Make ours a double!

…[Mario Gutierrez] wanted them to know what every good rider knows no matter if he is a bush track jockey like him from the backwoods of Canada’s Hastings Racecourse or a Hall of Famer like Mike Smith, who was aboard Bodemeister: you know a transcendent horse when you get on him…

Another Thriller, and More Believers

Matt Slocum/Associated Press. Click on the image to enlarge

Joe Drape
The New York Times
5/19/2012

…“He has a tremendous kick,” he said. “He’s more smarter than I am, so he just wait for me until I ask him.”

The no-name jockey asked. The great horse answered. I’ll Have Another reached Bodemeister’s throat latch two strides before the wire. He was by him on the next one.

The numbers are impressive, but soulless. I’ll Have Another covered the mile and three-sixteenths in 1:55.94 and earned Reddam a $600,000 first-place check, pushing the colt’s career earnings past $2.6 million. A bettor who loved I’ll Have Another as much as Gutierrez was rewarded $8.40 for a $2 bet.

But the jockey understood who really earned their trip to New York and a shot at the elusive crown.

“This is not about me,” Gutierrez said…

…No, Gutierrez wanted people to appreciate the gift that had been given to him as much as he does. He loves his horse. He wants everyone else to love him as well.

“He’s an amazing horse,” he said again.

Believe him.

The complete article is at The New York Times.

Also, I’ll Have Another takes Preakness

 

We love the horse’s owner’s, J. Paul Reddam’s, commentary at the end of this video: “…he’s a working class horse from modest connections and that fits the owner, the trainer, the jockey…everybody.”

Because, in America, everyone has the opportunity to become exceptional. Even a toss-away horse, sold for a paltry $11,000, ridden by a young unknown jockey from Mexico.

Update:  The NY Times article makes mention of this warning to trainer O’Neill from The Humane Society of the United States. Hopefully, owner Reddam is protecting his horse.

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