Celebrity: Regis Philbin's co-hosts bought him a harness racer for his 81st birthday
Its name is Regis The Horse.
Regis is the new host of “Crowd Goes Wild,” a live sports entertainment talk show that premiered on the fledging Fox Sports 1 network Monday night. For his birthday, his fellow cast-members decided to buy him a horse, because why not.
“We really wanted to get you something special,” his co-host enthused. “We knew it had to be top-notch and we knew it had to be big.”
Wow, a horse, how thoughtful.
A speechless Regis looked baffled as they presented a montage of how they found Regis The Horse, a 2-year-old Standardbred colt.
“Yay!” the co-host exclaimed. “Regis, how do you feel?”
“Overwhelmed,” Regis replied.
Later in the show they watched Regis The Horse break his maiden race at Delaware's Harrington Raceway, which he won by two and a quarter lengths.
“That was sensational! Way to go,” said Regis, holding up a portrait of his horse.
According to the United States Trotting Association News,
The plans for Regis’s surprise began months ago when show producer Vin Rubino contacted the USTA office to unveil his scheme of acquiring and following the horse named after the show’s host as a birthday present. Rubino and his team met with Harrington Raceway officials, trainer Teague and representatives from the USTA in late May to figure out how to buy a horse, name it after Philbin, get it to the races on Aug. 19 with a post time between 5 and 6 p.m., and coordinate with Roberts Communications to deliver the video signal to the show in New York.
Harrington’s Matt Sparacino, the USTA’s T.C. Lane and George Teague Jr. were instrumental in coordinating and successfully surprising Philbin on his birthday.
“It's terrific to get that kind of attention for the sport,” said George Teague. “We were thrilled to be a part of this and I'm really pleased the horse raced well.”
“Crowd Goes Wild” will continue to feature live segments each week that Philbin’s namesake races. Also, there are future plans for Philbin to meet Regis The Horse.
Go Riding.
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