Here’s a Dodgers’ horse story even Vin Scully couldn’t make up

Vin Scully was understandably less than thrilled after the Dodgers’ latest lost Thursday, but his Irish eyes lit up when he brought up another topic.

“Did you hear about the race?” he asked.

The most beloved man in Los Angeles wasn’t actually at the Penn National Race Course on Thursday in Grantville, Pa., about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, but he could almost hear the call.

“And here comes Scully.”

That’s right, there was a thoroughbred running in the Pennsylvania named after the Dodgers’ legendary broadcaster. And Thursday he settled into the eighth race in the post position right next to the No. 2 horse – Duke of Flatbush, which also was a nickname given to former Dodgers great Duke Snider.

Absolutely true story.

And get this, Duke of Flatbush won and Scully finished second. The third-place horse was Mr. Talent, which I’ll just assume was named after Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers couldn’t win in Chavez Ravine on Thursday, but their Hall of Famers couldn’t be stopped in Grantville. Scully, the horse, started his career at Santa Anita, where the original owners were big Vin Scully fans.

Scully went off as the favorite Thursday and Duke of Flatbush was a 10-1 longshot. The $2 exacta paid $80.80.

Alas, the 5½-furlongs race on the dirt track was something less than a glamour event. It was a $5,000 claimer for 3-year-olds and up that had never won two races. None of the eight horses were claimed, but there’s always the next time.

Duke Snider, er, the Duke of Flatbush, started slowly, rallied down the stretch and drew clear the last sixteenth. Scully, well off the pace throughout most of the race, made his move on the turn and charged down the stretch but didn’t have enough to overtake the Duke of Flatbush, finishing second by two lengths.

When it comes to a horse story, however, Scully has it all over him.