'Run for the Roses' provides a hopeful message
On the biggest stage of his life, a little gelding flourishes
Marcus Schmidli
Issue date: 6/4/09 Section: Sports
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The five best horses when the year began were sidelined with injuries. The morning line favorite was scratched with a career-threatening ankle injury.
Fans were left wondering what to make of a race with no clear favorite. Racing analysts went over each horse, discounting most and praising very few.
However, their expectations coupled with my expectations amounted to nothing when the horses ultimately crossed the finish line. What we, as sports fans, soon realize is that when you think you have everything figured out, a light goes on reminding us not to forget about the little guy.
That bright light came in the fashion of a small horse named Mine That Bird.
Hugging the rail around the far turn, the 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird went from first to last on a muddy track to win horse racing's most prestigious race. It came as a shock to everyone who studied the horses over that weekend.
Here was a horse with no speed and no proof of stamina. A horse regressing from his two year old form that saw him win four races in a row.
And yet, even with his impeccable pedigree (son of Belmont Stakes winner, Birdstone) and his new jockey Calvin Borel, there just wasn't anything to like about the young horse in this race.
But horse racing is a game where anything is possible and given the ride of his life, any horse can do magic. Friesan Fire, the easy favorite to win, had won in the mud a month earlier. There was every indication that he should have won the race.
As fate would have it, he misfired badly and finished second to last proving the old adage true: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
But I digress, if this installment of the Kentucky Derby proved anything, it was that horse racing is about more than rhetoric and old sayings. Horse racing is about hardwork, heart and the will to win.
Basking in the glow of his victory, jockey Calvin Borel pointed to the heavens in honor of his parents who he lost just recently.
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