Go For Gin. In artsy black & white. At his home at the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington, Kentucky. Visited April 2019 on my "horses and bourbon" tour of Central Kentucky.
Congratulations are now in order for Go For Gin, winner of the 1994 Kentucky Derby. His winning race in the mud at Churchill Downs is on the youtubes here. Go For Gin has now outlasted and outlived the competition and, now, is the Oldest Living Winner of a Triple Crown Race.
Here's Go For Gin in living color. These horses really do have noticeable personalities. The two (living) horses I most wanted to see on the "horses and bourbon" tour were War Emblem and Funny Cide. Both were aloof, like they knew they were superstars, living on a plain above the rest of us. Go For Gin seemed fun and sociable. He was the only horse there that enjoyed playing out in the rain (which is appropriate for a horse whose most notable win was on a muddy track at Churchill Downs). At the same time, he was very protective of another horse in the pasture next door, a champion pacer named Staying Together, who was blind (and, sadly, now deceased).
Sadly, Go For Gin ascended to the title of "Oldest Living Winner of a Triple Crown Race" upon the death yesterday of the great A.P. Indy. Although A.P. Indy's only win (in his only Triple Crown race) was the 1992 Belmont Stakes, he probably was the greatest thoroughbred racing horse since the immortal Secretariat. An injury kept him out of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but his winning time in the Belmont of 2:26 was bettered only by Secretariat (and equaled in 1989 by Easy Goer). After his racing career ended, A.P. Indy became a legend in his stud, becoming what they call a "breed-shaping sire" because of the quality of his progeny. R.I.P. A.P. Indy.
No comments:
Post a Comment