From Steve Haskin's wonderful Kentucky Derby wrapup story, here's trainer Dick Mandella {who trained MINE THAT BIRD for 10 days last fall} talking about what makes the horse game special:
“But seriously, that horse looked fabulous. The trainer has done a great job with him. Just because a trainer doesn’t have a big stable doesn’t mean he’s not a good horseman. This goes to show what someone who has a lot of time to spend with one horse can do when that horse has talent. That’s the beauty of this game. Everybody’s got a chance. We don’t promote enough how equal and how fair this game can be. It has very little prejudice. This is the only business where a sheikh or member of a royal family will lean down to some minimum wage hotwalker or groom and say, ‘What do you think?’"
Well said, reminds me of why going to the Kentucky Derby is so much damn fun.
