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I Don’t Believe in Humans Anymore

I Don’t Believe in Humans Anymore

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I don’t believe
I can’t believe
I won’t believe
In humans anymore
Not anymore
(From “This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr” written by Tommy Henriksen and Johnny Depp)

Tempting right?

It’s tough to read your social media feed and learn there’s a large population of folks out there who support assassinating the President.

They also think it’s okay to assassinate CEO’s.

And they think it’s okay to assassinate conservative Christians.

And they think it’s okay to kill law enforcement officers.

And kill babies.

And Jews.

And they spend a lot of their weekends attempting to making sure we never have a king, when just a short civics lesson could allow them some more time to do yard work.

And then there are those that not only think it’s okay to assassinate the President, but they want you to believe the attempts there have been thus far were faked.

Made up.

A conspiracy.

A diversion for something more diabolical.

I think the person who presented that in my feed recently should have a conversation with the family of Corey Comperatore to find out how that faked stunt worked out for them.

Yeah, it seems pretty easy now a days to not to want to believe in humans anymore.

Which is thankfully why we have the first Saturday in May.

When we can forget humans and focus on what is lately, the more beautiful animals.

Horses.

The Kentucky Derby is this Saturday.

And two weeks after that will be the Preakness.

And three weeks after that will be the Belmont Stakes.

The Triple Crown.

And if you are a Jersey Shore guy like me you can even stretch it out a little and look forward to many of these Triple Crown runners showing up for the Haskell in July at Monmouth Park.

A great time to ditch the humans and enjoy the ride, or rides.

A great diversion from that which might make you want to jump off a bridge or cause harm to someone else.

But not a diabolical diversion, I can assure you, what you see is actually happening.

Yes, it’s time once again for that sentimental racetrack journey.

And, as is tradition in my house, meatballs.

And speaking of kings and royalty, I reached out to get an update on my old friend Sid, Sir Sidney, my King of the Horse Universe. According to Marilyne “He’s doing really well. He is still living his best life in Alpharetta working in a lesson barn. They spoil the ever-loving crap out of him. He’s getting up there in age! He just turned 17 this year.”

That was nice to hear.

Sid is retired, living the good life, and getting the ever-loving crap spoiled out of him.
I am also retired, getting up there in age, but still waiting for someone to spoil the ever-loving crap out of me.

In the meantime, I will work in the yard, and enjoy the diversion of watching the beauty, the pageantry, the colors, the competition, the unusual names, and the back stories of a different world that captures our attention every Spring.

The master guitarist Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp released an album titled “18” in 2022. Beck passed away in January of 2023. This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr is on the album and is an awesome song, written by Tommy Henriksen and Johnny Depp. Tommy Henriksen has a long list of credits that includes Alice Cooper and working with Alice and Depp as part of the Hollywood Vampires. Depp performs this song with Jeff Beck and its worth the watch, the song is amazing and Beck’s guitar contribution is captivating.

And just remember, there are some really smart people out there posting a lot of stuff they don’t themselves believe but they know there are folks out there that will believe it in hopes that some will forego their yard work and stand on a corner to make sure the US doesn’t have a king in our future, or maybe even pack up their firearms and get a train ticket to Washington, D.C.

Sadly, you can’t always believe in humans anymore.

And now…

“They’re off!”

This year’s Derby shirt

Postscript:
The photo at the top is of Sid living his best life and taking a nap.

Marilyne and Sid
The Sweet Kiss of Something

The Sweet Kiss of Something

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Frank Hayes was born in Ireland. Though there seems to be some debate over when Frank was born, some say 1888 and some say 1901, one thing was for sure, Frank always wanted to be a jockey.

But Frank was built more like me when I was in my 20’s and 30’s at 140 pounds.  Not that 140 pounds was heavy, but it was if you wanted to be jockey.

Frank moved to New York City and when he found he couldn’t be a jockey, he decided to be a horse trainer and groom instead, at least he was in the game.  It was the 1920’s and thoroughbred horse racing was beginning its golden era in this country.

When I worked on the ambulance at Monmouth Park Racetrack in the 1970’s, for a few days later in the meet, the track would feature a few steeplechase races on the card each summer.  For us on the ambulance crew it was the busier days of the season because jumpers more frequently lost their riders.

Belmont Park, located on New York’s Long Island in the early 1920’s featured a similar steeplechase program.

One day Frank the trainer found himself an owner with a horse entered into one of Belmont’s steeplechase races who didn’t have a jockey to ride her.

The horse’s name was Sweet Kiss.

Sweet Kiss was a seven-year-old mare, an unraced maiden, and Frank saw an opportunity.  If he could get down to jockey weight of 130 pounds, he could ride Sweet Kiss and fulfill his dream to finally be a jockey.

So, Frank did the impossible and in a matter of 24 hours managed to lose twelve pounds to qualify.

Frank’s dream was finally going to come true.

