Skip to main content

A Savior Awaits

 They are using all the superlatives today.  His performance was breathtaking.  You don't see this very often.  This could be the horse of a lifetime.  

After Flightline won the Malibu Stakes opening day at Santa Anita, the pundits and old-timers, the youthful and the addicted gamblers, the occasional fan, and the newbie were all stunned by his performance.   It wasn't merely good, it was off the charts.  This horse has the potential to be beyond something special.

The veterans of the sport, who have seen it all before,  know it's way too early to get this excited.  Still, given the current state of affairs in this difficult, if not miserable world today, the possibility is there.  It's a good thing that Flightline's trainer, John Sadler, has handled horses of this caliber before.  That helps because patience with a capital P is often the key.



These days, when I watch a horse race, it's at home and by myself.  I often talk to myself.  That comes from years of watching races with my friends, racetrack buddies, or in a pressed box when I worked as a turf writer.  Yesterday, as Flightline took the lead and stretched out displaying that extra gear that the great ones have, I muttered, "He looks like Seattle Slew out there."


This morning when I went to check his pedigree, Surprise! (actually no surprise) Slew is his great grandfather.  

Could this be the one?  Could we be in the presence of another Seattle Slew, or Secretariat, or perhaps Seabiscuit?  The latter made his presence felt in the depths of the Great Depression,  We certainly need this kind of equine savior now.  Maybe this is how it works.  

So, in this time of predictions for the new year, barring any injury or unforeseen circumstance, we are looking at the prohibitive favorite for the 2022 Kentucky Derby? No! In a few days he’ll be  4 year-old, so he’s too old for the Triple Crown.  Maybe Flightline can do some Public Service Announcements urging people to wear a mask and quit complaining.  Get vaccinated and tested and realize once and for all that we are in the big middle of a full-tilt pandemic.  

Maybe we will all have something to bring us together throughout the coming year.  Stranger things have happened.  All maybes aside, we are surely going to have something to look forward to in the coming months.  A Savior awaits.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Quality of Optimism

 I've returned to The Book of Qualities, by J Ruth Gentler once again to meet the needs of one of the senior students in my little Writing From Memory class I'm currently teaching in my local community center.  This little volume personifies various concepts and personality traits.  The particular student "in need" seems to be fixated on writing about her past relationships.  Apparently, there were many.   I'm OK with that.  I only hope that she picks a few qualities that are as revealing about herself as those that might describe her Ex's.  There is much to be learned by writing about a quality.  The aforementioned book seems to have survived well over the years.  I first encountered it and its author way back in the late 1970s.  I took a journal writing workshop from her.  Then, a few years later, her book came out and I introduced these writing exercises to my students.  11th grade Juniors seemed to do the best with it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...
3 comments
Read more

Writing on the Wall

       The first time I saw graffiti that was memorable was in a middle school bathroom.  As 6th graders I often walked home with friends by the middle school we'd soon be attending.  A stop by the boys bathroom near the boys gym placed me face to face with a piece of graffiti that immediately madame and my friends laugh uncontrollably.  On the wall above the urinals, was penned a short poem that read"                     This is a Teepee to take a pee pee,                         Not a wigwam to beat your tom tom      14 year-old humor at it's best.  The laughter my friends and I experienced was cathartic.  Being bottom of the barrel Freshmen could have dire consequences in the boys bathroom.  Those unpleasantries would come later, but for the moment, we were ecstatic and proceeded to read all the g...
Post a Comment
Read more