Saturday is one of the biggest days of the year for the sport of horse racing with Irish trained Australia bidding to win the Investec Epsom Derby in the south London suburbs and a ‘working class hero’ of a horse called California Chrome bidding in New York to become the first horse since 1978 to complete the iconic Triple Crown of US racing.
Before both of those historic bids, the second Annual raceway of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce takes place at Leopardstown on Friday evening following a reception for the great and good of the sport at the British Ambassadors residence in Glencairn during the week.
Australia has been the short priced favourite for Epsom since running third in what is considered to be a vintage 2,000 Guineas over a distance well short of what will be his optimum.
Victory would be the third in a row for Tipperary based Aidan O’Brien, a feat which has never been achieved since the race was first run in 1780. In a sport which thrives on tradition this would be a remarkable achievement and cement his standing as perhaps the greatest racehorse trainer of all time.
Seven hours later and 5,000 kilometres away on the other side of the globe, the US sports audience will cast off thoughts of the NBA finals for two minutes and watch enthralled as a horse called California Chrome bids to write his own piece of history.
Trained by a 78 year old veteran, owned by two guys who bought him for less than what might be the cost of security around other stars of the sport, and endowed with four flashy white feet that make him a natural for a follow up to the box office success of Seabiscuit, the story of Chrome is that of the American dream.
Neither of the two owners are millionaires. Steve Coburn is a real life cowboy and Perry Martin hails from Chicago. They were small partners in a big syndicate that owned the consistent loser who turned out to be California Chrome’s mother and bought her out of a sentiment that has paid off in Hollywood fashion.
They overheard a groom asking who would be dumb ass enough to buy her and named their racing partnership after that phrase as a result. This is racing from so far the wrong side of the tracks as to make it impossible, and that’s what makes the story so compelling. Victory in the first two legs of the famed triple crown, last captured 36 years ago has set up this one shot at what they describe themselves as a sporting miracle.
Saturday then will be a destiny for this odd couple of the classic generation of 2014. Australia and California Chrome. They will hold the racing world in thrall for the less than two minutes it will take to run their races. If they both win they will be spoken of long, long after those who witness them in person this weekend have breathed their last.
