History yelling

Racing isn't dead or dying. It's just asleep for longer periods of time.

Pimlico Race Course was in peaceful slumber Tuesday morning when I snapped this photo:

It's kind of an eerie feeling to look out over a cavernous empty grandstand that at times has played host to tens of thousands of screaming fans, but I don't think of it as a sound of silence but rather as history yelling.

Imagine the din inside the grandstand when this stretch run took place:




Sure that was 21 years ago, but stretch runs like that occur daily and can be just as electrifying for those involved.

And even if you're just a casual viewer of racing and the fifth at Yavapai is not something you will ever experience, it is impossible to deny that few (if any) sporting events capture the American imagination like the Triple Crown series.

The 450,000 people who show up for Oaks-Derby-Preakness-Belmont days don't always get to see something as stirring as Sunday Silence battling Easy Goer, but it is the pursuit of being part of that experience that keeps racing alive and well at least a few times a year.

"Buildings are empty like ghettos or ghost-towns
It gives me a chill to think what was inside
I can't seem to fathom the dark of my history"

Neko Case, "Thrice All American"