Dream Well

• Email
• Print
• Tweet

By Dancy Fu -- The Queen Mother has indulged that the key to longevity lies in "horse racing and strong gin and tonics." Well, I'm still a head too short for the drinking part, but I'm certainly getting healthy doses of the racing scene. I happily spent my winter vacation immersed in recent sales and stakes results, despite the fact that I am under 18, female, and never gambled once on lottery or blackjack -- three major categories that immediately label me as "Not a Potential Racing Fan."

So what's my secret? Since the age of 10, besides the Babysitters Club and Nancy Drew, I rode head-to-head with Alec Ramsey and his majestic Arabian, the Black. I've never actually known or touched a real horse before, but with ink and paper Walter Farley brought to life a full-blooded steed, a Poseidon's gift that demonstrated courage and strength and fiery independence from every angle. His loyal relationship with Alec, and his pure joy to run, opened up a whole new world of beauty, excitement, and gallantry to a young girl. Before the realities, before scant newspaper coverages and "dirty old track" myths, before knowledge of the Super Bowl or MTV, before all that, in the dreamy serenity of my youth, I learned the magic and beauty of the Sport of Kings, of what it could be, or what it used to be.

I began scouring libraries for more: Come On Seabiscuit, Man o' War, Ruffian, and Thoroughbred (a series). I created my own stories, publishing them in my fifth grade school newspaper, and even made a board game. Sometime later I found an address to The Blood-Horse. Thanks to the generosity of this magazine, the copy I received enthralled me for weeks. I must've studied, admired, and studied all over again every single page, for my interest in the complexity and grandeur of the sport has increased ever since. All because I was introduced to, and fell in love with, a horse called the Black.

Unfortunately, the romance has gone out of recent horse-related novels. Instead of the wild and precious phantoms of The Black Stallion and Misty, contemporary versions dawdle on domestic show jumpers and their teenybopper riders' common day traumas -- hardly the stuff of drama and intrigue. In order to spin the clock back, the thrill and rush of racing, the dreams of a richer tomorrow, must be celebrated, and fluted into words. And although money chases adults, the emphasis here should be on the young. Because kids have the time, the imagination, and above all, the unsoiled, untapped love for beauty, adventure, and speed.

Most people in racing will tell you that they first came to the racetrack as kids, perched high on their fathers' shoulders. They're the ones who will come back, buy the box seats at Saratoga, pay for yearlings at Keeneland. They will keep the sport going.

And the city kids? Those whose parents are too poor, too busy, or too highbrow to take them out to fresh air and racing magic? Those millions will read books, and some of them, some thousands, will stumble across a courageous steed, a lovable pony. And it will be they who will bring new blood to the sport, new money, new ideas, and energy. Because we need them, because I am tired of my mother asking me why I'm wasting my time, following a gambling sport.

Why?

Because this sport, this cycle of dreams won or lost, offers an infinite hope and depth that is unattainable, unparalleled, and underestimated everywhere else. Every weekend, 52 times a year, a list of rooting favorites go to post. Excitement builds -- will he win? On the lead or with a sweeping late move? If he doesn't, there's always tomorrow. Tomorrow, when he may be a star, the stretching of possibilities -- for greatness, for courage, for power, and something beyond ourselves.

Out of the daily grind, a tapestry is continually woven, of the stories, the journeys, the endless laughter and tears of following dreams on four legs. There is always something happening, always a possibility, a lesson, a victory. Racing is a timeless classic in today's hectic schedules and virtual connections--and if properly promoted, it should be a bestseller.

Dream well.

• Email
• Print
• Tweet