By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
I won’t lie.
I have written more horse-racing stories the past three weeks than I have in my entire career as a sportswriter.
In fact, until Archarcharch won the Arkansas Derby on April 16 to enter today’s Kentucky Derby, I had written exactly zero stories about the horse game.
Not that I haven’t had some experience with the sport, and yes, I defend it as a sport — more on that in a minute.
Some of my most pleasant outings have been to Hot Springs to watch the horses run at beautiful Oaklawn Park, where Archarcharch, owned by Jacksonville’s Bob and Val Yagos, beat Nehro by a neck to win the Arkansas Derby.
There is something gritty and earthy about the environment at a horse track. Not only is it a stage for the exploits of some beautiful animals, Oaklawn and tracks like it around the country are fantastic places for people watching.
In fact, there may be no greater collection of winners and losers of all shapes and sizes than at the track. From the grizzled to the coiffed and pampered, they all come to play the ponies.
But it isn’t the crowd that makes horse racing unique. It is one of the few sports where gambling is encouraged and is part of the language, where fans can buy a piece of the action simply by putting down a $2 bet.
I was never a risk taker; I never bet to win and only not to lose. But I have found, even if it’s just an investment of a couple of bucks, having money on a horse makes the race much more exciting.
For a furious minute or two, a bettor sort of shares ownership of the horse he has bought in. For those fast-paced seconds, a guy with money down feels for all the world like the general manager of an NFL team watching the players he went out and purchased fight for a championship.
So, yes, I have spent some time at the track, but I just never had an opportunity to write about the horses. In my career it has always been someone else’s job, until Archarcharch came along.
He is a fine animal owned by genuinely nice people. Bob Yagos has said the real challenge in the three-week run-up to today’s Run for the Roses has been holding Archarcharch, a strong closer, in check.
Some detractors have said horse racing is not a sport because the animal does all the work and the human is just along for the ride. They would have us believe that Archarcharch’s jockey today, Jon Court, is nothing more than a silk-wearing hitchhiker.
While there is a dictionary definition of “sport,” that definition is up for grabs in American society. Some people, maybe the same ones who put down horse racing, might dismiss fishing as a hobby or bowling as a game or deny NASCAR its place in sports because it’s all about the car.
I submit that all of the above offer measurable results, with a human contribution, that give us a clear winner and are therefore sports. The outcome relies on some degree of skill or endurance or effort.
We can get into my definition of what is NOT a sport some other time, but here’s a hint: If it is played sitting down at a table or if judges are overwhelmingly involved, I’m thinking not.
But in horse racing, where a 100-pound man who has trained and fought to make his weight synthesizes his actions with a 1,000-pound animal at high speed, against others doing the same thing, well, to me all the elements of sport are there.
And it’s a race. Is there any more basic, clear-cut and thrilling competition than a race? It’s what we hope our other sports turn into, a pennant race, a footrace to the end zone.
I know I’ll be on the edge of my couch for the “fastest two minutes in sports” today.
You can bet on it.
