Michael Wrona, the announcer at Los Alamitos Race Course and a great friend and mentor since I was a teenager and started broadcasting horse races 20 years ago, once told me, “The trouble with racehorses is they can’t read scripts!”
That line has stuck with me years later. It’s a shame that horses don’t always follow a script because horse people are very good at creating them. Horses carry the dreams that “this is the one” for their breeder, owner, trainer, rider, and fans. From the stakes winner to the single in a Pick 6 to the horse that will take its rider up the levels, these dreams are motivation to push harder and keep going during difficult times.
As soon as I saw the 3-year-old bay OTTB filly Cubbie Girl North listed with CANTER Illinois last July, I started dreaming and scripting my journey to go from announcing the Thoroughbred Makeover to competing in it in 2020. Unfortunately, Cubbie went off script (again) about a month ago. This time, it turned out to be a good thing, but I didn’t think so at the time.
