Sadly, I'll Have Another Won't

As one who has been a devoted admirer of horses for as long as I can remember, I routinely pay attention to thoroughbred racing, horse shows and other equine events. I attend in person whenever I can. When I was much, much younger, I used to try to wheedle rides from whoever owned a horse whenever I could. The greatest disappointments of my youth were that my family did not live on a farm and that I didn't have a horse of my own. I must confess that I badgered my long-suffering parents unmercifully about both.

Just about when I had accepted my horseless lot in life, my father received a two-year old pinto as barter for an outstanding bill. Of course, as we lived in town, finding a pasture for "Lucky," as I dubbed this astonishing bit of fortune that had appeared in my life in deus ex machina fashion, became a major project over the following years, with Lucky being ferried to several different locales during his time with my family. Unfortunately, Lucky's arrival late in my sophomore year in high school occurred only shortly before my departure for the Big City for my last two years of secondary school, so a lot of his care and riding over the years actually fell to my hapless younger sister, Artist Sis. Unsurprisingly, she likes to remind me about this from time to time.

But Lucky is only a sidebar in this post. He certainly deserves at least one post of his own! My main topic today, however, features an American thoroughbred horse known as "I'll Have Another."  I'll Have Another has been making headlines in the United States because he has so far won two of the three races that make up the US Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing. On the first Saturday in May, he won the 2012 Kentucky Derby decisively, as can be seen in this video. Two weeks later, he won the 2012 Preakness Stakes in one of the most thrilling finishes I have ever seen, as shown here.

This meant that in 2012, there was a real chance that I'll Have Another could be a Triple Crown winner, something that has not happened since 1978! All that remained was the last hurdle: the Belmont Stakes, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

But alas, even the possibility of a Triple Crown winner is not to be this year. In today's news, there was a very disappointing report. I'll Have Another will not run in tomorrow's race. After a workout this morning, the horse experienced swelling in his left front leg. The veterinarian declared the swelling to be the beginning of tendinitis. While this situation will hopefully not destroy the horse's racing career, it will certainly put an end to the dream of a Triple Crown winner in 2012 - at least in the United States.

But there is still a chance of a Triple Crown winner in the UK this year. So there is still room for hope! More on that in another post.