Horses and Hats

When I was in fourth grade, I became horse crazy.  Every day I would draw horses--probably because it was the only thing I could draw very well. The white paper is now yellow, but I saved some of the work I did when in elementary school. I drew this picture when I was age 9. The above horse's name was Cuddles and Cream.

I drew this horse at the end of fourth grade when I was age 10. The paper has yellowed because this drawing is 55 years old!  It seems like it was just yesterday.

I had always loved animals and mostly read books about them: Bambi and Bambi's Children by Felix Salten, Black Beauty, Beautiful Joe ( about a dog who had his ears cut off by some mean person), but then I discovered the Black Stallion books by Walter Farley and that did it! I read all 12 of them while in 4th grade! I fell totally in love with Arabian horses and from that moment on I kept track of which horses won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.  I was overjoyed in sixth grade when my family got a TV because then I started watching all of the Triple Crown races on television.

If a human can have a horse for a hero, then I would have to say that Secretariat became my hero. I can still remember when Jim McKay on ABC's Wide World of Sports called the Belmont Stakes when Secretariat won by 31 lengths. No horse has ever won the Belmont with such a large margin of distance. Secretariat also set the world record in speed. Secretariat's record at the Belmont has never been broken. 

Above is Secretariat winning the Kentucky Derby in 1973.  He set a track record that has never been equalled. He ran the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 2/5 minutes.  He achieved the unheard-of feat called "Negative splitting" which means he ran each quarter mile segment faster than the one before it.  His successive quarter mile times were:  25 1/4, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5, and 23. He was accelerating faster and faster in each succeeding 1/4 mile and was still accelerating by the time he crossed the finish line--something that no horse had ever done. 
This black and white photo shows Secretariat  31 lengths ahead of the 2nd place horse in the Belmont in 1973.  Secretariat not only broke the margin-of-victory record , but he also ran the fastest 1 1/2 miles on dirt in history, at 2:24 flat. This works out to a speed of 37.5 mph for his entire performance.  Secretariat's world record still stands. 

(In fact , no other horse has even broken 2:25 for this same distance.)

This color photo shows just how far ahead Secretariat was from the rest of the horses when he won the Belmont.
Because many consider Secretariat to be the greatest race horse of all time and because his records at the Belmont Stakes have never been equalled, they erected this bronze statue in his honor by the entrance gate at Belmont Race Track.

Although I have always loved Secretariat's speed. I think Arabian horses have the most beautiful heads of any breed of horse.  Compare this black Arabian's head with Secretariat's. Just look at the small chiseled noses on these gorgeous horses.

Again, notice this grey Arabian's head and how it narrows at the nose.

Arabians' heads are so much more exquisite than those of quarter horses

 I always wanted my own black Arabian, just like the child pictured in this movie poster.

Aren't they stunning when they run?

Today, Mine That Bird, a long shot--a horse with 50-1 odds won the Kentucky Derby. In the whole 135 year history of the Derby, only one other horse has won with such big odds. 

Here's Mine That Bird crossing the finish line today.  I bet his owners are kicking themselves because he is a gelding. (This means he cannot sire any children.)

Randy always said the best part of baseball is "the game within the game." I loved having him explain "the game within the game" to me when we would be watching a baseball game on television. 

Well, part of the game within the game at the Derby is the unofficial contest the ladies have to see who can have the best hat.  Here are some of the ladies who were watching the Derby today. It must have been a lot warmer in Kentucky today than it was in Utah because most of the ladies are wearing sleeveless dresses. 

At least this one is made out of see-through material.

This one, shaped like a horse's head, gets the unofficial award for being the most creative.

All of these hats are so big, how can anyone see the horse race?