In every good story there is a hero and a villain. At times, it can be obvious what character is playing each role (think Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader). Other times it can really just be a matter of perspective. One of my all time favorite movies is Hoosiers. In the movie, the Hickory High team is clearly the hero, but does that make their opponent in the state finals the villain? Do we have any idea if that Indianapolis team exhibited any ‘villain’ tendencies other than just being a good basketball team? No viewer of Hoosiers probably has any idea, but it worked well for that particular movie. Other times, the same characters can be both a hero and villain. Mobster movies are often like that.
All of this kind of dovetails into our story from last Saturday night’s race. From our perspective, the breakdown was simple: In Over My Head is the hero. Firstclassalltheway is the villain. In classic movie fashion, the hero disposed of the villain. This week, I’ll let Mo go ahead and tell the story for you (he is post position #6):
(June 16th, race #2)
http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R
(Before I go any further, I need to make an important point of clarification. I’ve never met Firstclassalltheway, his trainer or owners. I couldn’t pick them out of a 3 person lineup. For all I know, they might be the nicest folks in the world. However, because storytelling sometime forces the writer to take liberties that are not always 100% vetted out, I’m going to paint their horse as the ‘villain’ even though that might be the farthest thing from reality.)
Like many well known movies, the story has to first build up the villain and make him or her appear almost unbeatable. Often times, the villain will actually beat the hero to make it known they are king of the hill. While they boast from their new perch, the hero works to better himself before returning for another fight. That happened in March when Firstclassalltheway ran off on Mo. Not only did Mo not catch him, he limped his way out of the race and was out for six weeks. Then, on Saturday, Mo made Firstclass look like he belonged in coach. Since it’s fun to compare Mo’s story to well known movies, here are some of my favorite that line up pretty well:
- Rocky III – The movie actually opens with Rocky (gasp!) LOSING. Clubber Lane (played perfectly by a younger Mr. T) beats the snot out of Rocky, taking his title and sending him into retirement. Rocky later seeks redemption by taking Clubbers best punch (telling him ‘you ain’t so bad’ during the match…I think Mo might have said that to Firstclass when he went past him in the stretch) and then sending him to the canvas to regain his title.
- Karate Kid – If anyone who reads this blog hasn’t seen Karate Kid, stop reading and go rent it immediately. Despite the fact the movie has some age to it (was released in 1984), the movie still translates well to current generations (unlike Wayne’s World…that was on the other night…horrible). Some great life lessons can be found in that movie by listening carefully to the sage words of Mr. Miagi. Anyway, the evil Cobra Kai team roughs up Danny LaRusso multiple times throughout the early and middle parts of the movie. As you might expect, he gets the ultimate revenge by disposing of them one by one at the big Southern California karate championship. During an especially intense match in the semi finals, one of the Cobra Kai kids is told to ‘sweep the leg’ by his sensei (the kid’s instructor wanted him to intentionally cause damage to Danny’s leg…an over the top cheap shot move) This sent Danny to the mat in horrible pain. Mr. Miagi has to step in and some sort of ancient remedy to “fix” the leg, which allows Danny to go out and fight in the finals. Not only did he end up winning, but he did so in dramatic fashion with the old ‘crane kick’ move. Wait a second…leg injuries…guys named Danny…this is getting a little creepy. If In Over My Head somehow learns to do the crane kick, I’m going to freak out!
- 8 Mile – Move forward a decade or so, but the same story rings true only this time it isn’t boxing or karate…its battle rap. It is kind of interesting that these are the first three movies that come to mind because I have never boxed, learned karate or battle rapped. Anyway, Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith (played very well by Eminem) starts by getting embarrassed in the Detroit rap battle scene, but in the end wins the crowd over by knocking off the top dog Pappa Doc. The big deviation between this movie and reality is that B-Rabbit starts messing around with some little vixen well before he claims the title as top rapper. For the record, Mo will be 100% focused on racing into the foreseeable future. He will not be mixing racing and extracurricular activities with fillies at all…despite the fact he seems to be turning a lot of heads in the barn. Hang in there Mo, your time will come.
