MR. WILL-W.:POP MAVEN: HORSE RACING FOR DUMMIES

Saturday, November 7, 2009

HORSE RACING FOR DUMMIES

Horse Racing has always been a Wong family past time. Although unconventional, I grew up pretty much at Woodbine Race Track here in Toronto as a child, tagging along with my parents on Sundays. I was never into sports, but when it came to Horse Racing, I was an athlete.

It's a science picking a race winner really and although it would have been and still is completely illegal, I was full-on betting on horses by the age of twelve. At that age, I could decipher The Racing Form and give you an educated selection for a bet based on a horse's past performances, pedigree, stable and jockey. I would spend hours on-end studying The Racing Form while other kids were reading Marvel comics, Sweet Valley High or Judy Blume. Actually, I attribute my writing ability today very much to The Racing Form and its fantastic articles. It helped make me an "A Student".

Every year on the first weekend of November, the world championships of Horse Racing are held at a different hosting race course; Woodbine was lucky enough to host it back in 1996. The world's finest horses come together to compete in a series of races and often the results dictate the subsequent Eclipse Award winner for each respective division. Sorta like The Grammys or The Oscars, but with horses. You have divisions for two year old (the youngest possible racing age) males and females, best turf racing males and females, sprinters and the most coveted award of all, Horse of the Year.

2009 was a strong year for the fillies and mares; the former refers to female horses four years old and under and the latter refers to female horses five years old or older. Three year old filly Rachel Alexandra would be considered outstanding any year and she is a leading candidate for Horse of the Year. She has destroyed the fillies and colts (male horses four years old and under) in very important races this year including The Preakness, the second leg of the American Triple Crown series. Believe me, it's not every day a filly this strong comes along. Rachel Alexandra's connections opted not to race her in this year's Breeders' Cup, seemingly confident that she is a shoe-in for the Horse of the Year title.

On the other hand, you have five year old mare Zenyatta who has won all 14 of her starts against the girls. In her bid for Horse of the Year honours, her connections decided to enter her against the boys in the most important race of Breeders' Cup Day, the $5,000,000 Breeders' Cup Classic. This of course, was a very bold move as no filly nor mare has ever won the race in its 25 year history.

Zenyatta was the queen of her division last season and she has been consistently excellent again in 2009. Her success though has been overshadowed by Rachel Alexandra's greatness. I must admit today when watching the races with my parents, I got choked up seeing the amount of support I saw as cameras panned on fans, male and female alike. The fans arrived at Santa Anita Race Track in California with homemade posters and signs of encouragement, "YOU GO GIRL!" and "GIRL POWER!" a statement of female empowerment popularized by the beloved Spice Girls. It was like witnessing a Madonna concert. And based on her accomplishments, she was made the lukewarm race favourite only as several bettors had their doubts and their eyes set on her male competitors.

Despite raising some concern in trailing the boys for pretty much most of the 1 and 1/4 mile race under jockey Mike Smith, she made a bold move down the final stretch, picking the boys off one by one. The cheers I heard from the crowd in-attendance at Woodbine and from those on the simulcast television broadcast, were deafening. History was made - Zenyatta became the first ever female horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic and likely next, Horse of the Year.

So think about it. No matter how many theories you might hear about being built innately weaker than others due to your race, gender or whatever socially constructed category we have been placed into, Zenyatta has proven to us that with determination and surrounding yourself with the right people, you can accomplish what might seem impossible.