DevilHorse
03-04-2013, 07:13 AM
In Featherston's "The Great Kelly" article this morning, he asked for any examples of athletes (human and otherwise) that might have accomplished similar comebacks to what Ryan Kelly did this past weekend. Since Al opened up the door to the Equine world with Seabiscuit (really? that's low hanging fruit) it reminded me of an interesting horse who ran a few years ago named "Da Hoss."
The short version is that Da Hoss was a feisty brittle creature who always had leg problems (not unusual for horses, but more so for this one). He was a gelding whose future was to be a riding horse if he wasn't going to race, but if he was right, boy could he run!. But the faster you are, the more stress you put on those legs. Da Hoss was fast enough to win the Breeder's Cup Mile in 1996, but was unable to even race in 1997 because of his lameness. To get into a Breeder's Cup race (the NCAAs of the horse world if you will) you have to establish some credentials that year (lots of horse want to run for $1 million), they had trouble finding a race with safe conditions (no rain because he is a turf horse and they don't usually run races on rainy days; they kept canceling his targeted races) and they found a minor allowance prep race for him that he could start in, which he won. The Breeder's Cup committee was not overly impressed and would only let Da Hoss be an Also Eligible for the Breeder's Cup mile in 1998 because he did not have stakes winnings for 2 years. This meant he could only get into the field if another horse pulled out of the race. But, as fate would have it, he did get into the field because another horse scratched out. Da Hoss won the race, by a nose, and race track announcer Tom Durkin announced, "This is the greatest comeback since Lazarus."
You can google "Da Hoss" if you want more, that's pretty unique.
Larry
DevilHorse
The short version is that Da Hoss was a feisty brittle creature who always had leg problems (not unusual for horses, but more so for this one). He was a gelding whose future was to be a riding horse if he wasn't going to race, but if he was right, boy could he run!. But the faster you are, the more stress you put on those legs. Da Hoss was fast enough to win the Breeder's Cup Mile in 1996, but was unable to even race in 1997 because of his lameness. To get into a Breeder's Cup race (the NCAAs of the horse world if you will) you have to establish some credentials that year (lots of horse want to run for $1 million), they had trouble finding a race with safe conditions (no rain because he is a turf horse and they don't usually run races on rainy days; they kept canceling his targeted races) and they found a minor allowance prep race for him that he could start in, which he won. The Breeder's Cup committee was not overly impressed and would only let Da Hoss be an Also Eligible for the Breeder's Cup mile in 1998 because he did not have stakes winnings for 2 years. This meant he could only get into the field if another horse pulled out of the race. But, as fate would have it, he did get into the field because another horse scratched out. Da Hoss won the race, by a nose, and race track announcer Tom Durkin announced, "This is the greatest comeback since Lazarus."
You can google "Da Hoss" if you want more, that's pretty unique.
Larry
DevilHorse