O My God…I Think He Just Won It!

Sometimes life seems very predictable. You go through your day to day grind, almost able to guess what might happen next. Once in awhile, however, something will happen that will simply knock you off your feet. Something completely unpredictable. An event that you’ve thought about endless times and have analyzed over and over again takes a turn down a path you didn’t even know was there. That is what happened Friday night at Maywood Park in Chicago.

Last Saturday, Danny, Kacy, Laura and I drove down to Balmoral Park for the American Nationals. The night was a lot of fun. We had a good dinner together, spent some time with In Over My Head along with Tyler and Penny. He raced well, but finished 8th. He just got beat by a group of horses that were better than him. It was an all star bunch that we have no shame in not being able to beat. So, when we followed up our trip with a caravan down to Maywood Park in Chicago for the Windy City Pace our expectations were understandably similar. Our group had grown by four as we added Greg, Kirk, Ryan and Jamie. One of the great things about racing is that it is often a good reason to get together with friends and family. Regardless of how the race finishes up, you can still at least have some fun. With a complementary buffet for all of us and a good night of racing in front of us, we were all excited.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but to be honest, I didn’t have very high hopes coming into the race. I just looked at the field, spend time all week trying to figure out how the race flow would go (this included using little slips of paper with the horses names on them and moving them around on my desk at work trying to mimic possible race scenarios…good thing my boss didn’t walk in). Unfortunately, each iteration of paper moving led to a scenario in which In Over My Head was shuffled back and stuck a long way from the front going into the stretch. I talked to Greg Friday morning and asked what his honest opinion was. He was thinking what I was: we would need a stroke of luck in terms of race flow to put us in position to finish better than 5th. Having that said, even a strong 5th would be OK. It would move Mo’s earnings to nearly $100,000 on the year and we could be very proud of what he accomplished going into some time off.

We headed down in a couple of different cars and right when Kirk, Laura and I left Madison, Danny gave us a call. Greg has picked up a program down at the OTB in Beloit and it revealed that even the 6th, 7th and 8th place finishers would receive a $4,500 check. Thinking back to those slips of paper and considering that If I Can Dream, Sheer Desire, Annieswesterncard and Standupnkissme were all in the race, a guaranteed payday felt pretty good. When we arrived at the track, we were more worried about not getting there in time to get the free long sleeve t-shirt that were given to the first 1500 fans.

When we walked in, we quickly realized how big of a deal the Windy City Pace is. With a total purse of $225,000 It is the richest event raced at Maywood Park each year. For owners in the Illinois area (including us in Wisconsin) it is kind of our Rose Bowl. It is not on the level of a national championship (that would be the North American Cup, the Meadowlands Pace, the Little Brown Jug), but racing in the Windy City is something you dream about. We were welcomed warmly by track employees and given a number of trinkets and treasures…including our t-shirts, which Kirk was very excited about.

Like always, the few hours before a big race are kind of a blur. We enjoyed the buffet. We bet some horses and told some jokes. One thing that stuck out to me that night was the incredibly positive attitude of Laura. She kept looking at the winner circle and saying ‘that’s where we will be going.’ It was a little strange how upbeat she was about winning despite out long odds. It was almost as if she was sensing something good was on the horizon. I didn’t sense it and almost wanted to tell her we really didn’t have any shot at that. I didn’t want her to be disappointed. Before we knew it our warm up professional Danny headed out to get Mo loose. It is always cool to see Danny out there warming him up. Each ownership group received a badge they could wear around with their horse’s name on it. We all proudly displayed our ‘In Over My Head’ badges. We were the long shot, but we didn’t care. We were all happy to be there and loved our horse no matter what. When I was standing up watching Danny warm Mo up, I looked over at the table next to us and it was the ownership group for Sheer Desire. He was one of the favorites that night and remember thinking “someday we’ll have a favorite in a race like this.”

We were in the 7th race and right before the 6th race I got a text from my friend Rob Cook that he was not going to be able to make it out to the track. Rob knows racing and has been involved in virtually all of my horse partnerships before Mo. Despite the fact he couldn’t make it, he wanted me to bet $15 across on In Over My Head. Quite aggressive and given the fact I had been donating to the purse account all night through lost bets, I was a little bit short on cash so he only got $10 across. It would be a losing bet anyway, I thought, but appreciated his confidence.

After the 6th race, the vice in my stomach made an aggressive tightening motion and I made my way out to the second story viewing area outside the clubhouse. We had watched many races from that perch. Some good, many not so good. We all watched Arizona Attack provide us with our first ever win as owners nearly 6 years prior from there. I had watched In Over My Head make two breaks from that spot (once at 2 years old and once at 3). We saw Greg’s horse, Carey’s Royalflush, just miss a check by finishing 6th in the 2002 Windy City Pace. More bad than good. We all knew that all you really needed was that one good race to take away the bad memories and maybe it was our time. The mood was rather tense right before the race, but we really all agreed on one thing. We wanted In Over My Head to have one more good race. It was his last chance in 2009. It had been an incredible year, but we wanted him to go out strong. To us, strong meant that he races up to his potential. If that equated to a 5th place finish, so be it.

As the horses approached the start and our collective hearts were pounding, things good off to a rather good start. Dale Hiteman wisely got In Over My Head off the gate well and out in front of the #1 horse who was a little sluggish. My Boy Luke gunned out of the #4 post and coming out of the first turn, we were sitting third behind Sheer Desire and My Boy Luke. The class of the race, If I Can Dream, was on the move and grinded toward the front. As the horses rounded the 2nd of 4 turns and moved toward the half mile mark, he had nearly made the front. Standupnkissme followed him 2nd over and Annieswesterncard was 3rd over. Our prognostication was unfortunately coming true. Locked in 3rd on the rail, we were in the process of being shuffled to the back of the pack.

Race luck. That intangible thing that Greg and I both agreed we were in dire need of began to materialize as the horses entered the 3rd turn. The 2nd over horse, Standupnkissme, began to tire and fade. Suddenly, instead of being locked on the rail, we had the opportunity to move to the outside. Hiteman decided that it wasn’t time yet. He waited. Annieswesterncard tipped 3 wide to move around Standupnkissme and before we knew it, he was even with us. As he paced past us on the outside we all knew something incredible was happening. After taking the easy path on the rail the entire race thus far, we were about to get the opportunity to tip outside and follow Annieswesterncard. As Hiteman tipped Mo to the outside, we were in the top five. As long as we kept up, we were looking at something more than a consolation prize. Mo hesitated for a second before quickly closing the gap between him and Annieswesterncard. He looked alive. The race was on.

In Over My Head followed his live cover around the final turn and as they turned for home, Dale tipped Mo to the outside of Annieswesterncard and it was then we knew our horse was loaded with pace. The two horses in the front, If I Can Dream and Sheer Desire, can literally be considered two of the best horses in the country. Could we reach them? At this point it didn’t matter. A 3rd place finish suddenly seemed like a very real possibility. In Over My Head wanted more. If he were to ever answer a personal add, I think he would say he enjoys carrots, longs walks in the pasture and passing horses in the stretch. He is all heart and that speed burst that we knew he had began to materalize. The two previous races he didn’t fire in the stretch, but he was sick/ still recovering. This night, our old horse was back and our old horse doesn’t take too kindly to other horses crossing the finish line before he does. He found another gear and as he ate up race track on the outside and flew at the leaders like a horse literally shot out of a cannon everything started to blur. Was this actually happening? The pounding of hoofs reached their peak as field buzzed past us. Sheer Desire on the inside, If I Can Dream in the middle and one horse who belonged in the back of the pack inexplicably flying at them on the outside. Our angle wasn’t the best as they hit the wire. I couldn’t tell for sure what happened at the end, but I remember someone say, “O my God, I think he just won it!” The announcer said it was too close to call. Photo finish.

We sprinted down the stairs toward the winner circle hoping that the impossible just happened. Kirk thought we won it. Greg asked the race secretary who was standing at the wire and he thought it was #2 (Sheer Desire). Danny was the only one who had enough sense at the time to run inside and watch the replay on a TV screen. I was trying to find a TV screen in the winner circle booth but didn’t see one. “Is there is a TV in there…we need a TV!” I remember Greg saying as he was trying to get someone’s attention in the booth. By chance, I ran into (almost literally) someone from the Sheer Desire group. I asked him who he thought won and he didn’t know. I said that if he won and we took 2nd I’d be happy (which was a very honest statement since we hadn’t even dreamed of 2nd place). Just then Danny came storming out of the building. “We had to win…I saw it…we had to have won it!” Almost at the exact time those words left his mouth the track announce came over the loud speaker, “It’s official…” I don’t remember him saying the words ‘In Over My Head’, but looked up at the board in the infield and saw the final order. The number ‘3’ shined brightly on the board next to ‘1st”. In Over My Head had just won the Windy City Pace. Our group…who just minutes earlier all steadfastly agreed that a good 5th place finish would be a happy ending, stormed into the winner circle.

I think it was Vince Lombardi who would tell his players that when they scored a touchdown, they should act like they had been there before. We, on the other hand, weren’t quite as poised. Danny took off down the track to meet In Over My Head, Dale, Tyler and Penny. Mo was led into the winners circle and we all posed for the picture as we thanked Dale over and over for the incredible drive. Some nice gentleman handed me a trophy. All of our heads were spinning like we just walked off the Tilt A Whirl. I think there was a second picture with a somewhat different group of people and then Tom Kelly, the PR director for the track, came walking in to do the driver interview. I remember turning to Danny and saying ‘what are we doing here?’ We all laughed. It was truly surreal. Then I noticed that the track owner, John Johnson was motioning to Tom to interview the owners after he was done with Dale. O, no. Ever since the end of the race, I was fighting back tears…it was such an emotional moment. I figured that Greg would do the talking, but he pushed the mic in my direction. Somehow I managed to say something at least marginally intelligent and remembered to thank both Hiteman and the Butenschoens’ at the end. Whew. Meltdown avoided.

The generosity of Mr. Johnson was really memorable as he invited all of us up to the track owner’s suite for complimentary Champaign. He seemed really happy for us and it meant a lot. On the way up to the suite, I called my Mom and Dad. It wasn’t really much of a conversation as I got the words ‘Dad…he won’ out and from there I was pretty much choked up. Once we got our hands on the Champaign, the reality began to set in somewhat. We were all making phone calls (Greg’s wife Becky, Grandma along with a bunch of friends and followers of racing in general) and enjoying the moment. It was a special toast even though I don’t remember what the toast was. Our entire group, Greg, Danny, Kacy, Laura, Kirk, Ryan, Jamie and I clinked our glasses and took a drink in honor of In Over My Head who had just delivered the most improbable victory.

Back in the barn afterward, we got to share in the excitement with Tyler, Penny and of course In Over My Head. He was a gracious host, letting us take him in and out of the stall for pictures. Different people were petting him and he seemed to know that he had just accomplished something great. He was a wonderful horse to be around. Then came the decision as to how to end the night. Do we drive back to Wisconsin as we originally expected or do hit the town? Funny thing was, earlier in the night Greg had said that if something crazy happens and we won, we’d head downtown and get some drinks in the Signature Room atop the Hancock Building. After thinking about it for about a minute, we all voted on the Signature Room.

We made the right decision. Sitting in that lounge, we basically just replayed the night’s events over and over again. Kirk had to drive back home, but Rob joined us to celebrate. Danny shared an almost eerie story about a guy he ran into outside the track when they first arrived. The stranger asked him who he liked that night. Danny said the guy was kind of rough looking and he wasn’t too sure if he was going to just share some idle chit chat or ask him for money, but Danny told him about In Over My Head being in the Windy City Pace. He asked who the driver was and Danny said Dale Hiteman. The stranger looked Danny dead in the eye and told him that our horse was going to win. He said Dale would find a way. Danny thought it was a little strange, but just blew it off. However, as Danny walked out of the winner circle after the race, the same stranger was standing there looking at him. He congratulated Danny, shook his hand and then disappeared into the crowd. Was it a coincidence or was someone watching over for us that night? You believe whatever you want, but the story makes the hair on my arms stand up. We lasted until about 2:30 before the excitement wore us down and it was time to call it a day. We cabbed back to the Embassy Suites (thanks for setting that up Ryan) and fell asleep as visions of horse races danced in our heads. It was a night to remember.

I was originally going to write this yesterday, the day after the race, but decided to wait. The story needed a little more time to season. Having that said, it still doesn’t seem possible. It really was a David vs. Goliath story like I wrote about a couple of posts ago. Two owners who own just one racehorse (and young Seanie), taking on some of the largest owners in the country with huge stables of all stars. A driver who some might think has his best days behind him in a race against two guys (Tim Tetrick and Dave Palone) who came in just for a couple of races that night to beat the locals with superior animals. The training group really wasn’t that big of a long shot. The Butenschoen’s have had their fair share of big wins, but they don’t carry a stable the size of the largest trainers. And, most importantly, a horse with a cinema quality name who, luckily for us, didn’t care that he was a 55-1 long shot. We could honestly race horses for another 50 years and never have anything like this happen again. It wasn’t supposed to happen. It didn’t make sense. As In Over My Head sling-shotted out of the final turn and accelerated like he hit some kind of hidden turbo boost, he took us all down a path that we didn’t know was even there. And as we traverse down it together there is only one thing I can say with any certainty. None of us will forget it as long as we live. We let it fly and now it feels like we are floating in the clouds.