- Teen Wolf – Why is it that everything today is a knock off of some movie or TV show from the 80s. Were people in the 80s just that much more creative? It seems like so much of current pop culture originated there. And if you want the coolest of cool, look no further than Teen Wolf. Just take an everyday 5’2” kid (played by Michael J. Fox) who is a below average point guard that one day finds out he has the ability to turn into a warewolf. From there, he completely takes over every basketball game (and really the entire school). He got all the ladies (which in itself is really pretty strange…what kind of chick goes for a warewolf?), surfed on the top of moving vans and didn’t take any crap from anyone. On the basketball court, no one objected. The other coaches, other players, no one cried foul over the fact that suddenly they were playing against a half human/ half wolf with a 7 foot vertical leap and a jump shot that would make Larry Bird jealous. That’s how it was in the 80s…you just sucked it up and played. Apparently you could even get away with standing under the basket during free throws to try and intimate your opponents (for those of you that have seen the movie, you know exactly what I’m taking about…where were the refs???). At this point you are probably asking yourself “what does this have to do with In Over My Head”? The answer: absolutely nothing. I just wanted to write about Teen Wolf.
I could go on (because this is kind of fun), but I think you get my point. The next question is what character will Mo end up like? My hope is Rocky, simply because Rocky III was only the halfway point of the series. I’d certainly like to think that Mo has another 47+ races in him over the next few years. Only time will tell. What I do know is that Mo is our hero. He is on a 4 race win streak and we are all having a ball. Mo will be back racing a week from Saturday at Balmoral Park. Come on down to cheer him on. He loves his fans!
Let’s Go Mo!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
A Very Special Night
While I’d like to come up with a better title than that, nothing else really needed to be said. With the backdrop of an emotional week for our family (as detailed in my previous post), we went into the race on Saturday night hoping it would be special. None of us really wanted to say it, but we knew that a win in the Invitational would really help soothe the wound of our recent loss. Sometimes in life, things just break your way.
In Over My Head has provided us with a number of memorable wins. There was his win down in Springfield, which was his first ‘major’ victory and came at after a streak of some bad luck races that had us wondering if we would ever break through. Then there was the Windy City Pace. No explanation needed to anyone who has read this blog. Last year gave us his first win back off that long layoff. Even though the purse was rather small, the night was incredible. Going into Saturday, those were the top three in my opinion. After Saturday, we have a top four.
The night held extra promise due to the fact that Greg was heading down with Danny and me. He hadn’t been to the track in quite some time and hadn’t been to Balmoral in probably 10 years. The first thing we did, of course, was to go back and see Mo, which was great for Greg given the fact he had taken care of him for 9 months during his injury time off. Mo was looking great and was as playoff as ever. While we didn’t know how the race was going to shake out, we knew he would do what he always does: leave it all out on the track.
Fast forward to race time. We know our horse very well and we knew that he ‘fit’ this group despite stepping up in class. The track handicapper didn’t agree. His program comment was: IN OVER MY HEAD...that could be the case here on this jump. Winner of two straight in a three start season. We thought we deserved a little more than that, but everyone tends to see their own horse in a more favorable light. The betting public tended to agree with the track handicapper. After opining at 3/2 (mainly because we all placed our bets early…at one point Danny and I had 90% of the show pool), he slowly rose to 6-1. As we stood on the apron just seconds before the race started, I was thinking about Grandpa. I was thinking about how incredible it would be to win that night. I imagined him standing next to me and talking about the upcoming race. I thought back to one of his good horses who I had wrote about the week named Scotch Straight who had won 7 straight in Chicago. Just as the horses approached the starting line, the tote board made its final change as the betting windows closed. The numbers flashed across the board, Mo’s final odds were shown: 7-1. Lucky seven I thought. Let’s do this.
Despite a field of nine very talented horses, virtually no one charged for the lead. As they approached the first quarter, the pace was far too slow and Marcus Miller made a split second decision that he hadn’t had to do with In Over My Head before. He decided to brush to the front. It turned out to be a genius move. Mo struck the lead going up the backstretch, but he didn’t have it for long. Bet On Him, at 5-1 odds, swooped up to claim the top spot as the horses began to entre the final turn. Coming into the stretch, the outer flow included other dangerous foes including Washington Hanover and the always tough Well To Do Guru. In Over My Head sat patiently behind Bet On Him, waiting for his chance to strike.
