ESPN Horse Racing

Sports fans, breathe easy. NBC analyst Bob Neumeier was getting kicked out of Louisville's Norton Audubon Hospital early Saturday afternoon after throwing everyone a spectacular scare Friday, during the Bravo Network broadcast of the Kentucky Oaks, when he collapsed in the walking ring and lapsed into a seizure.

"I saw bright white pinpricks of light, then started to get very disoriented, delerious," Neumeier said when I visited him late Saturday morning. "The next thing I knew I woke up here."

So he remembers nothing?

"Nothing."

Nothing about the cast of "Real Housewives of Shelbyville" lining up to give him mouth-to-mouth?

"No."

Or when Bob Baffert walked over and wrote "Bob" in pink lipstick on his forehead?

"Nope."

Or how Rachel Alexandra stopped on her way to the track to try and nuzzle him awake?

"She did?"

Okay, so some of that didn't happen. After tests ruled out everything from a brain tumor to ill humors, Neumeier was told his system had undergone an emergency shutdown because of dehydration and nutritional imbalance.

"I think I was over-caffeinated, too," he added.

Neumeier, 58, was told to go home and rest. He promised to take better care of himself when he rejoined the NBC broadcast for the Preakness in two weeks. In the meantime, Kenny Rice would be picking up some of Neumeier's slack on the Derby telecast. Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Sports who was visiting Neumeier as well, summoned an appropriate historical reference.

"It was 70 years ago today, May 2, 1939," Ebersol told Neumeier, "that Lou Gehrig took himself out of the Yankees line-up after 2,130 games."

Kenny Rice, meet Ellsworth "Babe" Dahlgren.

***

From David Letterman Friday night:

"You know what they call the Kentucky Derby ... the most exciting two minutes in sports. That, and an Alex Rodriguez blood test."

Jay Hovdey is the award-winning executive columnist for Daily Racing Form. He has written about thoroughbred racing since the 1970s from his base in Southern California, including articles published in the Reader's Digest, Los Angeles Times and New York Times, as well as several books. Hovdey is married to retired Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone.