We Did It

On Saturday night, In Over My Head reached a new milestone in his racing career. It wasn’t a new fastest time, a big win or anything along those lines. The new milestone for his career was that, once again, he HAS a career. For the first time in a long time, we know that Mo is still the horse that he once was. What we don’t know is how long that will last, but that’s OK. After seeing him flying home in the stretch on Saturday night, I think we can all say it was worth the wait.

It was a long wait. We had 20 months to ponder what that first race back would be like. What would we feel like the week before? The morning of the race? When we arrive at the track? Right before the race? I can’t speak for others involved, but it was by far the most nervous I’ve ever been before a horse race. More on that later. The day itself was great. Danny, Kacy, Laura and I drove down from Madison to Chicago and stopped to pick up Laura’s grandparents on the way, which was very special given the fact they really enjoy horse racing, but haven’t been to the track in 8 years. We got dinner up in the clubhouse and bet some races. It wasn’t until Tyler took Mo out for his first warmup that it really set in…it was almost race time.

The next 30 minutes or so were just so tense. Thinking back at it now actually makes me laugh. It isn’t life or death, it just a horse race! Sometimes I wonder why we get so worked up, but I think it is just because for better or for worse, we are emotionally invested. We have a small stable, so each race is magnified somewhat. This is something that has been in our family for many years, so there is a desire to continue the success. And lastly, Mo is just special. He’s like a member of the family. I know that is violating rule #1 of horse ownership, but who cares. We’re all in with Mo and I think a lot of the tension simply came from a general concern for him. He LOVES to race and while he was finally back to the track, the whole thing remained very fragile. Anyway, with the exception of Danny making a practice sprint to the winner’s circle, I can’t think of a time when we really laughed, which for us is VERY abnormal. As the minutes to post ticked down, all we could do was look on and hope. It was just Marcus and Mo out on the track. And when the announcer said “the starter calls the field” everything kind of went blank.

Looking back, our group was a disjointed mess to watch the race. We had Laura inside with her Grandparents so they could sit down (but positioned close to the winners circle just in case), Danny was on the phone with Greg because he couldn’t make it down, Kacy and I were on the rail for awhile, but then I started to wander around on the apron because there was just no way to stand still. The horses came to the starting line and off they went. The plan was to watch the race from outside, but look in at the TV’s through the window so we could see better given the fact it is hard to see the backstretch on a mile track. The first real cohesive thought I remember having was that I didn’t need to look at the TV’s because Marcus’s bright pink race bike sticks out so much I could see exactly where Mo was the whole time! The second thought was when they announced the opening quarter of 28.4, which was a bad sign. The pace was slow and our best chance was for the leaders to beat themselves up a bit so it would set up for a closer. From there, it was rather uneventful until the field turned for home. That was when we would find out if New Mo was going to resemble Old Mo.

Many horses have certain traits that show up in every race and In Over My Head is no different. When he turns for home and he’s raring to go, he’ll have his head cranked to the inside almost as if he’s sizing up who is in front of him and who he has to get past before the finish line. The second trait is when he digs in the stretch he gets his head going side to side as if he’s getting every single last bit of push from each step. Generally speaking, when those traits show up after a long lay-off, that is a good sign. From my viewing spot halfway down the stretch it was becoming apparent that New Mo was looking pretty similar to another Mo that I know. The last thing he did, and what really separated him from his competition, was his ability to find another gear in that last eight of a mile. I’ve always said, that’s where he makes his money. Unfortunately, he was just too far off the lead going into the stretch on Saturday, but he made up a ton of ground in that last eight of a mile. I don’t have any scientific formula to prove this out, but I have a feeling if the race was longer, Mo would have caught them all. In the end, he finished 7th, but was just 3+ lengths from the winner. His 26.2 last quarter was the fastest of anyone in the race and as Danny pointed out, it was the second fastest in his career. Not bad for a first time back after 20 months. Old Mo, meet New Mo…I think you two have a lot in common.

The feeling after the race wasn’t exuberance; I mean it isn’t like he won. However, after Marcus turned him and was headed back to the barn, he let us know Mo was feeling good and wasn’t favoring his bad leg at all. He was more or less totally sound. That’s when we became all smiles. There was a feeling of relief given the fact he raced well, finished huge and came out healthy. There was also a feeling of accomplishment that we got him to where he is today. The running joke was that we were the happiest bunch after a 7th place finish in a mid level conditioned race in the history of Balmoral Park racetrack. I guess that’s what happens after fighting so hard to make it back. We all deserved to smile a little bit.

We all met up at Mo’s stall after Penny gave him his post race bath and he was back to his old ways pretty quick. Usually the only time you get to see Mo calm is after a race when he’s worn out, but that wasn’t really the case on Saturday. He was ready to show his fans that he is still boss and if you don’t believe that, he’ll give you a nice bite mark to make sure you remember. Luckily we were quick enough to avoid his playful attacks.

So what happens next? Well, we don’t really know for sure. We are still looking at this thing on a week to week basis. Next week, we will enter him back into the same race. What we do know is that we did it. We saved Mo’s career and I can’t overstate how awesome that is. After all this time and all this effort by so many people, In Over My Head is back doing what he loves: racing. And we are doing what we love: watching him race. He’s a special case and I can’t totally explain why. He just matters to a lot of different people. Everyone who has helped along the way is responsible for getting him back to the track. We are like one team now. Team In Over My Head, which may be the goofiest team name in the history of team names. That’s OK, this whole story is goofy and as I finish this entry, it is kind of hard be believe that I’m still writing. This should have been over about 3 or 4 times already, but round and round we continue to go…where it stops, nobody knows. We’ll all just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Let’s go Mo!