There was a point in the stretch that Mo was actually in third place. Bet On Him was clearly in the lead, but Washington Hanover had also flipped outside and made his way to second place. This is significant for an interesting ‘story within a story’. Washington Hanover is a very nice horse and was winning rather consistently in Chicago before shipping down to Indiana to chase some bigger purses. His driver in Chicago was none other than Marcus Miller. So, when the draw came out last Wednesday, both In Over My Head and Washington Hanover had requested Marcus to drive. In those situations, it is up to the driver to choose which one he wants. No matter how you sliced it, it was a very tough decision. Lots of past success with Washington Hanover vs. two straight wins with Mo. Which would you pick? Well, luckily for Team In Over My Head, Marcus picked us. As you could imagine, losing to the horse you chose NOT to drive does not sit well with drivers. At this point in the race, Washington Hanover was beating Mo….but Mo and Marcus were far from finished.
It wasn’t long after that point when it became a two horse race and the two horses were In Over My Head and Bet On Him. If you are looking for excitement, it doesn’t get much better than that. So while I’ve enjoyed giving you a little written version of what happened, it's time for me to just turn it over to the video. Click on the link below and enjoy:
Click on Saturday, June 9th, then race #9
http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R
From our angle, it was hard to tell how the race was going to end. In fact, when In Over My Head went past me, I was almost certain that Mo was going to finish second. I should have known better. Greg says it best…Mo’s never lost a photo finish. As we anxiously awaited for the results to be posted, I said, “come on and post that #3 (Mo’s number) on top”! Danny chucked and said, “just like the Windy City (Mo had the same number that day)”. Just a couple second latter, it was official. In Over My Head was the winner. Being in the winners circle was a thrill as always. In the excitement, many thoughts were swirling around my head including Mo’s gutty performance (as usual), Marcus’s great drive (as usual…he’s now won an almost unheard of 9 time in 14 starts with Mo) and of course Grandpa. Not only was he with us that night, he was also proud of us. Our horse had just beat the best horses in Chicago. The family horse racing tradition was alive and well.
Like every race, we took time after the race to catch up with Tyler as well as Marcus. It is so much fun to talk about a win in horse racing. You could go on forever…saying the same thing over and over again…it just doesn’t get old. Once Marcus had to go drive in another race, we headed back to see our champ and he was feeling great, which leads to one of my favorite stories of the night. At one point, Greg was standing in front of Mo with the program in his hand. The same program that had the less than flattering comment about Mo. He looked at the program and then just bit down on it and looked at Greg. This went on for a few seconds and he still wouldn’t let go. Greg gave it a tug. Mo hung on. Finally, after what Mo apparently thought was a sufficient amount of time, he let go. We all laughed…guess he didn’t like the comment either.
So how does it feel to be top dog on the Chicago racing circuit? Well, for this week, it feels great. This Saturday will mark a new challenge and a new set of competitors. A number of people said they enjoyed the interview with In Over My Head a couple weeks back (mainly because most horses can’t give interviews), so I thought I’d see how he felt about the win and the upcoming challenge. I gave Mo a call on his stall phone (the number is unlisted so don’t even try) this morning to see what he was thinking. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I turned the conversation to racing and he got surprisingly short with me. It was strange because he is usually so talkative and friendly.
Below is a transcript of how the conversation went after I asked how he was feeling about his status as a top dog on the Chicago racing circuit:
“Fine I guess”
“Fine? You should be feeling great…you beat all the best horses in Chicago last week!”
“Not all of them”
Silence fell for the phone for a couple of seconds and then it hit me.
“You’re talking about Firstclassalltheway aren’t you?”
“Yep”
“Are you still mad about the last time you faced him”
“Yep”
“Anything else you want to add?”
“Nope”
And that was that. He said he had to go because Penny was walking into his stall. Apparently, he feels like there is some serious unfinished business to take care of. He’s not celebrating his victory from last week at all. Firstclassalltheway got a week off last week. He’ll be fresh and ready to roll. And so will Mo. No matter what the program says this week, I know who I’ll pick. May the best horse win.
Let’s Go Mo!
In Over My Head has provided us with a number of memorable wins. There was his win down in Springfield, which was his first ‘major’ victory and came at after a streak of some bad luck races that had us wondering if we would ever break through. Then there was the Windy City Pace. No explanation needed to anyone who has read this blog. Last year gave us his first win back off that long layoff. Even though the purse was rather small, the night was incredible. Going into Saturday, those were the top three in my opinion. After Saturday, we have a top four.
