You Should Have Been There

Original article written by Danny Daniels posted 14 years 1 week ago

You Should Have Been There: The Long Island Classic, wisdom teeth and a battle Royal

Okay, let's go back to last Friday as we all anxiously awaited the The Stewards call for the third and final race of the Triple Crown, The Long Island Classic. The chat room was packed and people were typing so fast that it felt as if we were inside a room filled with crowd chatter, loud talk and the sound of champagne glasses clinking in the background as the champagne bottles chilled in buckets of ice. Or, maybe that was my wishful thinking. As a matter of fact, that sounds good right about now. Either way, there was the feel of a real event taking place.

Actually, not only were we waiting for race and to see which horse would emerge and step into the winners circle, we were also waiting to see if The Steward was even going to be able to do it. It seems that Em had her wisdom teeth removed the same day (Steward's Note: It was 2 root canals, someone else was talking wisdom teeth!). Let me speak as one who has gone through this procedure, it is not fun, not fun at all. As time ticked down, there was a buzz.... Was the Steward going to make the call.... Who will win the Long Island Classic...... What about the Louisville Classic.... Can anyone beat Bucky? There was a chant of “Sun Tzu, Sun Tzu, Sun Tzu!”

In the midst of this I heard someone mention- I wish that I'd taken note as to who it was- The Acorn. They asked me if I knew anything about The Acorn. No. I didn't- Come on, I'm still a Newb, doesn't give me a little bit of an excuse? Well, they said, there is some serious speed in that race. From there, the talk turned to the Acorn and the fact that race was going to blaze. And Blaze it did.

For those of you, if there are any of you out there- who didn't know anything about this race. “The Long Island Acorn” is a grade three stakes race for three-year-old fillies, ran at a mile-and-a half, with a two-hundred- and-fifty-thousand dollar purse. First place went to the Susie Raisher owned, Steward bred filly, “Clearly Best”, in a race that... well just check it yourself. Because, when I say Blaze, I mean BLAZE. Here were the top four places with speed figures.

1. Clearly Best 100 Susie Raisher owned, Steward bred
2. Djembe 99 Ali LaDuke owned, Dave Shields bred
3. If You Love 97 Peihe Sun owned, Steward bred
4. Sentai 96 Paul Heinrich owned and bred

And I am not making that up....

I wonder if Paul Heinrich ever thought that he would have a horse run a 96 speed figure and finish fourth... I think we all know the answer to that.

The race was, for me at least, the surprise hit of the evening. Now, even as I write this, There is talk of these fillies getting in there and mixing it up with the trio if of Triple Crown Race winning colts, Ala Rachel Alexandra. That is a showdown that I would love to see.

As the results tricked in, who should appear but The Steward; waining painkillers and all. And, guess what... The call, despite the measured start by a group of stalkers, was fantastic. My favorite part was as Sun Tzu, Same Old Plot and Landing On Dust entered into a three way duel to the finish and The Steward proclaimed that “Now We Have A Horse Race!”

As the three colts dueled to a three way photo finish (come on, a three way photo finish in a triple crown race, what can be better than that?) and Sun Tzu took The Classic by a nose, I could hear the imaginary bottles of champagne popping. The rest is now Sim Horse Racing History. You can look up the results to both of the races and hear the echoes. But, trust me my fellow newbies, for the next live call, you really need to be there.

I'm having two more of my own wisdom teeth removed in a few weeks. Maybe I'll write an article to commemorate The Steward and her tough-it-out, step-up-to-the-plate-toothless call. Or maybe I 'll just let the pain killers kick in, relax and listen to a Pink Floyd Album.

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