He was about to check “Jockey” off his bucket list.

 

I have been having a bit of a nostalgic horse racing week, kind of reliving A Sentimental Racetrack Journey once again.  With November’s Breeder’s Cup in the books, the sport of horse racing winds down a bit as it awaits January’s  Eclipse Awards, which are kind of like the Oscars for horse racing, the naming of the Horse of the Year for 2024, and the new year when all two year olds turn three and thus the beginning of the 2025 three year old season which includes the Triple Crown races.

My sentimental journey this week was once again triggered by my perennial Horse of the Year…

Sir Sidney.

Sid.

I reached out to Marilyne this week to check on Sid:

He’s doing very well. I just got a new job that is very time consuming so I leased him out to a lesson program In Alpharetta for 6 months to a year where he is spoiled and pampered and so happy, and I can still go ride whenever I want. She sends me pictures periodically, and he has 3 friends and a big field, and lots of daily love and attention.  Here is one of my favorite funnies from this summer because he has quite the personality. 

In the next picture his little brother Walker is learning good ground manners from him at the trailer.  

The last two pics are from the leasing barn called Autograph Farm. They spoil him rotten!

Thanks for checking in!!

As is usual, I got a little teary-eyed.

Lucky Sid, after a long career of racing, is enjoying retirement.  Marilyne is his second owner I have kept in contact with since he retired.

 

Somehow, I don’t think Sid struggled with the same stress and fear of being retired that I find myself experiencing.  Sid is pampered and spoiled, and happy in his retirement.

And he has three friends and a big field and lots of love and attention.

And I am so envious.

I don’t have three friends or a big field.

I don’t know whether Sid has a bucket list, but he is a horse, so I am sure he has a bucket of something.

But it makes me happy that Sid is happy.

 

 

Frank’s dream finally came true.  He rode Sweet Kiss over the twelve-jump course. Going off at the odds of 20 to 1 against the favorite Gimme.  Gimme led most of the race though Sweet Kiss was just off the pace. Entering the home turn Frank shifted in the saddle and the two horses nearly collided, they made the last jump (somehow), straightened themselves out, and in the stretch Sweet Kiss dug in and pulled away by a length and a half.

Crossing the finish line instead of raising his crop in victory, Frank remained slumped over.

Eventually Frank would slide off the saddle and hit the ground. Though doctors rushed to his aid, Frank was pronounced dead right there on the racetrack.

Apparently, Frank had a heart attack and died probably around the time the two horses nearly collided entering the home turn. Some say it was the stress of the race and losing so much weight in such a short period of time that got him.

And because the rule books said the jockey had to remain in the saddle and cross the finish line in order to officially win, even though he was dead, Frank had won his first and his only race as a jockey.

Sweet Kiss broke her maiden status with the win but would race no more.

She went on to earn the nickname “the Sweet Kiss of Death.”

And Frank Hayes, as a result “is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first Jockey (and probably first athlete of any sport) to ride to victory after his own death.”

Though Frank’s dream was fulfilled, he not only checked off the bucket, but kicked it too.

I don’t know what the moral of this story is.

Maybe fulfilling dreams aren’t always worth the stress, the effort, and the expense.

Look what it cost Frank Hayes.

Maybe following Sid’s example and just going wherever the bridle leads you is the way to go.

A few friends and a big field.

Or maybe a dock and a fishing pole.

Or a cabin and stream close by.

And of course lots of daily love and attention.

 

Checking off those buckets before we  kick them.

 

Here is the full photo
Marilyne and Sid
Sid with Walker
Just hanging out in the barn…retired
Sir Sidney, My 2020 Horse of the Year

Sir Sidney, My 2020 Horse of the Year

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Sir Sidney came home to us last night.  Me and my three kids drove 5 hours for him.  When he was walked out to me he was in tatters…. rain rot, bleached by the sun, deep gash on his withers, shoes look 3 months old, and he only has three of them hanging on by a thread.  Large osselet on the left front.  He was in a pasture with a sheep out in the middle of nowhere.  I took him anyway.  I paid for him just to get him out of there.  He seems very pleased with himself to be here.  Dr. will xray his osselet so we can make sure we keep him comfortable and serviceable, and the farrier will be here tomorrow to give his feet some much needed relief. He’s had 5 homes in the past 12 months, so he is now ours.  He will be babied from now on and will never know hard work again. He will be treated as a show horse here.  Lots of grass and hunter ponies and his own stall – blanketed when needed and he will have proper vet farrier dental and nutrition.  I hope you have a BLESSED day today…

 (An email to me from Tiffany M. received Wednesday, August 19)

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was lying in bed on a Friday morning, not wanting to get out from under the covers, not wanting to go to work, just lamenting and feeling the weight of this unusual summer.

