I watched it with my kids, who were pretty little at the time. (Before my daughter decided that it's cruel.
).
My son liked Royal Assault and Eddington, my daughter Rock Hard Ten and Eddington. It was all Smarty for me.
I took them to the fair that morning, the one that is always the first weekend in May (talk about crappy timing). This is probably why I didn't know about the other news...
I'm sorry but I felt devastated after the race. It was like I could feel my heart sinking in slow motion. One of those moments where you want to go back in time... just 30 seconds... Noooooooooooooooooo.
Birdstone.
Told the kids to go play in the back yard and I cried and cried.
I realized the sprinklers had been on in the front yard for a long time so I wiped away my tears and went outside to turn them off. I was trying to do normal things cause it was painful. I had no idea it could make me feel so much... hurt so much.
One of my neighbors just happened to come outside at the same time. She looked at me and said aww I'm sorry, I didn't know you were such a fan. She touched my shoulder gently, said she really liked him too.
I was surprised... she liked Smarty?
So we had a short conversation... I kept holding my breath so I wouldn't cry anymore, and then, finally, she said something about Nancy.
Huh?
I had noticed the flag was at half staff during the race but didn't know why and forgot about it immediately.
I had no idea Reagan had died and it was a little weird... crying for a horse and not knowing other people were mourning Reagan.
I didn't hate Birdstone but I cringed every time I heard his name for the next few months.
As an aside I had no idea that Jerry Garcia died the same day (I thought that was a year or two later) and yeah MaTH I remember the ride on Eddington...
Don't get me started.