Inspiration for You from the Kentucky Derby by Bob Boog
People often find inspiration from sporting events, and this weekend there were several such events to choose from.
The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in triple overtime. In the sporting world, hockey's triple overtime has to rank with the sporting worlds most exhilarating and intense minutes ever.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers posted their tenth home victory breaking a record that had stood for over 60 years. Sixty years, that's quite a long time!
In Las Vegas, Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao knocked out British fighter Ricky Hatton in the second round. This was supposed to be a close match for both fighters, and some experts had even questioned whether the Asian fighter should be in the same ring as the Brit.
All of these events had their inspirational moments, but my favorite sports story of the weekend doesn't involve a human. It involves a horse called Mine that Bird who had never won a race in the United States. He did win the 2008 Canadian Champions race, but lately, he was considered "down on his luck". In the Santa Anita Breeders cup last October, for example, he had come in LAST place. In his last race, two weeks before the Kentucky Derby against weaker competition than the derby field, he had finished in fourth place.
To say that Mine that Bird was an underdog is an understatement. The odds posted against him winning the Kentucky Derby were 50 to 1, meaning that if you placed a two dollar bet on him and he won, you would earn $102.
Sports writers thought so much of him that he was completely ignored - which made sense. After all, his owners were two cowboys from New Mexico whose truck had broken down while bringing the horse over to Kentucky.
The horse's trainer was a man who had been in a motorcycle accident two weeks before the Derby, and instead of walking the horse, he could only hobble around on crutches.
The jockey, Calvin Borel was a last ditch replacement too, and had only decided to take the ride because he couldn't find any other horse, so it was no surprise that Mine that Bird was in last place when the race started. He was in last place at the half, and last place with three quarters of the race done.
Yet Mine that Bird was the little train that could. Quite possibly the smallest horse of the entire field, he somehow slid his way through the crowded pack and squirted out to the rail in first place.
Incredibly, on a sloppy, mud-filled racetrack Mine that Bird won the race - not by a whisker, a neck or a nose. There was no photo-finish. Mine that Bird won by an impressive 6 3/4 length - and notched the largest margin of victory since Assault won by eight lengths in 1946. How did he do it?
"I rode him like a good horse," explained jockey Calvin Borrel, "and he's such a small horse he just skipped along the track."
So maybe if you feel that you've been running in last place this year, you'll find some inspiration from this little tale. How a down-on-his luck champion who was derided by all the experts as being too small to compete against the "big boys" made good in front of a crowd of slack-jawed millions. Maybe all it took was a jockey who believed in him and expected him to perform like a "good horse" to decide that he could do it. And maybe this little horse will inspire you to power your way through the crowded field of your profession and not just finish in first place - but leave everyone else choking in your dust.
by Bob Boog
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