American Pharoah - Part 1

What an amazing sports weekend!! I have never been more inspired by sporting events in my entire life. This is part 1 of my story relating to these sports. 



*Courtesy cbc.ca

 

American Pharoah won the Triple Crown achieving a feat that hasn't been done in 37 years, and completing one of the most feel-good stories I have ever been privy to. 

 

#Incredible  #Victory Courtesy wsj.com

 

In one of the biggest tennis events of the year, Stan Wawrinka beat world #1 Novak Djokavic to win the French Open. Wawrinka not only won, but he fearlessly and relentlessly attacked and took it to the world's best tennis player.  Someone obviously forgot to tell Wawrinka, a player who is barely ranked in the top 10 and not having won many major titles,  that he even deserved to be in the finals and was so over-matched. 

 

Equally impressive was the respect and graciousness that Djokavic showed in defeat.  Not impressive, albeit entertaining, was Serena William's frequent sanctions by the referee for her on-court, audible swearing.  I guess when you are the most winningest player in history you get away with  lot of shhhh...stuff (pun intended).

 

*I looked online and a ticket to Wimbledon final is $5000!  Courtesy resonews.com

 

Back to the big story. I have grown up around horses and think they are some of the most incredible animals ever. Their speed and power contrasts with their somehow gentle demeanor and makes them loveable.  My mom loves horses, they are her dream and she is always riding or training the horses that she dearly loves. 

 

 

*My mom with a couple of her boys

 

I like horses, I think they are incredible animals, but I have very little, if any, desire to ride them. When I think of our horses I have two distinct memories. They both took place when I was about 10 years old.  The first, the time that I got bucked off a horse....while I had a broken arm...when I was clearly told not to be riding horses when my arm was broken. When the dust settled and I crawled from the dirt, as if I couldn't say it fast enough I shouted, "Don't tell my mom!" lol. 

 

The second was the few times that our seemingly docile and gentle horses would act up when the boss, my mom, wasn't around.  One time while riding our first horse around our property he decided he had enough and just stopped and wouldn't move. Despite my best efforts to use my little legs to kick his big body he decided I could walk up the will, which I did.  The same horse also knocked me down into the mud when he kicked me while I was feeding the horses. It wasn't a kick to try and hurt me, it was just a kick to say to the other horses "Bet ya' five bucks I can knock him over without looking."  I am pretty sure I came up swearing the best a 10-year old can do when he did that. What a funny horse.

 

*Yeee haw, Bryan! 

 

Back to the Triple Crown and American Pharoah.  The Triple Crown refers to a horse that tries to win all three of the biggest horse races in the same year.  This is a big deal and big money.  What makes this task so hard is a horse has to be the best horse in the field in all three races, it's first place in all three or no Triple Crown.  Keep in mind that this isn't like NASCAR where you have the same racers at every race. It adds a lot to the difficulty in that the field can change with each race and each track. One week the Triple Crown contenders have to face a fresh and fast set of horses who do well at mile and a half tracks, at the other two races it could be completely different set of horses who have been training and resting during the other races.  The Triple Crown is so hard to achieve that only a dozen horses have ever done it, and prior to American Pharoah, the last horse to do it was 37 years ago. 

 

I was so inspired and moved by The Triple Crown this year for a few reasons. I remember back about 10 years ago when I watched my mom nearly cry when Smarty Jones, a horse who won 2 of the Triple Crown races, was over taken in the final stretch of the 3rd race by horses whose riders rode only to spoil Smarty's Triple Crown bid. It was sad.

 

Last year, California Chrome won two of the races, but again horses who did not ride all 3 Triple Crown races spoiled his bid to win. The sad part of last year was California Chrome's owner going on a poor-sport tirade after the race. He said things to the tune of "No one will ever win a Triple Crown in my lifetime...and winning a Triple Crown these days is impossible." He also said, "That winning races without having raced all three is the 'Coward's way,' and 'Coward's victory.'" All this said while his wife tried to rein him in (pun intended) and get him to shut up because this was on live TV.  The owner of California Chrome was a jerk, while I am sure the horse is a beautiful animal, the owner did not deserve (in my opinion) to win the Triple Crown.  The owner wanted the win for himself, it was never about the horse, he wanted the glory all to himself, which is why he obviously took the loss so terribly.

 

Contrast last year to this year.  I was so very impressed by the owners and trainer of American Pharoah.  While grand in their aspirations they remained humble in their achievement.  Every interview was the same, it was always about the horse and how much he loved to run.  Never once did the owner or trainer say anything about themselves or how "they" won the Triple Crown. It was always about how lucky they were to have such a good horse who loved to run and who was such a nice animal.  In my opinion, American Pharoah deserved to win and I was so happy, almost to the point of my own tears, that this happened. Soooo many people were so happy as a result of this horse. To think that the owners of this horse almost sold him at auction only to buy him back because he was such a loveable horse. California Chrome's sour-grapes owner can eat his words, because American Pharoah did what they said couldn't be done.

 

*Even his misspelled name "Pharoah" is fitting. Courtesy nypost.com

*People give a lot of credit to coaches, what about Bob Baffert who trained American Pharoah, both extremely humble in their accomplishment. Courtesy thehorse.com

 

*Jockey Victor Espinoza gave all the credit to his horse during the interview.

I am so moved by this race, the people involved, and the amazement in seeing something that hasn't been done in 37 years achieved in such a gracious and humble way.

Part 2 to follow.