With the recent death of Barbaro, it leaves you thinking about the great racehorses of our time.  My favorite has always been Secretariate.  He was a horse that united a country in a time of turmoil.  In a sense, Barbaro has been able to do the same. 

I was listening to the radio the other day and they were essentially badmouthing all the people who had sent the horse flowers.  They were talking about how one lady had sent the horse a horse shoe shaped flower arrangement to hang on his stall door.  Personally, I thought it was fantastic.  The horse was not the only one going through pain at this time.  Those flowers were for Barbaro's owners, trainers and everyone he had touched.  To me it was downright rude that people on the radio would talk this way.  They were comparing Barbaro to their dogs.  They were saying we know you love your horse, we love our dogs, but you just don't spend that kind of money on flower arrangements.  I was infuriated when I heard this.  Here you have a multi-million dollar horse that had touched more people by simply being a Triple Crown hopeful with a lot of heart and fighting with every ounce of strength he had to overcome laminitis and fractures and you're going to compare him to your dog?!

Here you have a horse with heart.  A horse with as much heart as Secretariat.  Of course, Secretariat didn't die tragically from a wreck on the track, but he did unite a country at a time when everybody needed a lift.  Think about 1973, we were in at war in Vietnam.  Lyndon B. Johnson died and Nixon was inaugurated to a second term.  The world was at turmoil with itself.  Now, think about 2006.  We were at war with Iraq, no president died, but we the world was still at turmoil with itself.  What is the common denominator in this scenario?  Two spectacular racehorses that were able to bring the United States together.  For weeks, few people thought about war.  Many people thought about a spectacular racehorse that needed the encouragement of the country to stay alive. 

That is true greatness.