Almost a tragedy

Posted by Avram Freedberg

The horses paraded around uneventfully in the paddock prior to Hear the Footsteps’s race this afternoon when suddenly a thud was heard and the crowd around the paddock gasped noticeably. Cincinnati Kid a 30-1 shot lashed out at his jockey Jermaine Bridgmohan with his powerful foot as the jockey was about to mount him. He kicked Jermaine in the ribs. After lying motionless for several minutes, the jockey was lucid and was rushed to Albany Medical Center. The horse was scratched when no one else agreed to ride him. Later, Bridgmohan was judged able to ride tomorrow. A tragedy had been averted.

Now on to the race. Hear the Footsteps was bumped at the start, lost a shoe during the race and ran erratically, losing ground as the race progressed. Thanks to the skillful ride of Alan Garcia, Hear the Footsteps started moving well into the stretch. He kept on coming but it appeared he could not catch the leader. We were all screaming for him but it seemed the finish line would be reached too soon… but he kept on coming… and coming. As they approached the line, he inched in front but as the heads bobbed on the finish line victory was not assured. The PHOTO sign went up on the board. We waited breathlessly for the judges to post the order of finish. 1st – Hear the Footsteps. We all roared and I got to don my copy of the jockey silks and enter the Winner’s Circle. Rob and I were surrounded by family and friends. As Linda Rice arrived and Alan Garcia rode in on the victor, we posed for our photo. Wow! What an exciting race. The link below is to the official chart of the race (copy and paste onto your browser, if the link doesn’t work. Sometimes the entire link is not highlighted).

http://www1.drf.com/drfNCWeeklyHorseDisplay.do?track=SAR&country=USA&raceDate=20100807&raceNo=3

This was the first time ever that my children, Jonathan and Arielle and her partner, Tamar, were ever in the Winner’s Circle with us. Jonathan surprised us by arriving from California. It was very special. So, this Maiden win by Hear the Footsteps meant so much more because it was shared with them and so many good friends.

Arielle’s Song is entered in a race on August 11th and, we hope, our two year old colt, It’s Truly Ahvee, will race on the 14th. Then back to Stamford for a wedding and a few days of work before Ahvee’s Destiny races on the 18th (if she doesn’t race at Monmouth on the 15th).

We continue to have some very good luck at Saratoga. Yay!

Best,
A.
Visit the Official Avram Freedberg website!