The night held extra promise due to the fact that Greg was heading down with Danny and me. He hadn’t been to the track in quite some time and hadn’t been to Balmoral in probably 10 years. The first thing we did, of course, was to go back and see Mo, which was great for Greg given the fact he had taken care of him for 9 months during his injury time off. Mo was looking great and was as playoff as ever. While we didn’t know how the race was going to shake out, we knew he would do what he always does: leave it all out on the track.
Despite a field of nine very talented horses, virtually no one charged for the lead. As they approached the first quarter, the pace was far too slow and Marcus Miller made a split second decision that he hadn’t had to do with In Over My Head before. He decided to brush to the front. It turned out to be a genius move. Mo struck the lead going up the backstretch, but he didn’t have it for long. Bet On Him, at 5-1 odds, swooped up to claim the top spot as the horses began to entre the final turn. Coming into the stretch, the outer flow included other dangerous foes including Washington Hanover and the always tough Well To Do Guru. In Over My Head sat patiently behind Bet On Him, waiting for his chance to strike.
There was a point in the stretch that Mo was actually in third place. Bet On Him was clearly in the lead, but Washington Hanover had also flipped outside and made his way to second place. This is significant for an interesting ‘story within a story’. Washington Hanover is a very nice horse and was winning rather consistently in Chicago before shipping down to Indiana to chase some bigger purses. His driver in Chicago was none other than Marcus Miller. So, when the draw came out last Wednesday, both In Over My Head and Washington Hanover had requested Marcus to drive. In those situations, it is up to the driver to choose which one he wants. No matter how you sliced it, it was a very tough decision. Lots of past success with Washington Hanover vs. two straight wins with Mo. Which would you pick? Well, luckily for Team In Over My Head, Marcus picked us. As you could imagine, losing to the horse you chose NOT to drive does not sit well with drivers. At this point in the race, Washington Hanover was beating Mo….but Mo and Marcus were far from finished.
It wasn’t long after that point when it became a two horse race and the two horses were In Over My Head and Bet On Him. If you are looking for excitement, it doesn’t get much better than that. So while I’ve enjoyed giving you a little written version of what happened, it's time for me to just turn it over to the video. Click on the link below and enjoy:
Click on Saturday, June 9th, then race #9
http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R
From our angle, it was hard to tell how the race was going to end. In fact, when In Over My Head went past me, I was almost certain that Mo was going to finish second. I should have known better. Greg says it best…Mo’s never lost a photo finish. As we anxiously awaited for the results to be posted, I said, “come on and post that #3 (Mo’s number) on top”! Danny chucked and said, “just like the Windy City (Mo had the same number that day)”. Just a couple second latter, it was official. In Over My Head was the winner. Being in the winners circle was a thrill as always. In the excitement, many thoughts were swirling around my head including Mo’s gutty performance (as usual), Marcus’s great drive (as usual…he’s now won an almost unheard of 9 time in 14 starts with Mo) and of course Grandpa. Not only was he with us that night, he was also proud of us. Our horse had just beat the best horses in Chicago. The family horse racing tradition was alive and well.
Like every race, we took time after the race to catch up with Tyler as well as Marcus. It is so much fun to talk about a win in horse racing. You could go on forever…saying the same thing over and over again…it just doesn’t get old. Once Marcus had to go drive in another race, we headed back to see our champ and he was feeling great, which leads to one of my favorite stories of the night. At one point, Greg was standing in front of Mo with the program in his hand. The same program that had the less than flattering comment about Mo. He looked at the program and then just bit down on it and looked at Greg. This went on for a few seconds and he still wouldn’t let go. Greg gave it a tug. Mo hung on. Finally, after what Mo apparently thought was a sufficient amount of time, he let go. We all laughed…guess he didn’t like the comment either.
So how does it feel to be top dog on the Chicago racing circuit? Well, for this week, it feels great. This Saturday will mark a new challenge and a new set of competitors. A number of people said they enjoyed the interview with In Over My Head a couple weeks back (mainly because most horses can’t give interviews), so I thought I’d see how he felt about the win and the upcoming challenge. I gave Mo a call on his stall phone (the number is unlisted so don’t even try) this morning to see what he was thinking. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I turned the conversation to racing and he got surprisingly short with me. It was strange because he is usually so talkative and friendly.
