After every muddy Kentucky Derby, one of my old posts, On a Sloppy Track, Jockeys wear up to 9 pairs of Goggles, always gets a lot of views. Obviously, on a track as muddy as yesterday’s, it’s a real challenge for jockeys to guide their horses to a good trip. I can completely understand why Mike Smith got Justify right out in front so that neither he nor his mount got a lot of mud in their faces. Which brings me to the obscure drinking toast, “Here’s mud in your eye,” which is what Justify must have said to Good Magic and Audible back at the barn.

It’s an odd toast with a derivation that’s, well, clear as mud! Some people believe that the toast originates in horse racing, where the winner (if he’s Justify) finishes without without mud in his face, making it a toast to success. Other people believe it has Biblical origins, referring to John 9:1–9:41 in the New Testament. This passage relates the tale of Jesus restoring sight to Celidonius, a man born blind, by putting mud in the man’s eyes and instructing him to wash himself in the Pool of Siloam.