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God Bless America
By Jerry L. Ginther
When I was in grade school, I was a big fan of Walter Farley, author of The Black Stallion series. I read them all. Anytime a book report was required, one of Mr. Farley's books was the adventure of choice so I wasn't at all surprised when I learned recently that he was actually writing to my age group. However, when I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher suggested, after I submitted two of those reports back to back, that my coverage on the topic was sufficient for that year. She further advised that it was in my best interest to read other authors. It was about that time that I realized it wasn't merely a suggestion.
In the vast majority of his books a young lad named Alec Ramsey was the protagonist leading an exciting life with these amazing racehorses, on and off the track. In any one of those books, I could be Alec riding the famous Black or any of the other horses he rode across the finish line. What an adventurous life! There was even a book about a colt of the Black's becoming a harness racehorse. Actually, that story was the one that touched my life where I was at the time because I could see harness racehorses training nearly every day.
During my preteen years, and for a few more, I lived close to a training stable for harness racehorses, Roxborough Farms. Saturdays during the school year and many weekdays during the summer would find me at the stable watching the workouts being timed by stopwatches. Based on their times, decisions were made concerning which horses would go to various race tracks and which ones needed more work before going anywhere. I learned what was a fast time for a half-mile and a mile. I knew the names of every horse in the barn and kept up with their training progress. I had learned the "trade language" from being at the training track so often that I could place myself in the excitement of the stories in the books.
The big race on the harness circuit was the Hambletonian Trot, which was held at the fair grounds in Duquoin, Ill. from 1957 to 1980, before being moved to the Meadowlands in New Jersey. I never attended that race, but in my mind it was the equivalent of the Kentucky Derby. I had read about it but knew it was too far away for me to go on my bicycle. The only place I had ever actually seen a harness race, or a horse race of any kind for that matter, was the Coles County Fairgrounds in Charleston, Ill. I was probably 12 years old at the time and observed my first race from the fence on the far side of the track from the grandstand. It was exciting! I can still remember the thunderous sound of so many horses in full stride racing by so close to that fence.
Now, come the big races that we are all familiar with, The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness, and The Belmont Stakes. Louisville, Ky. is the host of the first race of the Triple Crown. The track, Churchill Downs, is mentioned in Walter's books and held a special attraction for me. As a boy, that seemed to be the place to go for adventure and excitement or maybe a chance at being a jockey. Obviously, I didn't realize at the time that the jockeys in the books, or in real life for that matter, probably didn't start their riding careers in the Kentucky Derby. I figured that if I showed up and demonstrated my ability to ride, I could be another Alec. Oh, the bliss of youth and ignorance!
Now, all of the Triple Crown races have been run for the year. After Nyquist, won the Kentucky Derby, everyone was anxious to see if we would have two consecutive years with a Triple Crown winner, but it was not to be. Nyquist was unable able to pull off another win in the Preakness, and the winner of that race was Exaggerator. Some of the enthusiasm died with Nyquist's failure to win the Preakness but still there was the possibility that Exaggerator could win at least two. However, at the top of the stretch, Kent Desormeaux had a horse with nothing left in the tank. Exaggerator finished 11th in a 13-horse field in the Belmont Stakes. So, we finished three different races with three different winners. Of course, that happens more often than we have a Triple Crown winner.
Copyright © 2002 - 2016 Jerry Ginther, All rights reserved worldwide
