My Flying Dragon

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LA Pepper
Grade 1 Winner
Posts: 924
Joined: 16 years ago

My Flying Dragon

Post by LA Pepper »

Today, my Sim horse 'MY FLYING DRAGON' passed on after producing her last foal. Not much is expected from this foal as none of her others, nor she herself, amounted to much. She was a daughter of the great 'Double Fluff', who altho a monster on the track, could not produce anything near her caliber. but because she came from a very favorite SIM mare, I gave this SIM horse a very favorite RL name. The RL My Flying Dragon was to me a super horse although her light shone but just briefly. Losing her made me loose interest in RL racing for the longest time and led to a drunken embarrassing letter to the Steward ( sorry Stew). I have recovered, since just now losing the SIM Dragon did not sting so much, but I wanted to share the RL Dragon story. Anyone interested in her race can go to Finger Lakes archives on June 16th, 2018 Race 5. (I don't know how to link that)



THE STORY OF MY FLYING DRAGON
I have a habit in the SIM to name my homebred horses the minute they are born/created. It helps me keep them organized during training as I find it hard to keep them all apart as numbers. While I try to give them all good well thought out names, the downside is that when I want to use a very special name, I have no idea until Festivus which horses will actually have some promise.
One new filly got the very special name of MY FLYING DRAGON. She was named after a very special filly that I owned and raced. Unfortuneately, the Sim DRAGON was certainly not a special animal according to her gallop comment, which at this point, now that she is a two year old, appears quite accurate.
The RL MY FLYING DRAGON would also in many RL people’s eyes not be so very special. But to me she was a wonder of wonders and she gave me one of, if not THE BEST, thrill in my racing life and for that she will always be remembered and her SIM namesake will always be special.
DRAGON was a free horse and that is where the ‘free’ stopped. It costs a large fortune to get a horse to the races. She needed to be registered as a 2 year old (big bucks to the Jockey Club). She needed to be broke to ride, and she needed months and months of training away from home (board, training, vet , trailering bills). After the training center she needed months of track training. She seemed to be doing well by the end of the racing season and finally entered in a $5000 maiden claiming race that the trainer thought she would do well in. (Yes the lowest level at the lowest track). When in the paddock and saddled, the track cancelled racing due to frigid weather. Reentered the following week in all that was available just to get a race in, she did miserably against 16K maiden claimers.
And then there was winter break and I was out of money. (I think she had made $100 for ‘participation.’)
So the following year I asked the trainer if he would take her on as his (free lease) just so she could stay in training. With the thought that I could race her myself the following year if I had the money. He reluctantly agreed. So for the next 2 months I kept hearing from the trainer that she wasn’t very good, she had no chance of amounting to much, and he would maybe run her a couple times just to see and send her back home to me.
And then June 16th rolled around, the day of her first race that year. Again a $5000 maiden claimer. The trainer was so pessimistic that I didn’t make the effort to go to the track, and watched the race by myself on the computer. Nobody else thought she had any chance either and she left the gate at 49-1. But she left the gate like a FLYING DRAGON. She was in front all the way to the top of the stretch, where another horse passed her and she was dismissed by the announcer . . . until 5 jumps later when she came back for more, blew by her competitor and just kept going - winning by a safe margin ! ! ! ! ! ! ! She came trotting back to the almost empty winner’s circle with this look that said “let’s do that again!!”
I was screaming OMG at my computer. I was SO proud, SO happy, SO glad that she showed them. It was THE most exciting race I EVER saw, and that includes all the Kentucky Derbys I ever saw. She beat some nice horses too. Both the 2nd and 3rd place finishers went on to win their next races. The 4th place finisher had been the favorite, was claimed, and went on to win an allowance race soon thereafter.
It was the highlight of both Dragon’s and my life. But, as is the usual case in my horse stories, the rest of her story was not good. The trainer inexplicably changed her equipment and she put in two bad races. Then on one horrible July morning, she was made to wait for a training buddy outside the barn, had an impatient meltdown, reared up, fell over backwards and killed herself.
• * * * * * * * * *
So I’m done with racing horses. I still play the SIM. I really wish MY FLYING DRAGON will win someday.
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Nick Gilmore
Hall of Fame
Posts: 5354
Joined: 16 years ago

Re: My Flying Dragon

Post by Nick Gilmore »

A very special story you’ve shared with us and I thank you. It’s a heart breaking business we deal with and we have to acknowledge how fragile these big animals actually are. I wouldn’t begin to relate the numerous tragedies I’ve witness, but I’ve chosen to honour them all in my heart. I’m glad you had that wonderful memory and at the same time, I’m sorry you missed it live.
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