Don't Fall Off Ronnie

I've now watched the movie Secretariat at least as many times as I've watched any other movie.  Casablanca, Easy Rider, The Longest Day, Patton.  I'm sure it is not an academy award winner like the Cider House Rules but the Secretariat deserved a movie to be made of his life.

Lawrence Scanlon called him "The Horse God Built" in his biography of the horse and groom.

The movie was about the horse, the owner, the trainer and the Triple Crown.  A coin flip, more than a little bit of luck and the rest was history.

I saw the race with an uncle who knew his way around a race track.  He told me a story about past posting his barber/bookie once.  I watched the movie The Sting and imagined Uncle Wil beating the barber out of a couple of bucks on a .25 bet.

The Belmont in 1973 was a once in a lifetime race according to my uncle.  I'd never seen one like it before or since.  The movie filled in some lapses in my memory of the Triple Crown that year but as a regular at Hialeah or Gulfstream on the weekends if I ever have a horse that wis winning a race with daylight as they came spinning out of the turn  I think I'll yell "DON'T FALL OFF...".

I should be so lucky.

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