mixed feelings
Many of you know that I am an avid horse lover. So I am anxiously awaiting the Superbowl of horse races tomorrow - the final race of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes. The Triple Crown – made up of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes - is run over 5 weeks in May and June every year. Only three-year old horses are allowed to run and so one horse has only one shot in his/her lifetime at this tremendous championship. It is one of the oldest sporting traditions in America and this year will mark the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes. These three races are something I look forward to every year. I set aside each of the Saturdays to watch and learn about all the horses involved in the races. It is the buildup to the two most exciting minutes in sports.
There have only been 11 horses in the history of these races to win all three. Sir Barton, War Admiral, Citation and Secretariat are some of the notable horses that make up this legendary group. It is an incredible challenge to win all three. The races are all run on dirt but are different lengths. One is a sprint race, one a pace race, and one an endurance race. If a horse can win at all three, the horse proves talented and well-rounded.
It has been thirty years since the last champion ran across the finish line - Affirmed in 1978. Over the thirty years there have been nearly a dozen horses that have given it their best shot by winning two of the three races. Names like Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, and Charismatic come to mind. A couple of years ago we had a grand champion within our reach by the name of Barbaro. He probably would have taken the Crown had it not been for a fatal injury during the Preakness. But he has been the strongest competitor I have seen in all my life. I have wanted nothing more than to see a Triple Crown winner.
This year it is almost certain the thirty year drought will be broken with a horse named Big Brown. And while I should be very excited about this horse being the first one in my lifetime to take the Triple Crown, there is a small cloud that hangs over him. Let me just say, it is not the horse I’m disappointed with – I mean how could I be, he’s an animal. It is, however, the human team that surrounds this horse that I have not been impressed by.
In years past, the horses that have come close to this achievement have been surrounded by great backstories, wonderful people, and have given the sportwriters the feel-good stories they look for. Like the old highschool buddies that went in together to buy a longshot with crooked legs and ended up in the winner’s circle on more than one occassion. Or the horse who was named for a little girl fighting cancer and with every win helped to raise money for a charity that supports research for this disease. Or the horse that was supposed to take the Crown home but instead was injured in the last strides of the Belmont where his jockey immediately jumped off and supported the horse’s leg until medical attention could arrive – he saved the horse’s life by taking such swift action. And this was later named the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Moment of the Year.
Big Brown’s team is very different. With a wide array of indiscretions by his trainer, jockey, and owners, the honorable reputation of the racing industry is tainted. Reports of the trainer’s drug use, bad attitude and corruption, along with his heavy use of medications and steroids on the horses he trains just seem to put a shade of negativity on an industry and a horse that deserve better. And while I know that if Big Brown wins tomorrow, he will take it in stride and with dignity, I’m not as convinced that his team will do the same.
So I have mixed feelings about the outcome of tomorrow’s race – but whatever that may be, I do feel that Big Brown will be a great champion in his own right despite the irresponsible humans that surround him.