The Party's Over
by George Kaywood

Could you feel it? Could you feel the crushing letdown that seemed to just flow out of your TV or the monitors if you were at the track or simulcast center? Everyone heard the disappointment in track announcer Tom Durkin's voice when he finished the call of the race on a rare downbeat note.

As a radio talk show host charged with talking primarily about news and politics, I don't talk a lot about sports. But there are times when something happens in the world of sports that transcends sports itself. Something that strikes a universal chord that causes men and women, young and old, to stop and talk. Smarty Jones' attempt to win the Triple Crown was one of those times.

Smarty Jones' Triple Crown effort was a living, breathing realization of the little guy working hard, pitching in as part of a team, getting some lucky breaks, overcoming adversity, and succeeding. It happens in the movies all the time. And it's happened before in horse racing, so why not once again in 2004?

I wonder how many sports writers will really understand that the joy ride ended differently for the casual fans, the people who became fans for five exciting weeks instead of just on Kentucky Derby day, than for the more serious fans, the handicappers....you.

The causal fans (and God Bless them!) are disappointed. The serious racing fans are hurt.

Hurt because the horse and the rider didn't do anything wrong. Hurt because the trainer and his team are good people who worked hard and didn't let success go to their heads. Hurt because somewhere in every serious handicapper's heart was tucked away the thought "Please let Smarty win, because this sport needs to attract new fans. Fans who might understand why I beat my brains out on a regular basis to find great horses and great bets. Fans who just might become handicappers and come to the track for the horses and not for slot machines."

Like the casual fan, you're bombarded regularly with mean-spirited, spiteful political news and advertising. No one truly knows what will happen in Iraq...or how safe we really are here in America. Gas prices are soaring; general health declining; road rage; and much harder life choices to make in our personal lives than we've ever had to make before.

If you're one of the handicappers who knows and fully understands "there's always another race," but still feel hurt, I just want to say it's O.K. Somehow, I doubt that anyone else will.

I can't remember ever hearing a winning jockey or owner say "I'm sorry my horse won" after a race. I can't remember a losing owner say she was disappointed for the fans more than for herself and her husband. In their hearts, those people knew and understood that what happened was one of those times that transcends sports.

So the party's over. There'll be others, of course.

But this one really, truly, was one of the best.