When he stepped off that trailer, the sky filled with electricity and I was shocked. I had read all the stories, watched all the videos of him and some of his progeny, and heard the numerous stories of this warrior, but nothing really prepared me for the real deal.
Alysheba strutted down the path, walked into the ring and had "it" still, as some coworkers discussed. He was looking really good and was just beautiful. Marta is quite possibly Alysheba's number one fan and taught me about his legacy.
The crowd was huge—standing room only and not even much room for standing. Seemingly ten cameras per square foot were shuttering and there was a sense of great gratitude for the King for sending home a hero. So I thank him and am very grateful for that.
I missed out on the cake, but was able to sign the thank you book for the King. Only I did not realize at the time that the book was for the King. So I merrily wrote a message to Alysheba, thinking this was a book to him, and said "I hope you and Cigar can talk about your issues, especially the fact he surpassed your earnings." And I might have muddled something about stealing the attention away from Cigar. I mean Cigar was pouting and they had his door closed.
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Now since I am talking about attention grabbers, there is another fine athelete that took my breath away and whom I had not met before.
Three Chimneys had their open house for Big Brown with a Big Brown Bag Lunch. So I was able to meet Big Brown up close and not so personal, say hi to Smarty Jones (who has filled out and looks great!), and meet Lewis Michael. While they all are in the main barn chilln', the second barn held some oldies but goodies.
Dynaformer and Wild Again are in the second barn with Exchange Rate, a relative youngster. As we entered the barn some lady had her arm in Exchange Rate's stall, through the bars, and yeah she almost lost it. Exchange Rate lured her in with the cute gum twitch and then went for the kill, well not kill, but you get the point.
Dynaformer was out being shown to a small crowd of eight or so. I happened to see a nod out of the corner of my eye, and to my right Wild Again, who is pensioned, was signaling us to come over and visit. So we did. We couldn't let all the attention go to the active stallions. He was thrilled, and so he kept nodding and begging for us to rub the outside of his lip. Really he wanted some mints from Marta and smelled our lunches, but he soon got over that and was pleased with the attention.
Once Dynaformer was done being shown, we asked the handler if we can see Wild Again. The handler was such a cool guy and had some much knowledge to share. He was actually really excited we asked to see Wild Again because apparently not many people ask to see him.
The handler gave us the scoop on daily habbits of the horse, and we asked him a lot of questions. Apparently the common routine for Wild Again is when he is let go into the field, he runs his heart out and plays and just rocks the place. Then afterward he realizes he is a little stiff and is a bit slower returning to his stall. The old man is sore and stiff for about three days, BUT then he goes and does it again!
I hope I still have a heart of a child at whatever 28 is in human years compared to horse years. (If you ask my co-workes, they would say that won't be a problem, I am sure). But I was sold on Wild Aagain. What a personailty, and HE LOOK AMAZING FOR A HORSE WHO IS TURNING 29 SOON!!!!
What race horses have you met that left an impression?
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UPDATE 12/5/08
It is my unfortunate duty to report that due to aging difficulties, our close friend Wild Again passed today.
How I am so glad to have met him and torn to lose him without seeing him one last time.
