It's Derby Day.
Even though I'm older than dirt, I'm still a horse crazy kid. Kneeling in front of the TV with my best friend Dede, biting our nails and squealing as we rooted for our favorites, are some of the most pleasant childhood memories I have carried through life.
Dede now lives in Kentucky, a horse-shoe's toss south of Lexington. Derby coverage starts down there at eight o'clock in the morning, while I, still in New York, have to wait for ESPN to kick in at noon. But I'm already celebrating the day in my heart.
Dede is a kick-tail amateur photographer with some way-fortunate access to a lot of amazing subjects, including Kentucky's horses. I've been trying to talk her into starting a blog -- she says she doesn't have the time. So I'm going to show off her skills in this post.
Go visit the following Webshots albums and gasp in awe ... then leave her comments about how she should start a blog to document her travels around her beautiful state. If she hears it coming from more than just me, maybe she'll make the time. Yeah, I know, "my bad". One of my favorite passtimes is still horses. Another is teasing the heck out of my best friend.
- Dede's Kentucky Horse Racing Album
- Amazing shots from the rail of races in progress and sights around the track. Most of these shots are from Keeneland Racetrack, in Lexington, KY.
- Famous Kentucky Horses
- My all time favorite album of Dede's, containing her original photos of legends such as Cigar, Nijinsky and ... the greatest horse of all time himself ... Secretariat!
- Kentucky Horses
- Photos of horses from all over Dede's area of the state, in various settings.
- Horse Farms of Kentucky
- Any fan of horse racing will recognize the names of these famous stud farms. Gorgeous landscape shots that will take your breath away (especially if you're a horse crazy kid like me).
Oh, I know that the horse racing industry leaves a great deal to be desired. The shocking and tragic death of Barbaro brought a great deal of the "secret life" of trainers and their charges out into the open. Good things are happening, such as the industry cracking down on the use of drugs and steroids. Many tracks are moving to synthetic surfaces because of reports which indicate that they are safer for the animals. More changes are needed to make this a truly humane sport, of course, but I do feel it's moving in the right direction.
I have my own pet peeves. The use of drugs, of course, is paramount. Lasix, for one, bothers the heck out of me. The need to mask what is obviously a genetic failing in many lines of race horses with drugs, and then allowing a horse that might bleed out to continue to race ... it's a ticking time bomb. I consider the horses who successfully run for full careers and retire "healthy" on lasix to be running on luck.
I could go off on a rant, also, on the fact that the animals who are known to carry bleeding, carry bone weakness, carry heart issues, continue to be bred in the name of big money.
But I won't.
Because it's Derby Day.
I had the privilege of working for one of the kinder, more compassionate race horse breeders. Mrs Wilhelmina Waller truly cared about the horses of Tanrackin Farm. The animals' welfare was her first priority and she would not tolerate any kind of cruelty ... not even the hint thereof. We were not allowed to raise our voices to the animals, because she believed that in order to be a winner, a race horse must always believe he is right ... even when he's wrong.
She kept her old animals forever: those faithful equines had a home for life. Her "Old Timers'" barn and paddocks were filled to the rafters with happy, gleaming horses in their high twenties and thirties. I knew a dear, wonderful mare there, who was a great grand-daughter of Man O'War.
Wings of Egypt was treated like the queen she truly was. She was twenty-seven when I left the farm, and certainly not the oldest horse there, but I remember her well due to her heritage and regal standing.
The personal knowledge that not all "horse people" make the all-mighty dollar their top priority stays with me. Yes, there are greedy people in racing, but I'm not one to toss the baby out with the bath-water. There are truly good people as well; people who are in it not for the love of money, but for the love of the animals. This redeems racing in my heart, and I continue to be a horse crazy kid to this day. As soon as coverage begins, the TV goes on, and the family knows that you "don't bug mom" when the Triple Crown races are running.
I'm old now, "ever so much older than twenty", but still very much a horse crazy kid.
My mind drifts back to
that amazing day in June of 1973, when a certain flaming red horse led (more like "demolished") the field by a heart-stopping 31 lengths across the wire of the Belmont Stakes. I've never seen anything like it, before or since, and when I think of that moment, I'm still 16 years old, on my knees in front of the television, with tears streaming down my face.
(My dad told me I was behaving like an idiot. Now, that was a true testament to my loyalty.)
I have three photos on my bedroom wall, lovingly framed and displayed with pride: my daughter's high school portrait, my son's high school portrait ... and
Dede's portrait of Secretariat.
It's Derby Day.... And they're off (and so am I)!
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