I was going to start out this post with something about how most girls go through the infamous “Horse Phase”, but then I realized that I’d just end up with dozens of “but I didn’t!” comments, so instead I’ll begin this post thus:

Yeah, I went through the Horse Phase. Mine was a little different from the other Horse-crazed girls I knew at school, though. While most of them dreamed of ribbons in the manes of Shetland ponies or wild mustangs or that sort of thing, I dreamed of

the thundering

hooves of

thoroughbred racehorses.

This obsession can be entirely blamed on this book, which my dad bought me for some unknown reason (since I had no real interest in horses at the time):

I read it when I was, oh, 12 or 13 years old, and was instantly intrigued by this world previously unknown to me: a world of racehorses– those brave, elegant, hotblooded creatures– and the people who loved them. I went on to read a bunch of the books in the series and then I started reading other books about racehorses and before long I was watching horse races on TV. I’ll never forget my first Kentucky Derby: an underdog horse named Grindstone who triumphed over a bunch of strong contenders. And that was it: I was hooked. I wrote a short story about that race for school, and from that point on I was a horse racing nut.

I drew thoroughbreds, I wrote about thoroughbreds, I read about thoroughbreds, I dreamed of owning a horse farm someday. Then I wanted to become a jockey, which I figured I could get away with because I’m short and scrawny, but reality eventually set in when I remembered that I have zero athletic ability and that I’m terrified of anything past cantering on an actual horse. Still, I wanted to get in on the action somehow, and I daydreamed up stories about my future horses and figured out what color silks my future horse farm would have (white bars on a teal body, and white sleeves).

My strongest desire was to see a horse win the Triple Crown: a perfect trifecta of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, a feat which has only been accomplished eleven times in over a hundred years, and not since Affirmed in 1978.

So of course the Racing Gods thought it would be most amusing to toy with my heart, and over the course of my next several years of keen race-watching I got to watch heart-wrenching near-misses by Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998, Charismatic in 1999, War Emblem in 2002, Funny Cide in 2003, and the most soul-crushing upset of all: Smarty Jones in 2004. I’d been a fan of Smarty since watching him just romp the field in the Arkansas Derby. “That horse,” I said, “Is going to win the Kentucky Derby.” He did. Then he won the Preakness. And then… then he lost the Belmont to a horse named Birdstone, son of Grindstone, who I’d fallen in love with years before. Oh irony.

After that my interest started to wane a bit. It was a combination of usually being scheduled to work on Saturdays (when most “big” races are run) and simply sort of moving on from the obsession. But while I may not be quite as obsessed as I used to be, I still love the Sport of Kings. I can’t think of anything quite as thrilling as the two minutes that are the Kentucky Derby (this weekend, by the way!) and I can’t think of anything quite as nail-biting as the post parade for the Belmont when a Triple Crown contender is running. I love the spirit of thoroughbreds, I love the stories behind them and their people (insert obligatory “I liked ‘Seabiscuit’, bite me” comment here), and who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll actually get to see a Triple Crown Winner.*

Until then, I present the greatest race of all time (which I can’t watch without tearing up, by the way. I blame the Rudy music):

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* In actuality the fact that horses these days are bred for speed more than distance has me questioning the idea of preserving the lengths of the original Triple Crown races, even for nostalgia’s sake. I envision a “modern day” Triple Crown as having a 1 1/8 mile Kentucky Derby, a 1 1/16 mile Preakness, and a 1 1/4 mile Belmont. But on the other hand, who am I to mess with the Derby? <3