Windrunner Finally Gets a Win

Original article written by Amanda Haderthauer posted 11 years 1 week ago

Windrunner has become something of a legend in the SIM (he has his own forum topic and everything), though not in the way that his owner/breeder Landon Alexander would like. This five year old bay quarter horse, who galloped very special/scary, has finished second in 17 consecutive starts. But it appears the curse is broke as he finally won his first race in his 18th start.

But, as with any good legend we should start at the beginning. In this case the beginning is in Year 32 Week 6. A young, eager Windrunner was entered in his very first race. He was so highly regard by his owner that he was entered in the Ear of the Hound Stakes, bypassing the traditional start in a maiden race. He broke a bit slowly before settling in mid-pack, at about the half-way point he made a strong move to the wire, only to fall a nose short. This became a habit of Windrunners with fifteen of his 17 second place finished coming by a nose, the other two were by ¾ of a length.

Windrunner went to great lengths to always finish second. He twice ran a career high speed figure of 80, losing to Midnight ride both times, once in his above mentioned first start and again in the grade 2 California Marathon (Year 34, week 14). He also ran a career low speed figure of 56 to make sure at least one horse crossed the line before he did. It didn’t matter to him the size of field for the type of race as long as he was second. He finished second in a maiden race that was written just for him, it was called “Windrunner’s Race”, that attracted only one other horse. He also proved to have a bit of a stubborn streak when he finished second in a full field of 13 in the grade 1 Steward’s Cup Quarters Classic (Year 34), once again to Midnight Ride.

Once word got out about Windrunner everyone had a theory about why he had a severe case of seconditis. Most people believe his confidence was affected when he didn’t get a win in his first few starts. Other thought maybe the SIM gods had a bit of mean streak. (I personally think that Windrunner has a slightly twisted sense of humor and has successfully pulled off the longest running practical joke in the SIM.) I guess we will never really know for sure why. There were also a lot of theories about what could be done to get this horse into the winners circle. Several suggested gelding, others a walkover to get his confidence up. Various training techniques and equipment changes were also suggested, and tried.

In the end what seemed to make the difference was the addition of blinkers. In week 6, in another race written just for him (this one called ‘Can He Win”) he did two things he doesn’t normally do when he races. The first was that he went to the lead. He normally sits mid-pack (easier to come in second that way), but this time he lead for every step. The second thing he did that he doesn’t normally do was to win. Not only did he win he won by 4 ¾ lengths with a 75 speed figure.

Could this be the first in a long line of wins for Windrunner? I sure hope so, but only time will tell. I am very excited to see where this horse will go next!

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