That Winning Feeling

Watch along with trainer Doug O’Neill and family as I’ll Have Another and Mario Gutierrez surge toward the wire. If this was their Preakness reaction, what’ll happen when they pull off the Belmont?

One of my all-time favorite racing anecdotes involves golf legend Jack Nicklaus and Secretariat’s breathtaking win in the ’73 Belmont: Watching the race on television from the comfort of his Florida home, Nicklaus suddenly found himself on all fours in front of the screen, pounding the ground as Secretariat widened the gap on Sham, weeping uncontrollably and disturbing his guests.

When Nicklaus confided in sports commentator Heywood Hale Broun about his reaction, Broun responded: “All of your life, in your game, you’ve been striving for perfection. At the end of the Belmont, you saw it.”

Come June 9, Nicklaus and Secretariat will definitely be on my mind.

Here’s hoping the O’Neills’ Preakness glee only gets better from here–