The old horse barn up in Mineral Point is loaded with
memories. Grandpa built is years ago and
it remains functional today. It’s where
In Over My Head has hung out for a couple of his rehab assignments. The walls still hold memories of the Golden
Days of the Carey Racing stable. Faded
pictures of Wayne Eden, Ironworks and other horses from the 60s and 70s still
hang on the walls. Most of the old
racing gear and mementos have been cleaned out over the years, but once in a
while a gem can be found in among cobweb covered old feed bags and broken jog
carts. Danny found one this weekend and
brought it back home with him. It was an
old folding studio chair with the name “Carey Stables” on the backrest. It was a little dirty so he put it in his
garage until he could find time to clean it up.
What he didn’t realize is that he brought something else back with
him…or should I say someone else.
Like many families, our interest in harness racing is
generational. From Grandpa to Greg to
myself and now Danny. This is an
exciting week for us. Mo is planning on
heading into Maywood for a training mile.
Don’t Tell Wayne, who is Danny’s first foray into horse ownership, will
be making his first lifetime start on Friday.
Apparently another family wanted to get involved in this big week and
this visitor came unannounced…and gave Kacy a bit of a scare since she was the
first to see him.
In the four + years of writing this blog, one of my favorite
stories had to be that of our friend Spidey.
Spidey was a spider who showed up in our garage in Madison and had a
strange tie to In Over My Head (the full story can be found here: http://inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2012/01/update-and-story.html). Well, as of Wednesday evening, Spidey is
back…or maybe Spidey’s offspring is back and is living in a web that connects
to the old piece of memorabilia from the horse barn. Here is a look at Spidey II is his new
natural habit:
I have to say that he resembles his old man (we just officially
moved forward with the assumption he is Spidey’s son). When I showed Laura the picture of Spidey II
that Danny sent me, her immediate reaction was, “Wow, that’s weird.” He’s a chip off the old block! He also has an impeccable sense of timing.
This is really our first big week since last July. Obviously it is a big deal that Lil Wayne is
racing in his first lifetime start, but let’s also not overlook the importance of
Mo’s planned training mile. He has
worked himself into a position to go a mile in 2.05+ at Maywood with virtually
no issues. No soreness. Nothing.
If you’d ask Tyler Butenschoen to compare this comeback to the last one
he’d tell you there is simply no comparison.
Last time was a constant struggle.
This has taken a long time, but has basically been a breeze in
comparison. It gives us a ton of hope
that he could very well be back to his old self. The Leonard’s have done a terrific job
getting him to this point and for that we are very thankful.
So what is the lesson in all of this…and why am I bothering
to look for a lesson? You could simply
say that we have a couple of healthy horses and an appearance from a spider who
in all reality has no affiliation with the former Spidey. Not to mention the fact that the original
story of Spidey was a bunch of nonsense in the first place. To those naysayers I simply say this: Take your negative cynicism elsewhere. We choose to believe. To believe in goofy little things such as the
appearance of spiders is a sign of some sort of near future good fortune. Heck at the very least it makes the journey
more fun. We also choose to believe that
patience is generally rewarded…and we have been very patient. We believe that staying positive and not
giving up leads to a brighter future.
Luckily for us, I think that future his finally upon us and you know
what that means.
It’s time to get racing again.
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