Below is a transcript of how the conversation went after I asked how he was feeling about his status as a top dog on the Chicago racing circuit:
“Fine I guess”
“Fine? You should be feeling great…you beat all the best horses in Chicago last week!”
“Not all of them”
Silence fell for the phone for a couple of seconds and then it hit me.
“You’re talking about Firstclassalltheway aren’t you?”
“Yep”
“Are you still mad about the last time you faced him”
“Yep”
“Anything else you want to add?”
“Nope”
And that was that. He said he had to go because Penny was walking into his stall. Apparently, he feels like there is some serious unfinished business to take care of. He’s not celebrating his victory from last week at all. Firstclassalltheway got a week off last week. He’ll be fresh and ready to roll. And so will Mo. No matter what the program says this week, I know who I’ll pick. May the best horse win.
Let’s Go Mo!
Friday, June 8, 2012
In Memory Of Grandpa
This Saturday, In Over My Head will be racing in the Invitational at Balmroal Park against the best in horses in Chicago. We are very excited about what should be a great race. Greg, Danny and I are planning a trip to Chicago to watch it live. Having that said, we will be doing so with some heavy hearts.
Yesterday, we laid to rest my Grandfather, Wayne Carey. Quite simply, he is the reason we are involved in harness racing. He began racing horses in the early 1960s and his list of local, regional and even national stars is beyond impressive for a guy who got started in the rural town of Mineral Point, WI. Princess Maud, Scotch Straight, Carry Mann, Ironworks, Race On Carey, Thrifty Kirk and the great Speedy Rodney were just some of the great horses owned by Grandpa. But that was just the start of it. He also was an amateur driver (twice winning the amateur driver race at The Red Mile in Lexington) and breeder. The stories from the old days never, ever got old. We could sit and listen to stories about Speedy Rodney’s world record miles for hours and hours. The more ‘everyday’ stories were just as fun. One I remember particularly was of Scotch Straight, who raced in Chicago in the early 1960s and at one time, won 7 straight races. During that run, when he would turn for home and look like the eventual winner, the announcer would belt out, “How do you like your Scotch…Straight???”. I’ve heard it so many times I feel like I was actually there.
Beyond all of the horse racing accolades, he was the greatest Grandfather a grandson could ever ask for. You don’t just have to take my word for it. Kirk, Kyle, Chris, Kim, Jenny and Danny would tell you the exact same thing. We were so lucky to have him in our lives. In Over My Head is in tough on Saturday night, so to expect a win would be rather foolish…but if he does, it will be fun have a winner’s circle picture full of three generations of racing. Danny and I on the young side, Greg in the middle and you won’t see the last one in the picture, but I can guaranty that Mr. Wayne Carey will be there with us. Although his passing has been very difficult to come to grips with, at least now he can be at the track with us again.
Yesterday, we laid to rest my Grandfather, Wayne Carey. Quite simply, he is the reason we are involved in harness racing. He began racing horses in the early 1960s and his list of local, regional and even national stars is beyond impressive for a guy who got started in the rural town of Mineral Point, WI. Princess Maud, Scotch Straight, Carry Mann, Ironworks, Race On Carey, Thrifty Kirk and the great Speedy Rodney were just some of the great horses owned by Grandpa. But that was just the start of it. He also was an amateur driver (twice winning the amateur driver race at The Red Mile in Lexington) and breeder. The stories from the old days never, ever got old. We could sit and listen to stories about Speedy Rodney’s world record miles for hours and hours. The more ‘everyday’ stories were just as fun. One I remember particularly was of Scotch Straight, who raced in Chicago in the early 1960s and at one time, won 7 straight races. During that run, when he would turn for home and look like the eventual winner, the announcer would belt out, “How do you like your Scotch…Straight???”. I’ve heard it so many times I feel like I was actually there.
Beyond all of the horse racing accolades, he was the greatest Grandfather a grandson could ever ask for. You don’t just have to take my word for it. Kirk, Kyle, Chris, Kim, Jenny and Danny would tell you the exact same thing. We were so lucky to have him in our lives. In Over My Head is in tough on Saturday night, so to expect a win would be rather foolish…but if he does, it will be fun have a winner’s circle picture full of three generations of racing. Danny and I on the young side, Greg in the middle and you won’t see the last one in the picture, but I can guaranty that Mr. Wayne Carey will be there with us. Although his passing has been very difficult to come to grips with, at least now he can be at the track with us again.
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