It’s seven o’clock in the evening in Orlando, Florida. A few families jostle for position, bustling luggage by their sides, as an airport shuttle pulls up to the curb. Following an exhausting week away with the kids, a surprising calm falls over the otherwise rambunctious crowd.
Slumped over my suitcase, I’m actually looking forward to the 30-minute drive back to the airport and even the late night flight to our frigid home. Finally I am starting to remember what quiet sounds like.
The bus door swings open and a man happily glides down the stairs toward us.
“Hi, I’m Michael,” he grins. “I’m originally from Montreal. I used to drive horses – harness horses. Can I take your luggage?”
Stunned, I hand Michael our bags, quickly scanning for logos among my possessions. Could anything have possibly tipped off our driver to the fact that I’m involved in Canadian harness racing? Or could this be the way that he greets every passenger that boards his bus?
I tentatively tell him where we’re from and where I work. With that, a glow comes over Michael’s face. His words quicken. “You know, I still have a nice two-year-old at the races. She’s in Chicago. Her full brother paced a mile in forty-eight and three.”
As we board the bus and shuffle down the aisle, Michael calls out to us. “Don’t sit all the way at the back. Come sit up here near the front.” We reverse our path and settle about eight rows behind the driver, in the first available seats.
As Michael dims the cabin lights and begins to pull away from the hotel, he starts his announcements over the loudspeaker. “The drive will take about half an hour,” he says. “On your left you’ll see one of the newer hotels built in the area. It has 3,200 rooms. She has Albatross blood - the filly. She reminds me a lot of Albatross.”
Several passengers look around, puzzled and confused as to what their driver just said. “Did he say something about blood?” a man asks his wife nervously.
“No he’s talking about the albatross,” she hesitantly responds. “I think it’s a bird.”
“Her younger brother recently went through the sale in Illinois,” Michael continues. “We thought about buying him but decided not to. There sure are a lot of great horsepeople in Canada…”
As Michael trails off I begin to converse with him – me in row eight, him driving the bus - with the loudspeaker intermittently turned on. Nobody else joins in the conversation, but it continues.
I enjoy talking to Michael but wonder if our discussion is getting on the nerves of those around us. By now they’ve figured out we’re talking about horse racing and have presumably tuned out – at least that’s how I justify it. Occasionally Michael throws out a few local facts or sights for passengers to be aware of. But he will not pass up the rare opportunity to talk racing.
As we arrive at the terminal and begin disembarking the bus, the passenger in front of me wishes our driver good luck with his horses. I offer Michael my phone number and encourage him to let me know how his filly is doing. “It sure sounds like she could be something special,” I remark, promising myself to look her up when I get back home.
As I walk into the airport I immediately start thinking about harness racing and its place in people’s hearts. If Michael was a bowler, a baseball player or a surfer, I can’t imagine he would have introduced himself as such when he greeted us. And even if he had, would his connection to the sport be as strong? Is the bond between man and horse, sportsman and horse racing something that other sports or businesses can replicate? I really don’t think so.
Every day, thousands wake early in the morning and stay up late at night devoting their personal, sporting and business lives to this game. Every day, a groom cries over a horse who has left the barn, or worse, passed away. Every spring, breeders watch in wonder as beautiful new foals are brought into the world.
To Michael, and thousands like him, wherever and whatever they do, harness racing will remain close to them.
Oh.. and I did have a chance to look up Michael’s star filly. She’s 0-for-6 lifetime, has never picked up a cheque and has defeated just four horses in her entire career.
On the bright side, Albatross had his best season as a three-year-old.
Darryl Kaplan
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