Tuesday, December 11, 2007

People Love War Horses

When Darryl Kaplan wrote this in his Letter to the North Pole, he was so right.

Remember in ’99 when you brought me Admirals Express? Any chance you have one more of those in your Santa bag? Once again, I’m looking for a lovable gelding with the courage of Ares and the strength of Thor, to delight fans year after year. Please work on it.


Fans want to see old, great horses race. They can identify with them. We know how difficult it is to keep a horse sound and happy to race in his advanced years. When he succeeds we cheer.

On the weekend, 9YO (almost 10!) Evening Attire won the Queen's County Handicap at AQU. The blogosphere and industry websites are buzzing. Steve Crist said "was there a racing fan with a heartbeat not rooting for Evening Attire to get up?"

There is tons of reaction on the page at equidaily.com. He sums up the reaction better than I can, so give it a look. In block letters he exclaims "Inspiring". The owners are respected. They turned down big money for him several years ago. They even retired him to give him a home, but he wanted to get back training. The story is a good one from start to finish.

I read the press as a morning ritual. Curlin, Street Sense, or any other horse for that matter did not have fans buzzing like this one. People love horses. And they love old horses who don't know how old they are. There is a little bit of every one of us in these animals. We don't want to grow old either.

For video of the "grand old man" beating the young pups, click right here. Be inspired.

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