Winners' Circle

As the photo purveyor at my current shingle, I get to purvey many an equine curiosity from around the country -- case in point, this win circle photo from Sam Houston Race Park in Texas (or as I like to say, Teh-has). Now, this isn't a matter of poking fun at flyover-state people... actually, once I think about it, I guess that's mostly what it is.

What I love about this Doon Arbus-like submission from Sandra Beck of the Coady Photography agency is, naturally, the woman on the left. Not that her morbid heaviness is a point of humor -- I love that almost in that same big spirit, the hair is piled highly on her head... more is better. Between the hair and the houndstooth and the stockinged-feet-in-an-open-toe it looks like she stepped out of 1961.