addicts across the city. [The Brooklyn Paper]

• Two people accused of stealing over $2,000 worth of facial cream from a Duane Reade on the Upper West Side were wanted by the police. [West Side Rag]

• Almost all New Jersey workers in the private sector will soon receive paid sick leave. [NJ.com]

• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “A Mistaken Star Sighting”

• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.

• Visit an exhibition of Stanley Kubrick’s photographs at the Museum of the City of New York. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. [$18]

• Explore the history of the New York City wedding at the exhibition “Tredwell Brides: Changing Wedding Traditions in the 19th Century” at the Merchant’s House Museum in Greenwich Village. Noon to 8 p.m. [$15]

• Bring your lunch to an afternoon rooftop jazz concert at the Hansborough Recreation Center in Harlem. 1 p.m. [Free]

• End your day with sunset yoga on the East River at Randalls Island Park. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

• Screenings of films about community and immigration kick off the Greenpoint Film Festival at various locations in Brooklyn, though Sunday. 7 p.m. [Prices vary]

• Mets host Braves, 1:10 p.m. (SNY). Yankees at Astros, 2:10 p.m. (YES).

• Alternate-side parking remains in effect until May 10.

• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

Here in New York, we’re known for our tiny, expensive apartments, and for spending most of our time outside them.

Which means that when we step out the door, we need to be prepared.

Sunglasses. Reading material. Makeup. Lip balm.

And then there are those extra-special items that have helped us out of a scrape, and that now we take with us everywhere. (Hand sanitizer, anyone?)

New York Today wants to put together a New York City survival kit: a bag of those offbeat items that saved you in a pinch, or that you MacGyvered in a New York emergency.

And we’d like to know what’s in your bag.

Send us an email to nytoday@nytimes.com and tell us about your never-leave-home-without-it item, and tell us (briefly) about that time that it came to the rescue. We’re looking for items under $25. Please include your name, age and where you live. We may use your response in a coming column.

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