Peek-to-Peek: And It's Dixie By a Tail

It dawned on me this morning that the Kentucky Derby was being run today. At one point in my life I spent quite a bit of time at race tracks around Chicago, not because I necessarily wanted to, but because I was trying to be companionable. I'm afraid I was the one who got it started.

As you've probably noted if you've been following my blog, I really like animals. When I was about eleven, if I recall correctly, my parents bought a horse, Pats, from my great uncles who were selling their livestock and moving from the farm on which they'd lived for many years. I was told she was part Tennessee Walking Horse and was therefore gaited. I also was told she was capable of racking, but I've spent some time on the Internet trying to decipher exactly what racking is and think she may have been doing something else. When she did this I think she had two feet on one side on the ground at the same time, then two feet on the other side on the ground at the same time. My Dad could get her to do this on command. Although she and I were soul mates, she was always in control when I road her and she only treated me to this experience once and it was delightful...a side-to-side rocking motion without any jarring at all. If anyone knows anything about gaited horses, perhaps they can tell me what she was doing.

I only mention this as a back story for the highlight of my Chicago horse racing experiences...my insisting on being one of this crowd of 41,000 fans when Triple Crown winner Secretariat raced at Arlington Park June 30, 1973, which launched the entire horse racing period in my life.

Photo by Bob Finch Daily Herald

I think somewhere I might still have my Secretariat Day bracelet, a plastic hospital I.D. wristlet that everyone entering the park got that day. Now I'm not a groupie as far as human celebrities are concerned. In fact, just the opposite, but I could still almost be convinced to join a Secretariat fan club. What a horse. My favorite memory of that day at Arlington Park was of him turning to look at the fans as he ran past the stands toward the finish line, totally relaxed, unperturbed by the noise of their shouts, seemingly basking in the adulation, so far out in front he wasn't even racing at that point. The following is a description of the race finish from a Daily Herald article by John Leusch:

Secretariat wowed the crowd with an easy 9-length victory in the 1-mile race, registering his fastest time to date at that distance. The time of 1:47 flat was one-fifth of a second off the track record, even with jockey Ron Turcotte holding back the big red horse at the start and not releasing him until the final eighth of a mile, according to Daily Racing Form accounts.

I can't remember how long after this it was that I arranged a visit to Calumet Farms where Secretariat was retired to stud. Somewhere in storage I have a snapshot of me feeding Secretariat Certs (be still my heart!), one of his favorite treats according to his trainer who hosted my visit and supplied the breath mints. Afterward I sent a thank you note to the trainer along with a whole box of Certs for Secretariat.

So, I still enjoy following the Kentucky Derby and the other Triple Crown races. I don't have television here in the cabin, but was able to do a little handicapping today, pulling up the entrants on the Kentucky Derby website where I could watch videos of their past races. There were some really impressive horses in today's race. If you followed the race, you know that Bodermeister was the favorite, but I'll Have Another, a California horse, won and Dullahan came in third. I had made some notes on the speeds with which these horses had completed their last winning races, all of which were only 1 1/8 miles versus the Derby's 1 1/4. I'll Have Another completed the Santa Anita Derby in 1:47.88. Dullahan completed the Arkansas Derby in 1:47.94 and Bodermeister ran the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in 1:48.71. Just using those speeds, you could have predicted the winner and almost the trifecta! Professional handicappers all over are groaning. There are so many variables when trying to predict a horse race you can make yourself crazy. I always thought it was more fun just to go down to the paddock and look at the horses as they paraded before each race. I picked quite a few winners just from the way they looked. If they're ready to win they look like you feel on a good day.

So how am I tying this back in to my life in this rustic cabin in the Rocky Mountains? It's a long shot, but here goes...

Dixie, looking alert, waits for a coy Vixen to enter the starting gate for this fillies only race...