View From A Broad
May 20, 2007
Loving/Not Loving: The Proof is in the Stats
I've often clenched and unclenched my fists, as I've listened to several horsemen over the years proclaim that "…ya can't fall in love with yer horse" in this Sport. I hate to say that it's usually been male people who believe this, but frankly, I can recall only one woman who said that to me in the last six years. (Certainly, not all men in racing think this way!)
As you may realize by now, I'm not a Broad who's very good at holding my tongue. I'm uncensored, a trait which has gotten me into trouble on many occasions, but which has also cleared the air of a lot of stench and idiocy from time to time.
Let's deconstruct this phrase, which sends me 'round the bend every time it's uttered. We in Thoroughbred racing, whatever our roles, are in this Sport precisely because we are blessed to spend time around the world's most magnificent animals. Thoroughbred horses are, hands-down, the most beautiful, elegant, perfectly-muscled and graceful living beings on the planet.
Add to this the fact that they're sentient beings: every Thoroughbred is capable of understanding; communicating; giving and receiving love; and expressing themselves. For these reasons, we in most enlightened cultures consider them to be domesticated, that is, as close to our hearts and lives as our own family members. (In some cases, far more endeared than many family members!)
Thoroughbreds inspire love. We love them, even from afar. We're thrilled to see them race: even the most-hardened trackrat screams like the Banshee when a beloved Thoroughbred tears down the stretch. We crave their company, even if we don't own them: for some, watching the races from the rail is as close as they get. And yet, even from that aesthetic distance, the love is obvious.
So why, then, would it make sense to state that someone who actually owns a Thoroughbred should hold their heart at bay, and not become emotionally involved with these much-beloved beings? How can you love a horse when you're a fan, but lose the love when you become an owner?
The relationship between women and horses is documented, observable and obvious. We've always known that "horse whispering" isn't a trick, or a gift with which only a few are endowed. Anyone who tries to feel a horse, emotionally, can "whisper." Women understand the need of living beings to give and receive love: it's as natural as falling off a log for us. The majority of men in this Sport understand that, too: I can think of scores of them, off the top of my head.
But there are those few who, for whatever reason, work in the Sport and yet still think of horses as being merely livestock. As goes the old saying, "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting."
The proof in our Sport is in the statistics.
Oh, the stats! So many to learn, to memorize, to quote and sound smart. A great way to either impress wildly or bore to tears, is to start quoting horse racing stats. But there's one very simple statistic, completely devoid of fractions, hundredths and pomp: the statistic that the last four Kentucky Derby winners were bred, raised and raced by the same connections.
Yes, it's true: Smarty Jones (2004); Giacomo (2005); Barbaro (2006) and Street Sense (2007) all enjoyed a life of being bred, owned and raced by the same humans, and each one saw victory on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.
Think about this. It would be very easy for racing statisticians to dismiss this simple fact (pointed out by Tom Pearson of Oak Park, Illinois, in his recent Thoroughbred Times Letter to the Editor). This number may not mean anything to the statistics mongers, for whom this beautiful Sport is so easily reduced to figures and black ink.
But, as real statisticians know: one occurrence of an incident is isolated. Two is a heads-up: this may be something beyond a "mere coincidence." And three occurrences of the same incident is confirmation of something major. A trend, a Truth.
So what does this say about four incidents, four years in a row? Is it freaky-deaky? Scary? Just plain weird?
No. It says, in spades, that this is no "mere coincidence." In our case, it establishes that Thoroughbreds who are bred, raised and raced by the same connections are somehow in the position to win major races, such as the Kentucky Derby.
These horses didn't change hands a hundred times, like so many bottles of cheap wine. They knew and recognized the hands who foaled and fed them. They lived a relatively settled life, and were not shipped from sale to sale in search of the highest bidder. They had a sense of connection, of family.
They felt…loved.
While not all Thoroughbred owners are head-over-heels in love with their steeds, many of them (such as the four Champions' connections) at least recognize the value of breeding a horse; keeping the horse; racing the horse and giving that horse everything it needs during the process, including a sense of the familiar.
So when, in the future, I hear that old saw, that "…ya can't fall in love with yer horses" I will continue to cringe. But I will know the victory of bragging rights because, clearly—the old saw is just not true. The very real, very documentable, capital-T Truth is that, yes, Virginia, horses with a sense of belonging do, indeed, win major stakes races such as the Kentucky Derby.
And maybe—just maybe—someday, the feminine ability to love absolutely and utterly every being in our lives (including Thoroughbreds) will catch on, and bear much fruit. Men certainly have access to this wisdom, as well—as four home-bred and home-nurtured Kentucky Derby winners in a row will testify.
Here's to the collective wisdom of those good people, women and men alike, who can teach so much to their peers. Breeding and racing horses should not be as simple as changing shoes in the afternoon. We're not making and racing cars here, we're dealing with living, breathing, feeling beings. Giving of ourselves can only improve the Sport, even though we're opening ourselves up to pain beyond comprehension. Yeah, when it hurts, it hurts like crazy. (As Barbaro's owners know, too well.) But the joy far outweighs the pain, and that level of joy can only come from sharing victory with a Thoroughbred who knows the safety and peace of a real relationship with her or his connections.
Hence, the word, "connection." To not allow ourselves to become emotionally attached to the horses in our care would be to shoot ourselves in the foot, or, more appropriately—the heart. Not only do we lose in the long run, but our lack of connection ripples out to the horses themselves, and, ultimately, the Sport.
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