Meet Blagojevich, the Horse

Blagojevich spends most of his time now behind bars, being served occasional meals of sludge and eventually gets let out into the yard for exercise and recreational time. Sound familiar?

Blagojevich spends most of his time now behind bars, being served occasional meals of sludge and eventually gets let out into the yard for exercise and recreational time. Sound familiar? We aren't talking about the former governor. We're talking about a horse that shares his name with ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (recently named the top story in Illinois of 2011!). This morning the New York Times introduced us to the horse who, "minds his trainers and channels his aggression into the calisthenics of winning races, not the criminal horse trading of United States Senate seats." Born in 2005 from a horse named Political Promise, who came from a mare named Would I Lie. At the time, the Illinois owners thought naming the horse Blagojevich seemed like a good fit. Hindsight is 20/20, indeed. They were also hoping to grab the attention of the governor in order to legalize slot machines at race tracks. It didn't work.

The horse's life has mirrored the same luck as the former Governor. After winning his first few races in Illinois, he couldn't keep the pace his owners wanted, needed some surgery, and was sold for a $30,000 loss to new owners in Michigan. “He just never lived up to his potential,” Phil Langley, one of his owners while he was in Illinois, told the Times. “That kind of goes along with the governor.” Blaggy is more the barn clown instead of a prize-winning race horse, so he enjoys the lighter schedule and demands of his new Michigan home.

The way Blagojevich's trainer Karen Tkaczyk describes the horse to the Times, she sounds strangely like she's describing a candidate: 'He’s a great big horse. Real tall, long and thick. He has a lot of hair, too. His tail touches the floor, it’s so long. He’s got a great personality. Competitive on the racetrack and nice in the barn. Very friendly.” Disregarding the part about being a horse and having a tail, would you vote for this person over, say, Ron Paul or Mitt Romney?