This one's for you, dad.
How much did my father like the ponies?
To this day he is still the only man I've met in my life who took a week's vacation so he could work the parimutuel window at Delaware Park.
When I was a kid, I used to think dad was a popular guy. All these men would stop by the house every Saturday morning just to chat with dad.
It was left to my mother - who was not nearly as big a fan of the nags as my father - to burst that bubble.
"They want to know who likes at the track today," she would snicker.
Yes, dad was something of an accomplished handicapper. Although I think mom, in her weekly review of the family finances, might dispute that.
But the man did love the horses.
And not just the animals. Dad loved everything about 'horse people.'
If you've ever spent any time around the track, or around the horsey set, you know what I mean. They are just a different breed.
It was my father who first stunned me with his belief that any list of the greatest athletes in history must include the mighty Secretariat.
Of course, he was a bit biased.
But watch this video clip and you might end up agreeing.
I was thinking of Secretariat yesterday, the anniversary of the 1973 Belmont Stakes. Secretariat had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown, taking both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
But the Belmont, the longest of the three races and appropriately named "The Graveyard of Champions," always proves a true test. Maybe that's why no horse had done it since 1978.
And it's also why most experts were stunned when jockey Ron Turcotte quickly took him out on the lead. A lot of people thought the horse would never make it through the backstretch at that pace.
They didn't know Secretariat.
He won going away, 31 lengths in front of the field.
To my way of thinking, it's still the two best minutes in sports.
At any rate, with Father's Day looming next Sunday, this one is for my father.
I have no doubt he's manning the $2 window in heaven.
Comments