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At some point, every childhood dream has to bite the dust.
Mine went to bed in sixth grade when I realized that I didn’t have Eddie Matthew’s arm and Jim Lovell’s brain. It just wasn’t in the books. In the end, these dreams are the easiest to say farewell to.
The ones that remain the most difficult to dismiss are those that are still attainable long after the days of field trips and recess. We all have them.
It just so happens that four years ago, I admitted mine. I still wanted to be a jockey. Could you blame me? I stand a daunting 5-3 and weigh a thunderous 122 pounds. Heck, I was bred like a fine thoroughbred. I can hear the NBC profile now: “Cross-bred between a four-foot Italian woman and a five-foot Englishman, the miniscule Connecticut jockey comes from a long line of short people destined for racing glory.” Like my other dreams, somewhere along the long line it just didn’t pan out. Instead, I was stuck with trips to Saratoga, NY as a fan. Not bad. But certainly not the same ride atop Lemon Drop that I had envisioned.
Nonetheless, May is my month.
And this year, like every other, has me dreaming of what could’ve been and a chance to watch the first Triple Crown won in more than 25 years. Whether it be Brother Derek, Lawyer Ron or Barbaro, this year’s Triple Crown which begins Saturday with the Kentucky Derby, has plenty of reasons for you to tune in.
The biggest of which has to be the phenomenal story of Brother Derek. The Derby favorite, Brother Derek has already breezed through the Santa Anita Derby and is the frontrunner for Churchill Downs.
Trainer Dan Hendricks is the real story, though. Two years ago, he was in a motocross crash that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Now more than two years later, he still runs his stable of 23 thoroughbreds from a six-wheel, motorized all-terrain chair. The reason for his quick recovery?
Well, according to Hendricks, it has been the help of his three sons and the powerful bay 3-year-old colt. Hendricks calls Brother Derek an inspiration. Making the story even more poignant is jockey Alex Solis, who suffered a broken back 16 days after Hendricks’ injury and missed seven months of riding. If these men and their horses wear a blanket of roses on Saturday after beating one of the deepest fields in history, it will be a story even the coldest of humans will love. And one wannabe jockeys like myself will savor for a lifetime.
Bangor Daily News