The Eye: Intuition or Science or A Bit of Both

I've always had an eye for a good race horse. I don't know exactly what it is that I know, but I know. Sometimes I think I was impressed as a small child by the legendary Secretariat to such an extent that his image is burned in my brain as "HORSE." All other horses are then compared to the master image. My other half calls this intuition. But I'm not so sure that's what it is, because I do much better with my "intuition" when I watch the horses in action. Last year, I did pic Animal Kingdom as the winner of the derby by seeing him just before the race. I'd never seen him run, but he was beautifully muscled on that day. This year, many racing experts picked Union Rags on the same criteria; he was fit and ready to go. He had a bad trip, of course, but he didn't impress me much in his races or in the parade. Maybe that was intuition. But I'll tell you what, this is the race I saw that made me pick "I'll Have Another" as my favorite horse this year.

You can scroll forward to the final third of the race to see what I mean when I say that I'll Have Another is a HORSE. He has what is known as heart in the racing lingo. He appears to be finished when the come from behind powerhouse, Creative Cause, makes a charge at him. But I'll Have Another finds another gear. Bodemeister won the Arkansas Derby by 10 lengths in most impressive fashion. But he didn't impress me as much as I'll Have Another did in the Santa Anita. Bodemeister romped to the front and pulled away, unchallenged. And that is a sight to see. It stirs the blood of a horse enthusiast to witness something like that. But I wasn't sure what he would do when faced with the longer track and the challengers in the Derby. I was pretty sure what I'll Have Another would do. He would run down any competition. He would dig in hard if faced with a challenge. And he would do his level best to win.