On that day it was mid-August and the signs of the summer’s ultimate passing had already begun.  Sitting out on the deck the evening before I had commented to Kim on how early the deck light with its darkness sensor was now tripping on. Our unusual summer was showing signs of winding down.  Some might think signaling the end of this summer might be a good thing.  That might be true if at least some of the reasons this summer has been so traumatic could be changed. But we can’t change God’s plan.  We can only change that which we can control. But the thoughts of moving into the fall and the early darkness combining seasonal affective disorder with coronavirus depression could be quite scary for many.

What do you do at 4:45 p.m. in the afternoon when it is dark outside?  How do you exercise safely, how do you go out and walk in nature and forget about being socially restricted.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our country’s leaders would consider that and extend Daylight Savings Time through the fall and winter this year to help us cope with our “new normal.”

 

On that Friday morning when I was feeling down and out, still in bed but now with a cup of coffee, I opened up my email. While I was asleep I had received this email:

It’s way past midnight and I’m sitting here doing Internet search on an 11-year-old off the track thoroughbred by the name of Sir Sidney. He is the now 11-year-old son of Ghostzapper. I found nothing of great interest other than racing stats and equivalent information. But I was craving a nice photograph or video…. Then I happened upon this: 

A SENTIMENTAL RACETRACK JOURNEY

 May 1, 2019 Curtisc27@Gmail.Com 

 Thank you for this wonderful article. 

You see, I was considering buying this fella for my family. Sight unseen, taking the trailer to meet he and his current owner in a couple days.

 Reading this article sealed the deal.

 I guess I found my Sir Sidney after all. And we will live him well. Wish us luck!!

 

Sent from my iPhone

(Received at 12:29 a.m. Friday, August 14 from Tiffany M.)

 

 

Wait…Sir Sidney?

 

I don’t know Tiffany M. but I do know Sir Sidney.

 

Sidney is part of my sentimental racetrack journey.

 

Once again, after reading Tiffany’s email, I got sentimental.

 

I even got a little teary-eyed.

 

I read Tiffany’s email to Kim.

 

I read “A Sentimental Racetrack Journey” again.

 

Then I read Tiffany’s email again.

 

And I got a little teary once more.

 

I got out of bed.

 

No longer feeling like staying under the covers I was now feeling totally elated.

 

 

Since I last wrote about Sidney just before last year’s Kentucky Derby, he ran eight more races running his last race on July 22, 2019, as a ten-year-old.

Born March 6, 2009, Sir Sidney had worked really hard since he ran his first race on New Year’s Day in 2012 as a three-year-old.  After three races that year, he would be sidelined until that third Saturday in May of 2014 when I was inadvertently introduced to Sir Sidney as a result of that botched wager. On that day he was five years old winning his first race. Over his career that ended last summer, he had run 68 races and finished in the top three 29 times, twelve of those as the winner earning a total of  $269,119.00.  This past March he officially turned eleven years old and was now finally retired.

 

The old guy who last year was still out there working, having to prove himself against the younger fellas, could now relax.

 

But Sir Sidney’s first year of retirement wasn’t like busting out in the RV and taking that dream trip across the country.

 

Nope, he got shuffled from one owner to another and had five homes in twelve months and as was evident in Tiffany description of him in her email of August 19, no one was caring for him anymore.

 

Sidney’s long and proud journey that included all those years of fighting to win was now forgotten. In quite the literal sense, Sidney had been put out to pasture and neglected.

 

Then Sid’s angel of mercy on a wing and a prayer, this nice lady named Tiffany, made the impetuous decision to drive many hours go get him sight unseen.

 

She “found her Sir Sidney after all.”

 

And in doing so she saved Sid.

 

 

Now Sidney can really enjoy his retirement.

He is not being asked to win races anymore, but he is still winning hearts.

He is appreciated and being cared for by a wonderful family.

He “will never know hard work again.”

 

And me?

I am still elated.

Once again we are reacquainted.

Once again he becomes part of my journey.

Once again I got goosebumps.

 

And I get to follow how happy he is by the photos I can view.

 

Next Saturday is the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby.

It’s not generating the same amount of excitement and sense of optimistic anticipation of producing a new National Obsession as it would normally do for me on the first Saturday in May,  which also serves as my personal unofficial first day of summer.

In fact, it’s being run on Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer.

 

But of course, I will watch.

 

And I hope you will watch too.

 

And like I said in “A Sentimental Racetrack Journey” before last year’s Derby:

 

“I hope you take some time this Saturday and watch the Kentucky Derby. I hope you pay attention to the stories, enjoy the majestic beauty of these animals, get caught up in the drama.

I hope you find something sentimental in the experience that makes you want to return.

I hope you find your Sir Sidney.”

 

Like I did.

Like Tiffany did.

 

Sir Sidney, once again, my vote for Horse of the Year.

 

Post Script:

I would like to thank Tiffany and her family for saving this horse and providing a loving and safe environment for Sidney to enjoy his retirement.

And for sharing the experience with me.

And as for that BLESSED day, it surely was, and not just for me.

Life is Good!