Secretariat’s ownership was won in a coin toss. Sebiscuit’s jockey was blind in one eye. There’s something fitting about the fact that great racehorses always seem to be surrounded by larger-than-life details.
Top 2012 Kentucky Derby contender Union Rags is no different. Owner-breeder Phyllis Wyeth sold the colt for $145,000 only to buy him back a year later for $390,000. Trainer Michael Matz of former Olympic show jumping fame survived and saved four children from the 1989 crash of United Flight 232 seventeen years before he would win the Kentucky Derby with Barbaro in 2006.
Whether or not Union Rags gets bedecked in roses Saturday (skeptical? watch his past performances at Delaware, Saratoga, Belmont, the 2011 Breeders’ Cup, Gulfstream’s Fountain of Youth, and Gulfstream’s Flordia Derby, then judge for yourself), he’s certainly got the story. And while “story” may not figure in racing program stats, it’s always been a factor in how I choose my favorite.
Today is what some consider “The best two minutes in sports.” Presented by Track Pack PA, “Union Rags: An American Love Story.”
[Via the great Jimmy Wofford]
