Saratoga: Break From the Gate in 2008

Today began and ended with two astonishing surprises.

I am at the American Horse Publications conference in Saratoga, NY. Today is the first day of the conference, and as such, I was expecting it to be a little less exciting than yesterday, when we visited the Saratoga Racetrack and the Racing Museum & Hall of Fame. Outside the Hall of Fame, on the corner by the road, is the 1/8th post that Secretariat passed when winning the Belmont by 31 lengths. They removed it from the track so that no horse of a lesser stature should ever pass by it again. Inside, I found a kiosk where we watched all three of his amazing Triple Crown races.

This morning began with a breakfast where the Merial Vision Award presentation was made. Two tables over, I had noticed a tiny little grey-haired lady in a wheelchair and had somehow assumed it was somebody's mom. Then they announced that this year's award would be going to... Sally Swift. I did not get a chance to go over and say hi; they announced that she would be around all day but I didn't see her again. I guess at 95 you are entitled to your priorities! So I just want to post here that it was an honor to be in the same room, and to say thank you for all she has done for the horse community.

Through the rest of the day, presentations were generally excellent - most exciting, I have some great ideas for the layout of the upcoming 50th Anniversary issue of the Canadian Arabian News. We're so excited, there's been a lot of research done in the past two months and I think I am going to need three of me in the coming weeks, but we're doing our absolute best to have it printed in time for the Region 18 Championships. Anyways, that's for when I get home on Tuesday... today I finally met Jim Sullivan of the AHA's Modern Arabian Horse face to face. He is just as nice in person as he is on email and hopefully I'll be joining the AHA gang for the awards dinner tomorrow night.

The attendance of Sally Swift was this morning's astonishment; it was Barbaro who stole the show in the evening. AHP members were treated to a private screening of "The First Saturday in May," a documentary about the 2007 Kentucky Derby. It follows six trainers on their hunt for a place in the field at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. It's a great film, I highly recommend it to race fans and non-race fans alike. It came to me as I was watching that the one word I would use to describe track people is 'tenacious.' Perhaps not so flattering as 'dedicated' or 'passionate,' I think it more accurately describes the all-consuming life led by people who train racehorses.

When the film makers started following Derby potentials, they didn't know the Barbaro story was going to happen. They started with about twenty trainers and figured if they had one horse that made it to the Derby race, they would count themselves lucky. They got five. They planned on ending it with Derby day, but when they realized there was a potential Triple Crown winner on their hands they decided to continue filming at the Preakness.

When they got to that point in the film, I had tears in my eyes - then I realized every one around me, horse people that they are, were crying too. John Hennegan, one half of the Hennegan brothers who directed the independent film, said that to this day, he hasn't been able to watch the footage that he took that day at the Preakness. But, they are planning to create a Barbaro tribute in the future. Judging by this film, I'd say it's in good hands.

They aren't shipping to Canada yet but you can check out their website at www.thefirstsaturdayinmay.com.