Dreamers
You are a great champion.
When you ran the ground shook, the sky opened and mere mortals parted.
Parted the way to victory, where you’ll meet me in the winner circle,
where I’ll put a blanket of flowers on your back.
(From the movie “Dreamer”)
It’s Memorial Day weekend, nearly the end of May and I haven’t written in a month. May is typically a month when I can’t shut up. But not so much this May.
Since I am a fan of horse racing, May and the months leading up to May are always exciting as the horses compete to ultimately run in the Kentucky Derby.
I usually think about Sid (Sir Sidney) this time of year. I checked up on him in mid-April and got the following response:
Hey there!! He’s doing amazing! I sure love that rotten boy. I injured my knee so while I recovered I sent him off to a trainer to get a tune up so he wouldn’t get that whole time off. He’s been absolutely wonderful and now my knee is better, I’ll be picking him up in a few days! Here’s a few pics. He’s definitely a drama queen, has the biggest ‘tude, and gets offended by everything, but I adore him. I think he knows he’s better than everyone else because of his track earnings…. Can you blame him??
Hope you are doing well, Jonas sends his love,
Marilyne
Marilyne has renamed Sid, Jonas, she is a big fan of the Jonas Brothers. But I won’t hold that against her, she is taking good care of him. To me, however, he will always be Sir Sidney.
Another great champion in my winner’s circle.
And also this time of the year I am always a sucker for sentimental uplifting horse racing movies.
Like Secretariat.
And Seabiscuit.
But this season I discovered one that slipped by me all the way back in 2005.
Dreamer.
Mariah’s Storm was born in April of 1991 in Lexington Kentucky. In 1993 Mariah’s Storm was working to qualify in that year’s Breeder’s Cup races when she fractured her front left cannon bone in the Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland Race Course.
Normally that injury would have ended a horse’s racing career or maybe worse.
In 1994 after her injury was healed and fully recovered and Mariah’s Storm went on to win the Arlington Oaks and in 1995 the Arlington Matron Stakes.
At the age of four years old in September of 1995, she did the impossible by winning the Turfway Breeders’ Cup Stakes defeating Serena’s Song, a future Hall of Fame filly. She made it to the Breeder’s Cup that year running in the Breeder’s Cup Distaff, and though she didn’t finish well, she finished.
Another great champion and a great story.
Good enough to make another great sentimental uplifting horse racing movie.
The movie Dreamer was based on the story of Mariah’s Storm and her recovery and return to run on Breeder’s Cup Day. However, in the movie, Soñador, which means Dreamer, would recover and go on to win the Breeder’s Cup Classic at odds of 80 to 1 against the best of the best, with an overweight jockey who had only raced three times, and in a race that a filly had never won up to that time in the real world.
Give me a break.
Hand me a tissue.
In 2008, in the real world, a filly named Zenyatta would make history by reliving the movie race of Soñador and coming from last to first down the stretch to win the 2008 Breeder’s Cup Classic.
Goosebumps.
This Kentucky Derby Day, like last year, I spent with my dad, or at least part of it. And this year just like in the movie Dreamer, just like Soñador, the Derby had an 80 to 1 winner in Rich Strike who also came from way off the pace to make that big stretch run and become the unlikely winner of the Kentucky Derby.
Another great story.
More goosebumps.
And then finally on this last week of May when I have two and three-year-old horses on my mind, it was another group of two and three-year-olds that caused me a little winkage.
Another great group of champions
My new best friends.
I have learned in the last few months that best friends don’t have to be contemporaries.
They can be wee little.
And they can be shy and they can be quiet some days.
And they can be loud and outgoing other days.
And that’s all good.
Because they are always precious.
And they are learning to be champions.
And in the case of these little champions, I pray that they will meet God in the winner’s circle and He will put a great blanket of blessings on their back.
I hope they dream big.
As they deserve.
I am thankful for my new best friends, an unexpected blessing for me.
And I will see you in September.
Hand me the tissues again.
Postscript:
My dad worked at the Wolf Hill School in Oceanport, New Jersey for 25 years. He retired at the age of 62, he is now 93. He still gets cards and photos and messages on social media from kids who went through Kindergarten to fourth or fifth grade while he was there. Those “kids” now have kids of their own and maybe even grandchildren.
I guess I got a chance to experience a little of what my dad was blessed with for so many years.
The photo above is courtesy of Kids Under Construction Preschool at the Sterling United Methodist Church.
