Last Saturday the Belmont Stakes was run, racing's third leg of the triple crown. In the not too distant past I would have been glued to my TV set to watch the race, would have known many of the owners, trainers and riders in the race, and more than likely would have actually been at the race. This Saturday, however, I barely knew the race was on, and it was only by accident that I turned on the TV about 5 minutes before post. I didn't know a single horse in the race. That's a far cry from 10 years ago when I could talk horses and handicapping with the best of them.
I watched the race, and as the winner came across the wire, the announcer said the rider was Jose Valdivia, Jr. I was shocked and surprised. Jose was our number one jockey for many of the years we were in racing. He rode dozens of winners for us over the years, including his first Grade 1 winner, Talisluckybusride, and his 400th win. He and his wife Renee became dear friends of ours, we were business friends first, but so much more, and here it is 10 years since we've been involved in racing, and we keep in touch regularly.
Jose and Renee were just kids when we met them in the late 1990's. We travelled the world with them, from New York to Vancouver to Tokyo, watching our horses run. It was one thrill after another. The biggest thrill for Jose and Renee was in 2000, before they were married, when Ron told them that if Jose won a big race in Northern California, Ron would send them to Siena, Italy to get married. Jose won the race on Lord Sterling, our champion horse who ran 3rd in the Japan Cup Dirt, Ron bought them a ticket to Siena, and Jose and Renee were married in Italy. It's a beautiful love story.
I have to tell you one very funny story about the four of us on our trip to Tokyo. We were lucky enough to be invited to race Lord Sterling in the first ever Japan Cup Dirt race by the Japanese Racing Board. It was an all expense paid trip for us, our trainer and his wife and our racing manager. We brought our children and my parents too, so it was the trip of a lifetime. Anyway, one day Ron and I, along with Renee and Jose, decided to go to a health club and work out with the locals. What a kick. When we arrived we all had to put on the uniform of the club, which was white shorts and shirt and white tennis shoes. (I was much heavier then, and they had trouble finding clothes to fit me). We walked in and saw Japanese men and women of all ages working out. After the workout, we went to our respective dressing rooms, Renee and I took a sauna, then a shower, and enjoyed watching the Japanese enjoy a health club their way. All the women were sitting on little metal buckets, doing their hair and make up. They were all staring at us because we didn't fit in. Renee is quite tall, and most of the women in the gym were very short. An interesting ritual that they had was taking an ice cold plunge before the shower. We passed on that one, but the Japanese all found it very refreshing. They thought we were strange and we thought they were strange. Remember this, Renee?
So here it is, 11 years since we have had much involvement in horse racing, yet when I turned on the tube and watched the Belmont last week, that old thrill came back. I was so happy for Jose. He won his first Belmont on his first try, and at 24-1. I was all alone when I watched the race, yet there I was clapping and cheering like a lunatic.
Our racing days are behind us. Yet from time to time I get out the hundreds of pictures of winners that we raced over the years. I look at those pictures and remind myself of that period of my life. There was much to like about it, the excitement, the notariaty, and I guess the risk. Yesterday Ron asked me to send one of our old winning pictures to him at Taft. It was a race at Hollywood Park. The race was named after him, we had two horses in the race, and they finished in a deadheat for first. That was the first time that had happened in the history of the racetrack. It was very exciting standing in the winners circle with not one, but two of our horses, and receiving a tropy. But I'm enjoying where I am now in life, and am happy to let others take the limelight, enjoy the risk and sometimes the reward. Some of my best memories of those years are the times we spent with Renee and Jose and the bond we formed, and the knowledge that they are lifelong friends. Congratulations, Jose.
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