(Mo starts in post position #3. From there he falls into 5th place for the first half of the race. His driver, Marcus Miller, has a bright pink race bike that will help you follow him throughout the race)
That may say enough, but I’ll keep going anyway.
When explaining our horse racing adventures to other people I often like to use analogies. They seem to do the best job driving home what just happened and what it means to us. Sports analogies are usually the easiest comparisons to make. For this most recent win, I was really struggling to find the right one. Take a second to think about it: name a player that achieved some wonderful things, only go to away for awhile, then to come back and rekindle the flame of his former self. From there, find the moment when the player you followed for so long did something that reminded you that he still has it. It happens so rarely that when it does, it literally gives fans goosebumps.
My first thought was Michael Jordan. While his return hit some speed bumps (the non Jordan-like days when he was wearing #45) before finding those ‘wow’ moments again, his circumstances for leaving were just too different. It didn’t seem to fit our story.
What about Brett Favre? The old gunslinger had quite a run with us Wisconsin folks and certainly rekindled the old flame in…gasp…Minnesota! No, that won’t do at all. That would be like In Over My Head coming back and getting a win with a new owner, trainer, driver, etc. That is a disgusting thought.
Back to a basketball analogy, this clip kind of captures it. Great player dealing with injury, with an emotional comeback for an incredibly loyal fan base. Try this on for size:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQpWgcUaeh4
As cool as that little clip was, it really didn’t do. Bird was only knocked out for part of a game. It just didn’t fit.
So, to finally find a way to how to share our latest Mo story, inspiration was found in…a horse story. Some of you may be thinking, how can you use a horse story to describe a horse story? Well, the reason is this horse is known by millions of people (no offense to In Over My Head and the 25 readers of this blog). To be honest, I thought I knew the story of this particular horse very well from reading a book and watching a movie about him numerous times. However, when I came across this clip, it literally gave me chills. I had missed a very important detail that wasn’t really described in the book or the movie…specifically the type of injury this famous horse had suffered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OErHcm5QWsI
There is another interesting detail about Seabiscuit’s comeback that isn’t talked about in that clip. While it was well known that the focus of his comeback attempt was to try and win the ‘Hundred Grander’, it took awhile for him to get back to his old form. It wasn’t until his third race back that he again found the winner’s circle. Which brings us back to last Saturday night…..
A lot was riding on In Over My Head’s race last Saturday. The draw came out on Wednesday, which is the usual time to start the pre race chatter. After one look at the field, all of us independently came to the same conclusion. It didn’t matter who he was facing. If he was in fact going to get back to his old self, he would have to beat this field. That’s all there was to it.
As luck would have it, our standard crew of Danny, Kacy, Laura, her Grandparents and myself were joined by Laura’s parents. There were numerous ‘signs’ this week we all had noticed that tipped us off we could be in for a special night, but the Michalski luck was a very late addition. Not that I’m a big believer in luck, but I’m just going to state facts: The first race that Laura ever attended was when Mo won down in Springfield. Her brother Ryan and his wife Jamie’s first trip to the races was the Windy City Pace. So, with another set of Michalski’s in tow you would think it would add to the confidence level. I can’t speak for anyone else, but all it did was make me more nervous.
Since Mo did all the talking in the first part of the entry, there is no reason to describe the race. The only real important thing to note is the trip he had. As I’m sure you noticed, In Over My Head was the first horse to come off the rail and start the outer flow. In racing that’s called going ‘first over’ and is certainly a more challenging route for a horse to take. As the race played out on Saturday, Marcus didn’t really have much of a choice. Had he stayed on the rail, they would have gotten shuffled back and had no chance to win. To make matters worse, there was a 20 mph headwind in the stretch that Marcus and Mo would drive right into the teeth of. While Greg was down in Beloit watching the race on TV, Danny was hanging by the building outside Balmoral watching both live action and the TV feed and I was wandering aimlessly around on the apron we all had the same thought when Mo came first up: this is it. After all this time we are about to find out how good he is. As he charged down the stretch Mo left little doubt. He’s as good as ever.
When Mo crossed that finish line first, it was as if a dam broke that had been holding back 21 months of emotions. Right after he got hurt, we all would theorize how we would act when he got his first post injury victory. Then he started to hit some setbacks...and then those setbacks got progressively worse. A few times we highly doubted that he would ever race again much less win again. The formerly fun ‘how would we act’ discussion faded away. What was the point? Things were so bleak that thoughts of a future win was just a depressing exercise in unreachable hopes and dreams. However, we didn’t give up. We kept trying to find a way and gave Mo the time he needed to do it. When he finally won again on Saturday night, the winner circle was probably even a little more emotional than the night of his biggest career achievement (winning the Windy City Pace). After all, this win had been nearly 2 years in the making.
But why? Why so much emotion for a simple horse race? I don’t even get it myself sometimes. However, the question was probably answered best by someone else after we went back to see Mo in the barn post race. Danny and I were just hanging out with him, petting him, discussing the race, asking him why he didn’t win by a larger distance and Andria (Laura’s Mom) said it was like he was one of our kids. In the Seabiscuit clip, they talked about how owner Charles Howard took Seabiscuit back to his place for a nice long rest after his injury. Greg did the same thing. He took care of Mo every day when he was recovering. The same can be said for Penny and Tyler and everyone else who has been involved for these many months. The fact is, he is a kid to all of us, which aptly explains the connection.
The 3 hour dive back to Madison had to be one of the most enjoyable in memory. Danny and I talked endlessly about the race and came to the realization that Marcus Miller, who has driven Mo off and on since he was 2 years old, is an incredible 5 for 8 with him. Of the three non wins, one was his first lifetime start, one was his first start back off a 20+ month layoff and the other was when Mo got hit in the face with a whip (not Marcus’s) and made a break! That just doesn’t happen. We got to talk to Greg on the phone for another fun retelling of the race. It seems like the drive home went by in 3 minutes instead of 3 hours.
In order to properly appreciate the comparison I made above, I must state the obvious: In Over My Head is not Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit is widely regarded as one of the greatest race horses of all times. He broke numerous records over his career and had a movie made after him for God’s sake! The reason that the comparison rings perfectly true is that In Over My Head is OUR Seabiscuit. When I say our, I mean everyone that is invested in him. He matters to so many people and it was yet again evident after the win last night. While we don’t have a focused plan to being Mo back to a big stakes race that is equivalent of the Santa Anita Derby, we do hope that this is just the start. If he stays sound, he’ll make his way back out east eventually start taking on some of the toughest horses out there. Horses he used to beat. I realize this comeback remains very fragile and you never want to get too boastful after one good experience, but there is has to be more to come. I can’t say how it will pan out, or what the final time line will look like, but it certainly feels like the story of In Over My Head has another peak to it. Another chance for him to line up against the best and, likely at long odds, make them all taste defeat. Defeat from a horse that probably shouldn’t be there anyway, but made it back because he is surrounded by so many people that care about him. I think he realizes that and wants to pay us back with exciting races. Either way, we are all in it together until the end…an end we all hope is still a long ways away.
I usually end entries with ‘Let’s Go Mo!’ but after that win on Saturday, on behalf of all of us, we’d like to say thanks Mo. Thanks for continuing to battle through injuries and give us memories we will not soon forget. Now if we could only get you a computer that is compatible with hooves, you can maybe start to read your own blog…
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