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Sean Clancy I go to a lot of meetings these days. I guess it’s adulthood, when life becomes an array of community causes and conference calls, charities and challenges. I figure when you critique and criticize – especially in print – then it’s your duty to serve. Right? Please, say right.
“My mind was stronger than their sticks were.”
– Bob Simon
Valentine’s Day is in the books and we’re safely into the second half of February. Plenty of activity Saturday from the world of racing, nearly all of it previewed in last week’s Saturday Special.
The hiker leaned on his walking stick, sweat dripping from each eyebrow, off his nose like an old barn faucet, “You’re about a third of the way there.”
Huffing, verging on puffing, I stammered out, “Great.” It was part spit, part response as I grabbed a rock with my right hand and lifted through a worn ledge of desert. The sun rose to my left. A dog flitted past. Two hikers passed me, smiling, on their way down, a woman corrected my route, “This way,” as I wandered off course and wished for those eight strides back. On I walked, trekked, staggered, over rocks, past cactus, scree sliding beneath my light running shoes.
In the old news department. My brother won the Eclipse Award.
As Jay Hovdey wrote in the Daily Racing Form…
A dime’s worth of research reveals that full brothers have never won Eclipse Awards. There have been full sisters (the turf champs Banks Hill and Intercontinental) and grandmother-granddaughters (Personal Ensign and Storm Flag Flying).
Then came the Clancy brothers, Joe and Sean, both by Joe Clancy Sr. out of Ruth Clancy and raised to know which end did what from the day they could stand and nurse.
Sean Clancy, a former professional steeplechase rider with limbs miraculously intact, won an Eclipse Award for his 2009 story about the legacy of Hall of Famer trainer Sidney Watters. Now Joe, the tall one, gets his own horse for the trophy case, having been honored for his 2014 story about the Preakness Stakes victory of California Chrome. If racing fans still read, it’s because people like the Clancy brothers continue to write. Nice going, Joe.
Well it took us a few days but here’s our recap of the Saturday Special. Again, the good, the bad and the ugly from a big day of racing around the world.
In a first here at TIHR, we bring you the Sunday Special, a brief synopsis of the good, the bad and the ugly from our Saturday Special. We highlighted 37 races, then sat on the couch from 7:40 Saturday morning to 2:10 Sunday morning. It was a war.
I was preaching. Just hours into the first day of the 2014 Cheltenham Festival, my hands were waving, my voice quavering, my blue elephant tie flying.
“You’ve seen the changing of the guard. In four minutes, the reigning champion becomes the former champion. Just like that. The public changing of the guard, the coldest cut. He’ll never be back. He might not ever win another race. That’s it. The crowd salutes him their champion in the winner’s enclosure, say goodbye to the champ. Goodbye The Fly.”
I’ve heard all about it. The images etched in my mind. The plank fencing – painted black. The barns – classic Kentucky, nestled in the hillside. The indoor arena, where winter training begets summer champions. The whole picture played out in my mind, conjured on walks to and from the track at Saratoga, with the likes of Successful Dan, Turallure, Here Comes Ben and, of course, Wise Dan.
Nothing like a trip to Kentucky. Seven and a half hours down, eight hours back (drank too much coffee), now home for a few days. Lexington, Kentucky, it’s been called the horse capital of the world. Who could argue after the trip I just made – Medaglia d’Oro, Animal Kingdom, Hard Spun, Street Sense, Elusive Quality (et al) on parade, Blind Luck on the auction block and Wise Dan in a field. Nothing like it.
