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Fowl Play at Portland-Sir Lou Loses Once Again There was "fowl" play in a race at Portland Meadows last summer. And a ring-necked pheasant was the culprit. It seems this pheasant decided a tuft of grass in the infield would be a nice place to spend the summer and promptly moved in. For a month or so he would exhibit his bright plumage to the patrons about twice a week. He became fascinated by the racing — and decided to test his speed against that of the horses. One afternoon Sir Lou was the favorite in a juvenile race — and was challenging for the lead as his backers would. This looked like a soft touch, so the pheasant darted out on the track and began its rim. Sir Lou, however, found racing a pheasant somewhat less than dignified and promptly jumped over his feathered friend, breaking stride and never recovering. He wound up dead last in the eight-horse field and wrote another chapter into "A Thousand and One Ways to Lose a Race."
