David vs. Goliaths

"48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground." (Samuel 17)

I'm not a bible quoter, but that is a good one for today as In Over My Head faces his toughest group of competitors ever in the American National. Here is the lineup of horses and their lifetime earnings in order:

If I Can Dream: $1,867,000
Annieswesterncard: $575,000
Straight Shooting: $440,000
Sheer Desire: $373,000
Doubletrouble: $218,000
Standupnkissme: $200,000
Nob Hill High: $169,000
My Boy Luke: $158,000
Smellthecolornine: $138,000
In Over My Head: $88,000

For once, at least on paper, Mo is in a race where his name says it all.

We knew going into this week that we were going to enter into the American National, but were not sure if we were going to make it in. Only the top 10 horses made it based on 2009 earnings. As it turned out, only one horse (Smellthecolornine) has lower earnings than we do. Regardless, we are extremely excited just to be in the race. Considering that fact that even the 10th place finisher gets 2% of the $265,000 purse, we have nothing to lose.

It was a text from Danny that let me know that Mo actually made it in the race. Laura and I were walking out of the Yak and Yetti restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom (post multiple rides on Exhibition Everest) when my phone buzzed: "Rail. Going for 265k" I was floored. Not only had we made it in the race, but we drew the best post position #1. We celebrated by going on the Safari ride.

Now before you go and stick a fork in In Over My Head before this race even starts, consider the following:

- We have the best post position, which allows Mo to save ground and race as efficiently as possible.
- We have actually beaten a number of the other horses in this race in the past
- We identified what happened in his last race and he is back to his normal self.

No matter what happens, tonight's race leads me to one more quote, this time not from the Bible, but from one of my favorite movies:

"...and most important, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game, if you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, i don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of this game, in my book, we’re gonna be winners!"

Do you know the movie? The one and only Hoosiers, one of the best ever David vs. Goliath stories ever captured on the big screen. The above quote is from Coach Norm Dale before little Hickory High took on a powerful Indianapolis school in the state finals. I think I can speak for our team in saying that all we want tonight is for In Over My Head to race his best race. Put out his best effort. If it isn't enough, so be it. He is still a good horse and we are happy to have him. However, just for the record, Hickory High won that game. I'm just saying, it isn't impossible.

Lastly, in case Mo reads this blog today when waiting in the stall, I want to give him a little motivation. There was a race back in February where he was up against a bunch that were better than him. He had post position #10. He went off at 85-1 odds, but when they crossed the wire, In Over My Head had finished 3rd. He proved he belonged that night. Maybe tonight he will remind us of that once again.