Alysheba

On Saturday May 2, 1987, I was a 6 1/2 year old boy living in Louisville Kentucky. Every year on the first Saturday of May the Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown series of 3 horse races that span May and June. The 2nd race is the Preakness run in Baltimore, MD and the Belmont Stakes run in Elmont, NY. I was playing with my black Labrador "Bridie" when my mom asked me who I wanted to bet on to with the Kentucky derby. I think I was a bit confused and wasn't quite sure how it worked. She told me to pick a horse to win. So I said, I don't know any of the horses. She said, ok, pick a number and I'll tell you their names. I know I said 7 first, and my mom looked at the paper and said ok.. that is "Candi's Gold". I didn't like that, I think we went through 2 more horses and then I said "ok, how about #4?" She said "ok that's...Alysheba". I liked that name, so I Alysheba it is. My best friend at the time was Jobi. He was in first grade with me at the Bee Elementary school and lived kiddie corner from me. It was Saturday so of course we were going to play together. I hoped over 2 fences, first from my back yard into my neighbor's back yard, and then into Jobi's back yard. I remember Jobi's dad calling us in to gather around the TV to watch the derby. It was Louisville. The derby is in their blood, and ain't no son of his gonna miss it. I said, "I want Alysheba to win." Jobi's dad kinda chuckled and said that's an 8-1 horse son. Jobi's dad wanted the horse named "Bet Twice". Jobi just wanted the same horse his dad had money on. The race started and his dad was out of his chair screaming at the top of his lungs.. Bet Twice go go go! And I was rooting for Alysheba. "Bet Twice!" "Alysheba!" "go Bet Twice go!" It turned into Jobi and his Dad chanting "Bet Twice, Bet Twice" and me chanting "Alysheba, Alysheba." I was looking for the number 4 on the side of the horse since it was really hard to see and every time I saw it, it was almost at the back, but Bet Twice was almost at the front. The race is 2 minutes long, so after the first minute I thought, oh well, I like you anyway Alysheba. The announcer kept saying "here comes Bet Twice" and I was happy for Jobi that his horse might win. Then the announcer said" here comes Alysheba!" "Down the stretch it's Bet Twice and Alysheba!" There they were, our 2 horses neck and neck. Finally the finish and Alysheba won. I was elated, and Jobi's dad was furious. As a 6 year old I felt pretty cool that day. I think Jobi's dad thought I jinxed him. I picked the winning horse. The thing that spawned that memory is I just found out Alysheba died today at age 25.

I had to do a little research to make sure the dates were right, but I noticed that Gary Stevens, the famous jockey from Caldwell Idaho also ran in that race.