How Horse Racing and the Triple Crown Brought a Father and Son Together

On this episode of Our American Stories, a former high-powered media executive shares how the 37-year Triple Crown drought, finally broken in 2015, brought back a flood of memories of Sundays at the track with his dad

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
a show where America is the star and the American
people up next to story from Gary Ginsberg, a retired
executive who worked at such companies as Time Warner and
News Corp. A big guy in the media business. He's
here to share how the thirty seven year old Triple

(00:30):
Crown drought that was broken in twenty fifteen brought with
it a flood of memories of sundays at the racetrack
with his father. Here's Gary Ginsburg and the rind.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Of the stretch and American Thurrel makes us run for
glory as they come into the final very long and
here it has. The thirty seven year wait is over.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
American Thurrel's starting alone.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
American throw that one the triple crown. When American Pharaoh
crossed the finished line in Belmont Sticks on June sixth,
twenty fifteen, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in thirty
seven years, I cried. After talking with friends who also
watched the race, most of us men in our fifties

(01:17):
and sixties, I discovered I was not alone. Many of
us were overcome by emotion, and as it turns out,
mostly for the same reason we were thinking about our dads.
For a generation of American men born during the Great Depression,

(01:37):
racing was much more than a five week diversion from
the first Saturday May to the first Saturday in June.
It was an obsession, and the obsession was shared with
us their children, so that in many cases, horse racing
came to define their relationship we had with our fathers
in the little free time they had to share with us.
For me and for so many of my friends, Saturday,

(01:59):
the one person with whom we all wanted to share
this historic moment was no longer by our side. The
joy and throw of the race was tempered by a
profound sadness. My dad, Irwin Ginsburg, has had four great
passions in life, the law, tennis, his family, and thirdbred racing,

(02:19):
though not necessarily in that order. He developed his fascination
with horses as a kid in Buffalo during what was
arguably the sports heyday, following the exploits of horses like War,
Admiral and Citation. Between the ages of seven and eighteen,
he'd already witnessed an astonishing five triple Crown winners, and

(02:42):
he was hooked. He wanted to make sure I got
hooked too. Sunday, the one day of the week he
didn't go into his law office, was race day. We'd
pile into our Chrisler New Yorker and head from our
home in Buffalo to the Fort Eerie Racetrack. Once there,

(03:02):
Dad would walk me through the intricracies of the racing forum,
speed ratings, past performances, class levels before placing a series
of exotic bets on the Phillies and Mars traveling the
hard bitten Southern Ontario race circuit. When he lost, which
was more times than not, he'd angrily crumple the betting slips,
ending up with a small mountain under his seat by

(03:24):
the end of the day. That heart named Secretariat is
the reason why one of the greatest crabs and horse
racing history has turned out here at Belmont Park in
New York. But we were in front of our Zenith
TV for the best race of all the nineteen seventy
three Belmont States. Secretariat had already run the fastest Kentucky

(03:48):
Derby and Prickness in history and came to the Race
of Champions as the prohibitive favorite. For my dad, it
represented the best chance to end a twenty five year
triple crown drought my eleven year old self since the
moment's historic significance, so I brought my tape recorder. Listening
to that cassette today, I can hear the tension in

(04:11):
my father's voice as the horses make their way to
the starting gate. He yells at me to move away
from the screen, though the race is still a minute
from post. Everybody's in line and they're off. Then the
race starts and it quickly becomes a two horse contest,
with Secretariat pulling away after the half mile pole. We're
quiet at first, but the silence breaks when I shout

(04:33):
He's gonna win. My father shushes me, and we both
go quiet again until Secretariat rounds the final turn. Sector
Pariet is widening him out. He is moving like a
tremendous en. My father starts repeating, Oh my god, Oh
my god. The second pariot is all alone. He's out there,
almost the half of a mile away from the rest

(04:54):
of the heart Well. I'm unable to control my prepubescent
excitement and begin screaming again at the screen. Carry it
for the wire, I don't know, I don't anything for
worn betting.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Honey.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Why In the years I followed, we watched Seattle slew
and Affirmed win their triple crowns, and continued our Sunday
traditions at the track, eventually with me adding to the
mountain under our seats thanks to my paper route earnings.
Then I left Buffalo for college, law school, and life

(05:28):
in New York, and another triple crown draught set in.
A decade ago, my father found out he had Alzheimer's.
His mom, dad, and brother had all had the disease.
He had feared it his entire adult life, and now
he was to suffer the same fate. He was forced
into a retirement he never wanted, but his love of

(05:50):
horses endured three summers running. I took him to the
Saratoga Racecourse until the betting became too complicated for him,
but the months still held a special place even as
his brilliant mind declined. Twice he managed to travel by
himself from Buffalo to New York with hopes of witnessing
one more triple crown alongside his son, and twice we

(06:13):
were denied. Standing side by side watching first Smarty Jones
and then Big Brown lose in heartbreaking fashion, were among
the happiest moments of my dad's retirement and of my
adult life. My face still flushed from crying. I called
my mom in Buffalo to see if Dad had watched. No,

(06:34):
they hadn't watched the race. He wouldn't know a horse
from a rabbit, she said. Instead, they were sitting at
the table having dinner, my father oblivious that his thirty
seven year wait for another Triple Crown winner was over.
I started to cry all over again.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
And a great job on the production by Greg Hangler
in a terrific father Son's story. Of those stories, you
are in our American Stories. My father, Irving, had four
loves of his life, the law, tennis, his family, and
thoroughbred racing. I'm not sure what order that was in
the story of Gary Ginsburg, his father, and the Triple

(07:16):
Crown his father missed. Here on our American stories. Here
are in our American stories. We bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith, and love. Stories from a

(07:37):
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(07:58):
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