While there are many concerns about racing animals for sport, I have to admit that in recent years I have enjoyed watching major horse races. While I wouldn't mind if tomorrow horse racing disappeared forever, I find myself watching it for two reasons. First, the animals, while hopped up on stereoids, remain beautiful specimens. Second, I learn from watching the sport. Much to my surprise, one of my favorite moments in school last year was watching a 30 year old, 45 minute video on the gait of racehorses - shockingly fascinating.
This weekend I was able to catch the Belmont Stakes and over an hour of pre-race coverage. While I was expecting to see alot of coverage and hype about Big Brown's attempt to seize the triple crown, I was a bit surprised that in the 1 hour and 20 minutes preceding the race, there wasn't a single story on any of the other 8 horses running the race. I didn't know any of these horses (I only watch the major televised races), but as an interested viewer I wanted to know who these other 8 horses were that would presumably go down in history only as members of a distant pack in the background as Big Brown blew by them to caprure a historic win. I kept waiting for a segment that would introduce me to these horses, but it never happened. I was shocked that there wasn't even a single sappy segment featuring anyone somehow associated with one of the other horses. I kept waiting, but as the race finally approached, I realized that this was 100% Big Brown covereage and lots of Triple Crown hype. While I, like most everyone else, thought that Big Brown would win, I thought to myself that the producers would be embarassed if Big Brown lost and they had failed to profile the winning horse. But, hey, Big Brown was so heavily favored (and full of steroids), why bother with the other horses.
By now, we all know how this ends. Big Brown flops, becoming the first Triple Crown candidate in history to finish last. No apparent injuries or problems. Perhaps it was the heat or the distance. Whatever it was, Big Brown isn't Mr. Ed so we will never know (and should let it go). But, what happened was absolutely amazing. Da'Tara, a 38-to-1 long shot, went wire-to-wire to win by over 5 lengths, not to mention beat the most heavily favored horse to capture the Triple Crown in modern times. This performance is amazing - arguably, even if Big Brown was racing like he usually did, Da'Tara still may have won and definitely would have given Big Brown a tough race. This win is amazing. This is only Da'Tara's second win in eight starts, the jockey was a mere 22 years old, and the only other time that these two horses met Big Brown won by 23 1/2 lengths. To say that Da'Tara was an underdog is an understament - an amazing story! While this upset was highly entertaining, when it was clear around the last turn that Big Brown was going to loose I was giggling on the inside as I imagined the producers kicking themselves for not having featured any of the other horses pre-race.
But, it seems that I was dead wrong. The broadcast barely showed Da'Tara finishing before we went back to Big Brown coverage. Sure, everyone wanted to know why he had such a poor performace. But somehow, we managed to completely forego an amazing victory by a no-name horse and a no-name jockey. This team pulled off the biggest upset in sports this year and they were not interviewed immediately after the race. In a national newspaper there are 3 headline stories on Big Brown and one - on page 7 of the sports section - announcing that Da'Tara won. How is it that once we knew that Big Brown was not injured that we didn't see the victors' names and stories? I am ecstatic for a junior jockey to pull of this amazing performance - could any of us imagine something so substantial occurring that early in our careers?
I am outraged at the media's coverage of the event. Even if I can force myself to look beyond the Big Brown hype before the race (since hype is what the media specializes in these days), I cannot forgive the media for not giving the winner the credit that is due. This story has taught me something about life concerning the old adage that history is written by the winners. Or, maybe it is another lesson about how life isn't fair. History might be written by the winners, but only some of them. In this case the history of the Belmont Stakes was written by the perspective of the winner of the Derby and the Preakness, not the Stakes itself. (Not meaning to be cynical, but I guess it was written in a way that featured the only horse endorsed by a company.) In the future, I will reserve some wonder for the untold side of history. And, for the record, for me the headline was a heroic race won by a horse and jockey that were a long shot and the story on the 7th page of the sports section is that the favorite was a flop.
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4 comments:
I think part of the amazing hoopla with Big Brown has to do with no horse winning the Triple Crown for 30 years. As long as we continue to have horses win the Derby and Preakness, the media attention on the horse that is attempting the Triple Crown will far overshadow all the other angles associated with the Belmont.
While the media is very manipulative, I think that in this case most people stop caring about the races once a shot at the Triple Crown is gone. Horse racing is just not that mainstream and only the lure of the Triple Crown can attract a large viewership.
B's definitely right. 90% of the viewer's Saturday were watching to see if Big Brown would win the Triple Crown. At the same time, I thought that they missed an opportunity after the race. Big Brown finishing last made it tough to tell the story though, I suppose. With the way that the jockey pulled him up, it kind of emphasized the "Big Brown lost" angle instead of the "Da' Tara won" angle. I still would've expected at least an interview with the jockey or owner.
Honestly, I switched the channel as soon as I saw Big Brown being eased to the line.
In that case, given that those tuning in to see the completion of the Triple Crown had already changed the channel, I guess I'd say why not go ahead and interview the guy who won for those viewers who were horse racing aficionados?
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