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https://books2read.com/Tomorrow-at-Daybreak
In Tomorrow at Daybreak , the breeder of fine horses, Pate Kavenagh,
has a keen eye for good horseflesh. He’s also a natural-born horse trader,
shrewd and patient, and that’s how Jacko, a superb black gelding, comes into
his ownership.
Pate and Jacko’s time together is relatively short but far from
uneventful, and the speed of that gelding is the stuff of legends.
“You’re right, he’s quite a boy!” agreed Pate about Dinah’s praise
of Jacko. “He can run like the wind, maybe faster…”
Like Jacko, in real life some horses are literally born to run, to
race, and it’s a matter of opinion in racing circles who is the best racehorse
of all time. It depends on who is being asked of course, but one horse stands alone
for many in that regard and that is Secretariat, or Big Red as he was affectionately
called.
Says Britanica.com: “Secretariat,
(foaled
1970), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) who is widely considered the greatest horse of the second half of the 20th century. A
record-breaking money winner, in 1973 he became the ninth winner of the
U.S. Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes). In his short, brilliant 16-month career, he came in
first 16 times, second three times, and third once, winning a total of
$1,316,808. At Belmont he won by an unprecedented 31 lengths and
established the dirt-track record for a 1 ½ -mile race of 2:24.
According to
Britanica.com Secretariat was “one of the fastest horses ever timed and had a
brilliant career on the track. He was a big horse who remarkably never seemed
to tire, and that mystery of his incredible stamina was solved when he was
euthanized in 1989 because of laminitis — ‘a painful degenerative disease
involving an animal’s hooves,’ and treatment failed. His death made headlines
because the ‘necropsy revealed
that his heart was twice the size of a typical horse. Some speculated this
allowed for his incredible speed. Unlike most horses—which are buried with only
their head, hooves, and heart—Secretariat was interred whole.’”
Secretariat’s astonishing dirt-track records
remain intact – no horse has ever beaten them.
His regular jockey was Ron Turcotte, riding
the big horse in 18 of Secretariat’s 21 starts — including all of his major
wins. (Ron himself participated in 20,281 races.)
There are several statutes of the great
Secretariat in the US, as well as two in Canada
— one dedicated specifically to Ron Turcotte, immortalized in bronze with
Secretariat. It stands in his hometown of Grand Falls (he was born in the
village of Drummond), New Brunswick, Canada, actually just three hours away
from where I live. It goes without saying that we are proud of this
accomplished native son, and it seems only fitting that Ron will forever sit
atop Secretariat as they cross the finish line (at the Belmont Stakes).
Sadly though, Ron’s racing days were over in June
of 1978 when an accident just out of the starting gate at Belmont Park put him
in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, paralyzed from the waist down. After
recovery from his severe injuries (he was thrown head first onto the track) he
became a tireless advocate on behalf of injured jockeys, including for the
Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) as well as for others who had suffered
spinal cord injuries.
Ron Turcotte is recognized internationally as one
of the greatest figures in horse racing history with more than 3,000 wins, as
well as for his unwavering devotion to the sport. He lived to be eighty-four,
passing away on August 22, 2025 and was properly feted by his fellow New
Brunswickers before being carried to his final resting place.
Like any sport, legends are created, and while
thoroughbred racing is perhaps the most well-known form of horseracing in North
America, harness racing, often considered to be descended from ancient chariot
racing, still maintains a dedicated fan base. Britanica.com explains harness
racing as the “sport of driving at speed a Standardbred horse pulling a light two-wheeled vehicle called a sulky...”
Also britanica.com says
about Standardbreds: “Standardbred, breed of horse developed in the United
States in the 19th century and used primarily for harness racing,”
My great uncle, the
late Walter Akerley, was a champion harness racer, and incredibly only quit the
sport at the age of eighty-five. On that occasion, once the day’s racing was
over, with finishes of firsts, seconds and thirds, he sold his horse and
equipment, silks and all, right on the spot. His reason? There was a change of
guard in the US Trotting Association that formerly guided harness racing in New
Brunswick (the Maritime Provinces), and Walter didn’t like the choice of new
president. And so he walked away, but his heart remained with the sport.
I should also note that
in addition to being eighty-five years of age at the time of retirement (Walter
lived to be 106 ½), he had accomplished his amazing career at the track with only
one leg. He had lost a limb to gangrene as a boy after stepping on a rusty
horseshoe nail, and wore a prosthesis for nearly a hundred years!
Walter was an amazing
man and a great horseman who also made his mark in his younger days in rural New
Brunswick ice racing. When the river froze over for the winter, the weekly
races were a popular draw. He said the horses wore rubber shoes for that type
of event back in the day, although now they wear specifically designed metal
shoes with more sophisticated safety features.
There’s just something
about a fast horse that stirs the blood of competitiveness. The stakes are
usually high, but so is the glory of standing in the winner’s circle.
Like Jacko in Tomorrow
at Daybreak, I prefer black horses, but as with Secretariat and also in the
cover image for Tomorrow at Daybreak, a chestnut horse is also a beautiful
animal. The chestnut coat colour (where only red pigment is present) is common
in almost every horse breed and comes in shades of light chestnut, golden
chestnut (sorrel), dark chestnut and liver chestnut. Secretariat was described
by sports writer (the late) William Nack as a “bright red chestnut.” In other
words if a chestnut horse were human it would be a redhead.
The picture below is of
Aries, a four-way cross of Arabian, Quarter Horse, Morgan and Paint. He
belonged to late horseman Michael Smith who also loved chestnut horses.
In Tomorrow at Daybreak
the very handsome Pate liked nothing better than to have a fast horse under
him. He also appreciated his horse’s speed when it hurried him to the meadow at
daybreak to meet Dinah…
“She tied her chestnut gelding beside Pate’s horse, both horses with
plenty of leeway to nibble the luscious grass that grew in abundance at their
feet. The chestnut didn’t appear to have been hurried, so she had obviously
taken the time to enjoy her ride. That’s what riding in the early morning was
all about, drinking in the sweet fresh air and the beauty of the forest path by
which she’d come.
Dinah was flushed, her temper bubbling just below the surface and
her heightened colour made her all the more appealing. This was a lot of woman
standing here, and she had ridden all the way out from town at an ungodly hour
to be with him. And instead of being flattered, he’d all but held her in
contempt.
He reached out his arms to her. ‘I’m sorry, Dinah. I was wrong with
some of the things I said. I guess you can’t know everything about a person in
an hour or two, or expect to. I apologize.’
In an instant her gorgeous smile was back, the tempest subsided.
“Apology accepted. Now let’s not be so darned serious. I came to be with you,
Pate.” She looked around, then pointed to a spot in the meadow where the
wildflowers parted. “That’s a good spot there. Come on,” she said taking his
hand. “I want to lie with you. Right here, right now. I can’t bear to wait
another minute.”
Nice post. Learned a bit about horses. Thanks
ReplyDeleteIt's so great when the author is knowledgeable in the subject. I always like to learn something new when I read a novel. Thanks for sharing.
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